Studio Masters

Sandro Gibellini – The Boy Next Door (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

Sandro Gibellini - The Boy Next Door (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

In 2016, during the “Maniscalco meets Gibellini” sessions, the legendary jazz guitarist Sandro Gibellini and the multi-instrumentalist/composer Emanuele Maniscalco were recorded together for the first time at the Studio Ritmo&Blu. Five years on, the same studio welcomes them once again for a “jazz standards revisited – stage 2” session, that is poised on the same point of balance between tradition and experimentation.
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Sasha Cooke, Kirill Kuzmin – How Do I Find You (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

Sasha Cooke, Kirill Kuzmin - How Do I Find You (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz] Download

“how do I find you” is a collection of newly composed songs commissioned, curated by mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, who performs them, together with pianist Kirill Kuzmin. Cooke offered 17 composers a “carte blanche” to create what spoke most to them during the ongoing pandemic. With themes ranging from harried parents working from home to societal injustice and the California wildfires, these songs provide a slice of life in challenging times. Taking its inspirations from folksong-style, jazz and minimalism, and ranging from great lyricism and lush harmonies to austere means, the music featured here provides a fascinating cross section of contemporary art song.
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BLK JKS – Abantu / Before Humans (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

BLK JKS are a seminal force in the South African underground. After an extended hiatus the Johannesburg foursome, championed by The Mars Volta and TV On The Radio (amongst many others), return with a groundbreaking new album.

Monster grooves meet guitar and brass driven afro-rock. Echoes of spiritual jazz, post-apocalyptic funk, renegade dub and kwaito. Features Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré and Beastie Boys accomplice Money Mark on the track “Maiga.”

“This South African art-rock band traffics in complexity, cross-hatching not only rhythms and textures but also the signifiers of genre” – Nate Chinen (The New York Times)

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Xavier Parés & Patricia Siffert – Jaques-Dalcroze: Piano Music, Vol. 3 (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

The Swiss composer Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865–1950) is best remembered for his development of Eurhythmics, which teaches the appreciation of music through movement. The buoyant miniatures recorded here document his fascination with dance, including a flirtation with jazz and ragtime, although the apparent innocence of the music conceals a striking degree of metrical and rhythmic complexity, cast in a style not so far from Debussy and Fauré – and animated by the blithe spirit of Chabrier.

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Véronique Mathieu & Stephanie Chua – Invocation (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

Véronique Mathieu and Stephanie Chua present INVOCATION, a collection of works for violin and piano written by female-identifying composers of unique heritages, backgrounds, and cultures. With a wide range of aesthetics and a variety of compositional eras, INVOCATION presents a collection of wonderfully animated performances that provide a fantastic model for the exploration of these composers’ works.

Mathieu and Chua carry on the ever-growing tradition of bringing female-identifying composers from all musical eras out of the shadows. Their delicate, tender, and thoughtful iterations of these compositions solidify INVOCATION as a function of its title; a message to the women of this collection to step forward and shine.

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River Town Duo – For Claire & Philip (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

River Town Duo’s debut album, For Claire & Philip, features newly commissioned works written by six compelling 21st century American composers. Performed by double bassist Philip Alejo and harpist Claire Happel Ashe, this captivating recording shares the beguiling sounds of a unique chamber music pairing. For Claire and Philip is the culmination of River Town Duo’s collaborations with composers Caroline Shaw, Whitney Ashe, Derick Evans, Hannah Lash, Evan Premo, and Stephen Andrew Taylor.

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Stephen Beville – Visions and Ventures (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

Stephen Beville - Visions and Ventures (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download

Works from three different musical eras seemingly unconnected – but in the mind of Pianist Stephen Beville very linked – hence the album title – as inspired by Visions and Ventures: Bach always a visionary musically and guided by his religious faith; Beethoven venturing into Romanticism with revolutionary ideas and optimism for a better world; Prokofiev caught up in the unrest in pre-revolutionary Russia, sketching pieces to escape the political turmoil – at least in his imagination. The Visions Fugitives come from a composer in his mid-twenties, just graduated and full of musical confidence, and are typically Prokofievian while some contain radical modernist elements. The Beethoven Sonata is likewise the work of a young 26-year old. It is full of playful invention and optimism and is perhaps one his most appealing works. Stephen Beville was acclaimed in 2010 as ‘one of the most talented young musicians to emerge from the UK’. (Frankfurter Neue Press). His interpretations have been compared to Arrau, Rubinstein and Ax. Rock-solid technique and virtuosity while avoiding showmanship have informed his playing from student days at the Junior Royal Academy in London from age 11, tutoring from the great Peter Katin, and postgraduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music in England and the Hochschule für Music in Karlsruhe. He has performed in many international festivals. As well as a firm grounding in classical and 20th century repertoire, Stephen Beville is also a busy composer, his works having been performed by several leading new-music ensembles. Stephen’s debut CD ‘Stephen Beville in Karlsruhe’ was given warm reception on its release: ‘Beville is a thoughtful artist, whose accounts of each of the established masterpieces here are well worth hearing.’ – Robert Matthew-Walker (Musical Opinion) ‘An intelligent, controlled and searching pair of hands quite capable of imparting power as well as finesse.’
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Steven Feifke – The Role of the Rhythm Section (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

Steven Feifke - The Role of the Rhythm Section (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download

“The Role of the Rhythm Section” is really special to me because it is pretty much the rhythm section from my big band, Dan Chmielinski and Bryan Carter, paired down and highlighted in our most intimate form.

We selected some of our favorite standards including Tea For Two, Softly As In A Morning Sunrise, Dolphin Dance, Stablemates, Celia and a few others — and just let ourselves go and play extremely spontaneously !

It was fun to approach the trio in that *spur of the moment* yet *big band* style.
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Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, James McAlister – Planetarium (2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner, Nico Muhly, James McAlister - Planetarium (2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download

In 2013, Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner of The National, Nico Muhly and drummer James McAlister took to the stage with a string quartet to perform a project inspired by the solar system. A pretext as good as any other for discovering, once again, the gifts of the talented melodist Sufjan Stevens. Four years later, this adventure, entitled Planetarium has been committed to vinyl. The good news is that the cosmos conjured up by the indy supergroup never falls into the trap of sounding like a chin-stroking new age soundtrack. No, each composition can be enjoyed independently, like a little planet unto itself. And indeed the tracks on the album take their names from the planets of the solar system (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto…) moving from pop to prog rock, from electro to neo-classical, with true grace. An original and inspiring record.
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Sam Cooke – Hit Kit (1959/2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

Sam Cooke - Hit Kit (1959/2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Some smoking uptempo tunes, wailing ballads, and even interesting pop and novelty material. Sam Cooke was at his commercial peak in the early ’60s, and if you ever find this anywhere, grab it quickly. It’s well worth having. Someday, a major label will wise up and either put all Cooke’s Keen, RCA, and Sar material back in print or put out a huge boxed set package. – Ron Wynn
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Agnieszka Tarnawska – César Franck – Six Pièces (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

Six Pièces, Op. 16-21, composed between 1856 and 1864, were first published in 1868 by the small Parisian publishing house, Maeyens-Couvreur. Rollin Smith calls this event the first significant contribution to the French organ literature in more than a century, and the most important organ music written since the Organ Sonatas of Mendelssohn. The symphonic treatment of the Cavaillé-Coll organ with all its aural expression, and performance possibilities, was a revolution in the development of organ music, and marked the beginning of the new chapter. The premiere of Six Pièces took place on November 17, 1864 in the church of Sainte-Clotilde – performed by the composer himself. In April 1866, Franck presented the collection again during a private concert for Ferenc Liszt. As Vincent d’Indy noted: Liszt […] coming down from the organ-loft where Franck had just been playing these compositions to him, exclaimed with sincere emotion: “These poems have their place beside the masterpieces of Sebastian Bach!”

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Adalberto Maria Riva – Jaques-Dalcroze: Piano Music, Vol. 4 (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

The Swiss composer Émile Jaques-Dalcroze (1865–1950) is best remembered for his development of Eurhythmics, which teaches the appreciation of music through movement. The buoyant miniatures recorded on this fourth album of his piano music document his fascination with dance, but nonetheless display a degree of variety: some are winsome and charming, others vigorous and folk-like, and occasionally they suggest echoes of some of his French contemporaries, not least Chabrier, Debussy, Fauré and Ravel.

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Various Artists – Stamp: Chamber Music, Vol. 1 (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

The American composer John Stamp (b. 1954) – universally known as ‘Jack’ – is a familiar figure in the worlds of the symphonic wind-band movement that flourishes in US universities and of the brass band on both sides of the Atlantic. This first Toccata Classics album of his music presents a cross- section of recent works for woodwinds, brass and strings, varied in mood, from upbeat to reflective, and in style, from a solemn hymn-setting to buoyant, outdoors Americana à la Copland, now and then coloured by a hint of jazz.

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Sarah Brady, Stephen Delaney – Matters of the Heart: Robert Schumann, Richard Strauss (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

Sarah Brady, Stephen Delaney - Matters of the Heart: Robert Schumann, Richard Strauss (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download

Sarah Brady, Stephen Delaney – Matters of the Heart: Robert Schumann, Richard Strauss (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:04:53 minutes | 928 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Prospero Classical

Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben is a short song cycle in comparison to Schubert’s Winterreise. Nevertheless, it covers – as title and substance suggest – an entire life: the life of a woman as perceived in the 19th century. A life that was deemed to have ended through the catastrophic event of becoming a young widow.
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Sarah Williams White – Unfathomable (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · August 26, 2023 · Comments off

Sarah Williams White - Unfathomable (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download

First Word Records is very pleased to present a brand new full-length album from Sarah Williams White! Emanating from the “hilly fields of Lewisham” in South London, Sarah Williams White is a singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. Her sound is a unique blend of psych-soul, folktronica and experimental synth-pop.
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