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Niccolo Paganini – 24 Caprices, Op.1 – Itzhak Perlman (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]
Niccolo Paganini – 24 Caprices, Op.1 – Itzhak Perlman (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96kHz | Time – 01:12:24 minutes | 1,42 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Q0buz | Digital Booklet | © Warner Classics
Recorded: Abbey Road Studios, 10 January 1972; Brent Town Hall, London, 11 & 12 January 1972
Along with Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas, Paganini’s Caprices represent the ultimate solo challenge to any violinist. Itzhak Perlman is one of those who has taken on both, beginning with the Paganini, very early on in his recording career. In 1965 he set down three of the Caprices for RCA, but it was in January 1972 that he cemented his place in this tradition with a complete set that would make recording history. By strange coincidence, that same year saw the death of his illustrious predecessor Michael Rabin, whose own complete Paganini, made in 1958 for Capitol, was a permanent source of inspiration for the young Perlman. The miracle achieved by the Caprices is that rather than being banal studies in virtuosity, they are a series of genuine masterpieces – a distillation of the composer’s prodigious technical abilities and an endless source of melodic invention. Caprice No.24 is the perfect illustration, its themes having inspired so many other composers: Brahms (the Variations, Op.35), Rachmaninov (the Rhapsody, Op.43), Liszt, Szymanowski, Lutosławski, Rochberg, Schnittke and David Baker, among others. Rarely in the history of music has a so-called “minor” composer had such a significant influence on so many of his major colleagues. Mastering the Caprices is a little like climbing Everest. Yet it requires more than technical mastery — a sense of theatricality and imagination is just as necessary when it comes to doing full justice to the melodic invention and fantastical spirit of the writing. The challenges are never-ending — the range of timbres, complex bowing techniques and the need for clear articulation and a purity of intonation and projection. As for risk-taking, it’s the only way to get under the skin of the Caprices’ creator. Perlman’s performance is astonishing for its apparent effortlessness, revealing the charismatic and assured style for which he was to become known. His innate feeling for song and a zest for fun do the rest, giving his interpretation an irresistible charm undimmed by the passing years. –Jean-Michel Molkhou
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Johann Pachelbel – Un orage d’avril – Gli incogniti, Amandine Beyer (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2kHz | Time – 1:19:28 minutes | 1,49 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: eClassical | Digital Booklet | © Harmonia Mundi
Recorded: juillet 2015 à l’Arsenal de Metz
Though the two bars of bass of a certain celebrated Canon have made Pachelbel probably the most widely performed composer in the streets of the whole world, this sparkling programme invites you to make new discoveries in his œuvre. It is built around suites (Partien) for two violins and continuo from the Musikalische Ergötzung. The title means ‘musical delight’, and indeed one cannot but be ravished by the extraordinary sonic hedonism displayed by these works, the most important surviving testimony to the instrumental output of a German musician skilled in mingling the French, Italian and German styles. A few songs written for special occasions add further spice to this wonderfully free music.
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Mary Halvorson Octet – Away With You (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 56:00 minutes | 1,1 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Digital Booklet | © Firehouse 12 Records
Continuing her streak of outstanding releases, guitarist extraordinaire Mary Halvorson once again shows her determination to build upon her unique style as a composer and bandleader. She’s taken her septet from 2013’s superb Illusionary Sea and added an eighth member, pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn, and the resulting music is typical Halvorson: harmonically complex, emotionally compelling, and full of interesting moments worth savoring.
Read moreIbrahim Maalouf – 10 ans de live ! (Version Deluxe) (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]
Ibrahim Maalouf – 10 Ans De Live! (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:50:17 minutes | 1,12 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: Q0buz | Digital Booklet | © Mi’ster
Il y a ceux qui savent. Et les autres. Chaque spectateur d’un concert d’Ibrahim Maalouf a pu ressentir ce petit plus propre au live. Cet instant unique à emporter chez soi qu’il rend véritablement unique. Voilà dix ans que le trompettiste arpente les scènes en se donnant corps et âme à son public. La première fois, c’était en solo en solo au New Morning à Paris en 2006. Un millier de concerts et des dizaines de pays traversés plus tard, Maalouf fête cette décennie avec ce copieux live, renfermant des extraits des concerts l’ayant le plus marqués. 14 titres captés entre 2011 et 2016 accompagnés ici par 14 vidéos. Plus d’une heure cinquante de musique (et d’images !) pour mieux cerner son univers kaléidoscopique fait de jazz, de musique orientale, de chanson, de classique et de pop. Sur une poignante reprise de La Javanaise de Gainsbourg, il a convié la grande Juliette Gréco. Et pour True Sorry, la Maîtrise de Radio France est de la partie. Quelques instants forts qui viennent se mêler à d’autres instants forts tout au long d’un live qui ressemble bien à son auteur.
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Neil Diamond – Tap Root Manuscript (1970/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 35:47 minutes | 1,56 GB | Genre: Pop
Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Digital Booklet | © Geffen Records
“Tap Root Manuscript” is the sixth studio album by Neil Diamond, released in 1970. It was one of the most experimental albums he ever recorded, featuring prominent African sounds and instruments. The album ended up being a commercial success, with a string of top 40 hits. This album predates many Western artists’ interest in world music by more than a decade, from Peter Gabriel’s 1980’s solo albums, to My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (David Byrne with Brian Eno) in 1981, to the Graceland album recorded by Paul Simon in 1986. It was one of the most novel experimental recording projects of its time, and the Uni label initially was not sure whether it would be commercially viable. It turned out to be one of Diamond’s most successful albums up to that point in his career, including one of his three #1 hits in his career, “Cracklin’ Rosie”. All songs were written and composed by Neil Diamond except “He Ain’t Heavy…He’s My Brother,” which was written and composed by Bob Russell and Bobby Scott. (more…)
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Neil Diamond – Hot August Night (1972) [Deluxe Edition 2012]
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 119:37 minutes | 1,42 GB | Genre: Pop
Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Digital Booklet | © Geffen Records
Hot August Night is Neil Diamond’s 1972 double Platinum live recording. It captured the pop superstar at the start of his creative powers and remains one of the finest live performances ever captured. Recorded at Hollywood’s Greek Theatre in August 1972, the set list featured a collection of his greatest hits including “Cracklin’ Rosie,” “Song Sung Blue,” “Sweet Caroline” “Holly Holy,” “Play Me,” “Walk On Water,” and more. To commemorate the 40th anniversary, the album has been digitally remastered from the original master tapes and includes three previously unreleased bonus tracks. Diamond’s exhilarating energy, raw emotion and unmatched musicianship are on full display with this landmark recording, one of the greatest live albums ever! (more…)
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Mr. Handel’s Trumpeters: English Trumpet Music from Purcell to Handel – Barocktrompeten Ensemble Berlin, Johann Plietzsch (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 00:57:53 minutes | 0,98 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: eClassical | Digital Booklet | © Raumklang
Recorded: Oktober, 2014 in der Lindenkirche, Berlin-Wilmersdorf
George Frideric Handel had an outstanding trumpeter in his orchestra: Valentine Snow. “Mr. Handel’s Trumpeter,” as he was later called, inspired Handel to write numerous tailor-made trumpet parts for him. In contrast to his contemporaries, Handel was interested less in virtuosity, than in mellifluous sound and dramatic effect, as reflected in the pieces on this CD. The point of departure for the recording is provided by the trumpet music of Purcell and his contemporaries, music that clearly displays Italian influence and formed the foundation for Handel’s compositions.
Johann Plietzsch lets his Baroque Trumpet Ensemble Berlin resound richly colored on this third Raumklang CD with eight trumpets, timpani, and basso continuo, perfectly balanced dramatically with the soft tones of the lute and organ.
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Nagual – Private Music (2012/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 00:57:02 minutes | 1,14 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: e-Onkyo | Front Cover | © Alfa Music
Recordings, Mix and Mastering: Artesuono Studio, Ud. All compositions by Nagùal (Giovanni Ancorato)
Credo valga la pena chiederci perché si ascolta musica e cosa ci si aspetta da questa esperienza. Personalmente, oltre al piacere estetico che si prova di fronte ad una composizione interessante, un buon arrangiamento o una improvvisazione ben riuscita, quello che mi aspetto dalla musica è che essa susciti emozioni, che tocchi le corde più profonde dell’anima e le faccia vibrare, che “muova” dentro. Attraverso l’alchimia di suoni e silenzi abbiamo accesso a spazi interiori profondi e possiamo sperimentare “moods” differenti a seconda del momento, del nostro stato d’animo e del tipo di musica ascoltata. Quando ciò accade si realizza la “magia” dell’ascolto, fenomeno misterioso e irrazionale, evento imponderabile, non programmabile, reale eppur elusivo. Immergendoci nei suoni, come nel mare, scompaiono i confini tra esterno ed interno e, sospinti dalle onde sonore, ci lasciamo trasportare dalla corrente musicale verso lidi sconosciuti. I brani presentati in questo cd rappresentano la sintesi delle esperienze musicali maturate nel corso della mia vita. La passione per il mondo dei suoni, sviluppatasi sin da quando ero bambino, mi ha spinto ad una continua ricerca di differenti stili musicali che ho approfondito anche attraverso viaggi in paesi lontani per scoprire le “fonti”. Poi, poco a poco e spesso faticosamente, ognuno trova la propria strada, il proprio centro, ed in esso si raccoglie. Considererei realizzato questo lavoro se la musica qui proposta riuscisse a far scoccare quella scintilla emozionale così preziosa ed ineffabile. –Nagùal
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Nelson Freire – Bach (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:21:34 minutes | 1,33 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: prestoclassical.co.uk | Digital Booklet | © Decca
Recorded: Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Harburg, 17–21 August 2015
Nelson Freire brings a lifetime’s experience to his first-ever album devoted to the music of J.S Bach. It was recorded in Freire’s 70th birthday year and provides a superb overview of Bach on the piano: towering original works such as the Fourth Partita and Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue; one of Bach’s own keyboard transcriptions (the sublime slow movement of Marcello’s Oboe Concerto) plus a selection of transcriptions by Busoni, Siloti and Myra Hess.
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Gran Partita – Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble, Trevor Pinnock (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:31 minutes | 1,12 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: LINN | Digital Booklet | © LINN Records
Recorded: April 2015, St George’s Church, Brandon Hill, Bristol, United Kingdom
For over four decades Pinnock’s name has been virtually synonymous with the early-music movement and, with a critically acclaimed Deutsche Grammophon discography of almost all the composer’s orchestral works, Mozart.
Pinnock brings his wealth of experience to inspire fantastically insightful performances of two favourites by two Classical masters: Mozart and Haydn.
The ‘Gran Partita’ is Mozart’s largest and arguably his most innovative instrumental work; it demonstrates the sensitivity of the colours of wind instruments in a score of unsurpassed variety. The driving principles are sonority, colour, texture, concertante effects, the juxtaposition of contrasting styles, and the mutability of musical ideas.
The nocturnes of Mozart’s mentor Haydn magnificently blend the timbres of strings and woodwind with unerring dramatic instinct. The work has all the scintillating argumentativeness and wit that one might expect of mature Haydn, whilst the central Adagio is sublime in its fragility.
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Slowly Rolling Camera – London (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:10:05 minutes | 1,26 GB | Genre: Electronic
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: B&W | Front Cover
Slowly Rolling Camera formed in Cardiff in 2013 and brought together four wildly talented musicians from diverse backgrounds in vocalist/lyricist Dionne Bennett, composer/keyboardist Dave Stapleton, drummer Elliot Bennett and producer/sound design artist Deri Roberts. The result was a captivating hybrid of these influences: trip hop, jazz, soul, electronic music fused into a new and unique soundscape. The product was their eponymous album, released on Edition Records in February 2014, described by The Guardian as a ‘powerful newcomer with Rising Star written all over it.
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Peter Gabriel – Passion: Music For The Last Temptation Of Christ (1989/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:07 minutes | 1,34 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: B&W | Front Cover
Passion is in actuality Peter Gabriel’s soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese film The Last Temptation of Christ, retitled as a result of legal barriers; regardless of its name, however, there’s no mistaking the record’s stirring power. Like much of Gabriel’s solo work, the album is a product of his continuing fascination with world music, which he employs here to create an exceptionally beautiful and atmospheric tapestry of sound perfectly evocative of the film’s resonant spiritual drama; inspired by field recordings collected in areas as diverse as Turkey, Senegal, and Egypt, Passion achieves a cumulative effect clearly Middle Eastern in origin, yet its brilliant fusion of ancient and modern musics ultimately transcends both geography and time. Remarkably dramatic, even visual, it is not only Gabriel’s best film work but deserving of serious consideration as his finest music of any kind; equally worthwhile is Passion – Sources, which assembles the original native recordings which served as his creative launching pad.
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Neil Diamond – Velvet Gloves And Spit (1968/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/192 kHz | Time – 34:23 minutes | 1,25 GB | Genre: Rock, Pop
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Digital Booklet | © Geffen Records
“Velvet Gloves and Spit” is the third album by Neil Diamond. His first for MCA’s Uni label, it included three low-charting singles: “Brooklyn Roads” (#58), “Two-Bit Manchild” (#66) and “Sunday Sun” (#68). Upon its initial release in 1968, it only had ten songs. After the success of Diamond’s next three albums, it was re-issued in 1970 with a new sleeve and now included a remake of “Shilo”, a song that had previously been recorded for Bang Records, and had appeared on the preceding album, “Just For You”. His motivation for doing this was the release of the song as a single by his old record label with a new backing track and alternate vocal take recorded at Chips Moman’s American Studios in Memphis, and its chart position at #24 outselling Diamond’s concurrently-released single “Until It’s Time for You to Go”, which only reached #53. The album quotes: “Much credit for “The Pot Smoker’s Song” must go to the kids of Phoenix House in New York City. Without the cooperation and frankness of these young ex-drug addicts who are still struggling to find their way back, this “song” never could have been done.” On early U.K. copies, “The Pot Smoker’s Song” was replaced by a b-side titled “Broad Old Woman (6 A.M. Insanity).”
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Mural – Mural (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 00:50:52 minutes | 1,00 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: Q0buz | Front Cover | © BERTHOLD Records
American-Japanese guitarist Aki Ishiguro, German bassist Peter Schwebs and Chilean drummer Rodrigo Recabarren recorded their debut album MURAL in March of 2015 at Systems Two in Brooklyn, New York. MURAL is a collective group made of three rising jazz stars in New York. The band showcases each members’ virtuosic instrumental skills as well as their refined compositions. Subtle influences of European classical music, Japanese folk, and South American rhythms are just one the culmination of the multiple nationalities and cultures represented in the trio. The group’s collaboration is apparent through their balanced sound, wide dynamics, and seamless interaction. MURAL is truly a band effort – a single instrument with three musicians.
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Henry Wolking & Salt Lake City Jazz Orchestra – In Sea (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 1:13:39 minutes | 975 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | Front Cover | © Big Round Records
IN SEA is jazz trombonist, conductor, arranger, and composer Henry Wolking’s debut album with Big Round Records. The works in this release do a fine job of representing Wolking’s talent for joining together many different styles, from Latin and rock to classical and swing. Performed by the Salt Lake City Jazz Orchestra, pieces on this track pay tribute to jazz icons of the past, such as Thad Jones and Bob Brookmeyer, who have been paramount in developing Wolking’s compositional style.
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