Aimi Kobayashi – Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 – Liszt: Dante Sonata & 3 Petrarch Sonnets (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:05:26 minutes | 500 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Aimi Kobayashi is a leading young Japanese pianist, one of the finalists at the Chopin Competition in 2015. Born in Yamaguchi, Japan, on 23 September 1995, Aimi began her piano studies aged three, and made her first appearance with orchestra at the age of seven, followed by her international debut two years later. Since then, Aimi has appeared at the Carnegie Hall in New York no less than four times. Her international career continues to flourish: she was invited by various venues in Moscow, Poland and Brazil, amongst others. She has amazed audiences with her performances with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century under Frans Brüggen, as well as the Moscow Virtuosi with Vladimir Spivakov. She has performed in Poland several times, including at the International Music Festival “Chopin and his Europe”, and in concerto programmes by numerous Polish orchestras. She has performed with Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Hyogo Pac Orchestra, and Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, and received high acclaim for her recitals in Japan, including at the Suntory Hall.
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Aimi Kobayashi – Chopin: Preludes & Piano Works (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:06:04 minutes | 1,98 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
“Chopin is a composer who has been with me since I started playing the piano as a child. In Japan, where I grew up, it is impossible to avoid Chopin’s music! He is one of the most popular composers for everybody, and all pianists start playing and getting to know his music from a very young age. Therefore, he becomes an essential part of your life very naturally. I have wanted to record the complete Preludes for a long time. It is always very interesting to approach works like this that are conceived as a whole – like the 24 Bach Preludes and Fugues or the Debussy Preludes. Each prelude is individual, and each is in a different tonality so the colour and characters are completely different, and as the structure of each individual prelude is relatively open there is a lot of freedom for interpretation.” – Aimi Kobayashi
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Aimee Mann – Queens of the Summer Hotel (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:20 minutes | 823 MB | Genre: Pop Rock, Female Vocal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Super Ego Records
Aimee Mann returns with new album Queens Of The Summer Hotel out via Super Ego Records. This LP has 15 songs inspired by the book Girl Interrupted, written by Susannah Kaysen.
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Aimee Mann – Mental Illness (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 38:38 minutes | 456 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Super Ego Records
Aimee Mann’s new album, Mental Illness, once again showcases her incisive and wry melancholia in a nearly all-acoustic format, with a style inspired by some of Mann’s favorite folk-rock records from the Sixties and Seventies. With string arrangements by Mann’s longtime producer, Paul Bryan, the 11-song album also features contributions by Leo (backing vocals), Jonathan Coulton (guitar), Jay Bellerose (drums) and Jamie Edwards (piano).
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Ailyn Pérez, Stephen Costello, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Patrick Summers – Love Duets (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:05:44 minutes | 623 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Richard Tucker Award-winners Stephen Costello and Ailyn Pérez – dubbed “America’s fastest-rising husband-and-wife opera stars” (Associated Press) – look forward to releasing their first album together: a recording of romantic love duets by Verdi, Puccini, Bernstein, and others, recorded with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Patrick Summers’s leadership in London. The album is the couple’s first release as exclusive recording artists for Warner Classics.
Pérez explains: “Given our great love for our art and each other, I’m really looking forward to joining our voices in some of my favourite roles and operatic duets.” Costello adds: “To be on a label for which so many incredible artists have recorded is a huge honour. I am also honoured to share this album with two great artists – my wife, Ailyn Pérez, and Maestro Patrick Summers. I am truly humbled!”
The young American soprano and tenor met at Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts, where an onstage romance in Puccini’s most beloved opera kindled the flames of a real-life passion. This season, Pérez and Costello appear in performance together across the globe, headlining in La traviata in London, Berlin, Hamburg, and San Francisco, and giving concerts in New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco.
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Aili Järvelä, Sointi Jazz Orchestra – Unituulia (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 37:22 minutes | 403 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Eclipse Music – Supersounds Music Oy
Aili Järvelä, widely known as an authentic and soulful performer, and Sointi Jazz Orchestra, one of Finland’s most interesting new jazz groups, joined forces to release a Finnish-language album titled Unituulia.
Unituulia is a moving and atmospheric collection of new Finnish-language chansons written and arranged by Aili Järvelä and brought to life by the exceptionally diverse instrumentation of Sointi Jazz Orchestra and the expressive voice of Järvelä herself. Having premiered in 2018, the songs written and arranged by Järvelä have finally been released as an album.
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Ailbhe Mcdonagh, John O’Conor – Beethoven: Complete Cello Sonatas (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:52:12 minutes | 1,96 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Steinway and Sons
Irish cellist Ailbhe McDonagh and world renowned Beethoven specialist John O’Conor celebrated Beethovens 250th anniversary year with this recording of his complete sonatas for cello and piano. Out of several performances of the Beethoven A major sonata heard over 30 years, McDonaghs was the most musically complete and satisfying. (Irish Times) O’Conor brought real poetry to his recital of late-period Beethoven … incisive, even visionary projections that drove to the heart of the musical matter. (Washington Post)
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Aidan O’Rourke – 365 Complete Works 21 (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 24:11 minutes | 256 MB | Genre: Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Reveal Records
In 2013, James Robertson – one of Scotland’s leading authors – wrote a short story every day for a year. It became an enchanting, roaming collection of fairytales and memories and provocations; that was only the beginning.
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Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert – Ghost Stories for Christmas (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 33:45 minutes | 354 MB | Genre: Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rock Action Records
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And in the old tradition, Aidan Moffat & RM Hubbert invite you to gather round the fire for Ghost Stories for Christmas. The album began with an idea for a song – forthcoming single A Ghost Story for Christmas. Originally intended as a one-off, seasonal release, it proved such fun to write that soon they had enough songs for an EP. “Then, on a nice, sunny, summer morning, I phoned Hubby and suggested we just do a whole album,” says Moffat. The album also features their cover of Yazoo’s synth classic Only You, already a popular number in their live set and the cover versions is topped off with a sombre rendition of Mud’s 1974 hit, Lonely This Christmas.
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Aida Garifullina, RSO-Wien, Cornelius Meister – Aida (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 58:51 minutes | 1,04 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Aida Garifullina’s debut album is one of the most eagerly awaited operatic events of the year! Since her triumphant win at Plácido Domingo’s Operalia 2013, the young star soprano from Kazan has become the hottest newcomer of the opera world – winning audiences over with stand-out performances at Vienna State Opera and Mariinsky Theatre, recitals at the Wigmore Hall and Vienna Musikverein and a US tour with Andrea Bocelli. Boosting a unique media profile Aida has made her feature film debut in Florence Foster Jenkins alongside Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant. She has appeared on German, Austrian, French and Russian TV multiple times, including televised performances at Vienna and Dresden Opera Balls, Rolando Villazon’s Stars von Morgen on ZDF, and the 2016 Bastille Day Concert in Paris in front of the Eiffel Tower, watched by millions. Aida has duetted with some of opera’s greatest stars, including Plácido Domingo, Andrea Bocelli, Juan Diego Florez, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Rolando Villazón.
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Ai Kuwabara, Shun Ishiwaka – Dear Family (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 47:42 minutes | 977 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UNIVERSAL MUSIC LLC
This dynamic and conceptful album is a collaboration between two Japanese musicians – Jazz pianist Ai Kuwabara and drummer Shun Ishiwaka. Even though the intriguing personality collides with each other, it resonates and it is finished in a concept album with a feeling of liveliness full of energy full that could only be formed by these two people.
The title of the album, “Dear Family” has been appointed as the opening theme of TV Asahi’s news program “Saturday Station” & “Sunday Station” started this April in Japan.
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Ai Kuwabara The Project – To The End Of This World (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:03:38 minutes | 1,24 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UNIVERSAL MUSIC LLC
Debut album from modern jazz pianist, Ai Kuwabara, and her trio, The Project. The music blends contemporary jazz with elements of rock and fusion.
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Ai Kuwabara, Steve Gadd, Will Lee – Live At Blue Note Tokyo (Live) (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:10:38 minutes | 803 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UNIVERSAL MUSIC LLC
Ai Shinohara just released August 22nd with the latest work “To The End Of This World” which co-starred with the up-and-coming creators. A dream team by her and Will Lee and Steve Gadd returned to Blue Note Tokyo after a year and three months. For Sugawara, Will and Gadd have been super heroes since she opened her eyes on jazz and fusion when she was in elementary school. I was fascinated by their performance hundreds of times with records, CDs, videos, live, etc. I dreamed that I could play with them someday. That was the first time in February 2017. This live, in addition to the numbers from the commemorative album ‘Somehow, Someday, Somewhere’, is a stage more than the last time from the last time to the original written down and the cover song surprisingly surprised.
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Ai Kuwabara – Opera (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:55 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © UNIVERSAL MUSIC LLC
Kuwabara was born on September 21, 1991, the youngest of three girls. Older sisters Yu and Mako are also musical, and it was Mako who introduced Ai to her current musical partner Yusuke Morita, who was her classmate at the Tokyo College of Music.Kuwabara graduated from the Music Department at Senzoku Gakuen High School as a jazz piano major in 2010. She studied piano under Yuki Arimasa, Yoko Yamashita, and Kazune Zaima. She has won many awards including gold medals at the All-Japan Yamaha Electone Contest,[4] for both the lower elementary division and the upper elementary division. She has performed at the UNICEF Charity Concert and International Junior Original Concert. She was featured in AERA magazine as a “Genius Electone Girl.” In the middle of junior high school, she switched to playing the piano.She is 5ft 7in.
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Osmo Vänskä – Kalevi Aho: The Chamber Music for Clarinet (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:15:10 minutes | 678 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS
Renowned for his rich production in the field of orchestral music, Kalevi Aho is also a prolific composer for chamber forces. Here three works spanning two decades have been combined, with the Sonata for two accordions originating in 1984 as a Sonata for solo accordion described by the composer in his own liner notes as ‘comparable in aspiration with Liszt’s most virtuosic piano works’.
Completed five years later, the duo version exploits to the utmost the unique possibilities offered by the accordion and remains highly virtuosic. It was premièred as late as 2002 by Veli and Susanne Kujala, who also perform it on this recording.
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