Giuseppe Verdi – Otello – Johan Botha, Renee Fleming, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Semyon Bychkov (2015) Blu-ray 1080i AVC DTS-HD MA 5.1

Сomposer: Georges Bizet (1813-1901)
Title: Otello
Release Date: 2015
Genre: Classical, Opera
Director: David Kneuss
Conductor: Semyon Bychkov
Artist: Johan Botha (Otello), Renée Fleming (Desdemona), Falk Struckmann (Iago) & Michael Fabiano (Cassio), Renée Tatum (Emilia), James Morris (Lodovico), Eduardo Valdes (Roderigo), The Metropolitan Opera, Chorus & Ballet

Production/Label: Decca
Duration: 02:42:11
Quality: Blu-ray
Container: BDMV
Video codec: AVC
Audio codec: DTS, PCM
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 27031 kbps / 1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: English / DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 3875 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: English / LPCM Audio / 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit
Subtitles: English, Chinese, French, German, Korean
Size: 40.2 GB

Verdi’s Shakespearean masterpiece returns to the Met with Johan Botha in the title role and Renée Fleming playing Desdemona. Semyon Bychkov conducts. The opera was originally filmed as part of the Met Opera Live series, which saw operas beamed live from New York to cinema screens around the world. (more…)

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The Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East (1971/1997) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

The Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East (1971/1997)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 78:46 minutes | 1.68 GB | Genre: Blues-Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | Digital Booklet | © Mercury Records

One of rock’s greatest live performances, 1971’s At Fillmore East illuminated a virtuosic band at the very height of its power. Produced by legendary engineer Tom Dowd, the double album became one of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. “Whipping Post” is also included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. This hi res release puts you in the front row of one of this seminal concert, bringing a new depth and clarity to an already essential recording.

“…one of the greatest live rock albums ever released, a gold standard of electric-blues ecstasy and improvisation.”
–David Fricke, Rolling Stone, March 2011 (more…)

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The Allman Brothers Band – Brothers And Sisters (1973/2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

The Allman Brothers Band – Brothers And Sisters (1973/2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 247:37 minutes | 5,69 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | © Mercury Records

By the time they released their fifth album Brothers And Sisters in August 1973, The Allman Brothers Band had experienced dizzying highs and soul-crushing lows. The group had spent its first two years developing its formidable collective chemistry into an unprecedented stylistic fusion that established it as the era’s most influential American rock act.

Brothers And Sisters bested the sales of At Fillmore East and Eat A Peach, spending five weeks at #1 and becoming the first Allman Brothers Band release to gain Platinum sales status.

This 40th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition features the original recording, a second album of previously unreleased Jams, Rehearsals and Outtakes, in addition to two extra albums that feature the entire live show from Winterland in San Francisco on September 26, 1973.

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The Allman Brothers Band – The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

The Allman Brothers Band – The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 6:05:22 | 7,26 GB | Genre: Southern rock, blues, blues rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: ProStudioMasters.com |  Label: © Mercury Records
Recorded: March 12-13, June 27, 1971 at the Fillmore East in New York, NY.

The Allman Brother Band’s breakthrough 1971 album at Fillmore East expanded to six-CD box set The 1971 Fillmore East Recordings. Universal Music Enterprises and Mercury Records release The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Band’s historic 1971 performances at Bill Graham’s iconic New York City venue. The recordings feature all four performances from the legendary weekend of March 12-13, which yielded at Fillmore East, as well as the Allmans’ headlining set from the Fillmore East’s closing weekend June 27,1971. (more…)

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The Allman Brothers Band – Idlewild South (1970) {Deluxe Edition Remastered 2015} [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

The Allman Brothers Band – Idlewild South (1970) [Deluxe Edition Remastered 2015]
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:31:43 minutes | 3,25 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download  – Source: HDTracks | © Island Def Jam

The Allman Brothers’ second album, Idlewild South has been remastered from its original tapes. This mixture of chunky grooves and sophisticated textures showcases both Gregg Allman’s and Dickey Betts’ skills as songwriters. This classic album includes the hit “Midnight Rider.” The Deluxe edition adds 12 tracks not included on the original release. Bonus tracks are a combination of live tracks, studio cuts and outtakes. (more…)

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The Allman Brothers Band – Win, Lose Or Draw (1975/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

The Allman Brothers Band – Win, Lose Or Draw (1975/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 38:42 minutes | 843 MB | Genre: Blues Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: ProStudioMasters | Front Cover | © Mercury Records
Recorded: February – July 1975, Capricorn Sound Studios, Macon, GA and The Record Plant, Los Angeles, CA

The Allman Brothers Band’s fifth studio album, 1975’s Win, Lose or Draw directly followed in the wake of the critical acclaim of its excellent predecessor Brothers and Sisters (1973) and growing tensions between Gregg Allman and Dickie Betts who both released solo albums with The Gregg Allman Tour and Highway Call respectively the year prior. The recording sessions were fractured and it’s certainly palpable all over the 7-track effort, yet a strong cover of Muddy Waters’ “Can’t Lose What You Never Had,” Allman’s title cut and Betts’ instrumental “High Falls” prove that the band may be doing things differently but they weren’t throwing in the towel quite yet.

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Einojuhani Rautavaara – Modificata, Towards the Horizon & Incantations – Colin Currie, Truls Mork, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgards (2012) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Einojuhani Rautavaara – Modificata, Towards the Horizon & Incantations – Colin Currie, Truls Mork, Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, John Storgards (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:02:16  minutes | 1,06 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download |  Source:highresaudio.com | Booklet, Front cover | © Ondine Oy, Helsinki
Recordings: Helsinki, Finlandia Hall, 15.1.2011 (Incantations), Music Centre, 10.–12.8.2011
A 24-bit recording in dXd (digital eXtreme definition)

This new recording couples Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara’s latest concerto works with an orchestral piece from his early Modernist period (Modificata; 1957/2003)

The virtuoso Percussion Concerto Incantations (2008) features the Scottish percussion soloist Colin Currie, who is the dedicatee and première performer of this work. Currie wrote himself the virtuoso cadenza to the final movement.

Rautavaara’s Second Cello Concerto Towards the Horizon (2009) was written for cellist Truls Mørk and plays continuously in one 20-minute movement. Reviewing the premiere the Star Tribune noted that the composer “acknowledges a ‘taste for eternity’ and a vain of mysticsm runs through his work.”

Einojuhani Rautavaara is recognized as one of the most notable Finnish composers after Jean Sibelius. His recordings on Ondine have been bestsellers and garnered numerous awards (including a recent GRAMMY nomination for his opera Kaivos).

Under their chief conductor John Storgårds, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra builds on long-time pedigrees of performing their compatriot’s music.

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Maroon 5 – V {Deluxe Edition} (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Maroon 5 – V (2014) [Deluxe Edition]
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 52:20 minutes | 1,3 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks.com | © 222 Records/Interscope Records

Maroon 5’s latest provides a sonic summation of the group’s journey to date – capturing the essence of the earliest M5 hits through to their most recent successes, as well as providing a picture of its artistic growth into the future. Bringing it all back home, V features the return of M5’s original keyboardist Jesse Carmichael to the fold, rejoining frontman Adam Levine, guitarist James Valentine, bassist Mickey Madden, drummer/percussionist Matt Flynn, and keyboardist PJ Morton after a two-year hiatus. The group’s fifth studio album features singles “Maps” and “Animals”. (more…)

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Big George Brock – Heavyweight Blues (2007/2013) [Official Digital Download DSF DSD64/2.82MHz + FLAC 24bit/88,2kHz]

Big George Brock – Heavyweight Blues (2007/2013)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 53:08 minutes | 2,09 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/176,4 kHz | Time – 01:11:40 minutes | 1,00 GB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: AcousticSounds | Artwork: Digital Booklet,  Front Cover
Genre: Blues | ©  APO Records

From APO Records and Blue Heaven Studios…blues so raw and real they’ll make you sore. There’s no surprises here – just straight-ahead force. The songs are standards, some of ’em covered thousands of times. But NOBODY, that’s a guaranteed NOBODY, comes closer to evoking the real feel of Muddy Waters or Howlin’ Wolf than Big George Brock. His voice is as rich as fertile soil. But this isn’t some imitation-contest record. Big George has got the goods all his own and has had ’em on display since the 1950s. He’s a former Heavyweight boxer, and just like with the best of that sport, he’ll gladly tell you what’s coming. You still can’t get out of the way. (more…)

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Various Artists – O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000/2011) {10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition} [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Various Artists – O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000/2011) {10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition}
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 1:36:27 minutes | 1,85 GB | Genre: Soundtrack
Studio Master, Official Digital Download |  Source: HDTracks | Artwork: Digital Booklet| © Mercury Records

This 10th Anniversary Special Deluxe Edition features 12 previously unreleased tracks from T Bone Burnett’s recording sessions! A double album worth of music.

The blockbuster soundtrack of the Coen Brothers’ critically acclaimed film won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2001 as well as for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals (“I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow”), and Best Male Country Vocal Performance (“O, Death”). Featuring performances by Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Soggy Bottom Boys, The Stanley Brothers and more, the album hit #1 on Billboard’s 200, Top Country Albums, and Top Soundtracks charts. NPR’s All Songs Considered included the soundtrack on its list of “The Decade’s 50 Most Important Recordings.” (more…)

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Borusan Quartet – Company: Glass, Part, Ucarsu, Vasks (2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Borusan Quartet – Company: Glass, Part, Ucarsu, Vasks (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:03:36 minutes |  1,08 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Master, Official Digital Download  – Source: Qobuz | Booklet, Front cover | © PM Classics Ltd.

Taking its title from the 2nd String Quartet by Philip Glass, the Borusan Quartet’s exciting new album focuses on contemporary repertoire, embracing the spiritual minimalism of Arvo Pärt’s ‘Summa’, to the expansive 4th Quartet of Peteris Vasks. This work, with its multi-faceted emotions swings from the contemplative to the combative: “I saw an angel flying over the world; the angel looks at the world’s condition with grieving eyes, but an almost imperceptible, loving touch of the angel’s wings brings comfort and healing”, wrote the composer of the quartet’s finale. The work has moments of conflict reminiscent of Shostakovich in places: a depiction of the condition of the world today perhaps?

The world of theatre is the background to the Glass. The source of this Quartet was a 1983 dramatisation of Samuel Beckett’s prose poem ‘Company’.

Traditional music from the Borusan Quartet’s homeland and in particular Anatolia is to be found in the String Quartet No.2 ‘The Untold’ by Turkish composer Hasan Ucarsu. It draws on Turkish folk music and traditions, especially the festival of ‘Hidrelliz’ which celebrates the coming of Summer. The songs of Neset Ertas were in the composer’s mind when writing this quartet, especially in the 2nd movement. Rhythmically complex it is a colourful and dramatic work influenced by the music of the composer’s country in the same way as Hungarian folk music colours Bartok’s Quartets and Balkar and Kabardinian folk music does in Prokofiev’s F major Quartet. Born in 1965, Hasan Ucarsu studied in Turkey with Ahmed Adnam Saygun and then in the USA with George Crumb.

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Tony Fontane – An Evening Concert by Tony Fontane (1965/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Tony Fontane – An Evening Concert by Tony Fontane (1965/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 00:38:57 minutes | 802 MB | Genre: Gospel, Soul, Folk
Studio Master, Official Digital Download  – Source: Q0buz | Front Cover | © RCA Records

Tony Fontane was born Anthony Trankina on Sept. 18, 1925, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. After a stint in the Coast Guard during World War II, he hit the nightclub circuits in New York and Chicago hoping for a break as a singer. Using the stage name Tony Fontane, he won the Major Bowes Amateur Hour, which started him on a career as a popular singer. He recorded for Mercury Records, with his biggest hits being “The Syncopated Clock” and “Cold, Cold Heart,” which sold 1.4 million records in 1950. He toured Australia in two shows, and made several hit records in that country. In 1957, back in the United States, Fontane was involved in a car crash that put him in a coma for more than a month and severely threatened his life. After recovering, he devoted his life solely to Christian music and, by the 1960s, was one of the most famous gospel singers in the world. A recording contract with RCA produced 20 or more very successful gospel albums. On June 30, 1974, Fontane died at the age of 48. His funeral at Forest Lawn Memorial Park was attended by an estimated 10,000 people. (more…)

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The Sisters Of Mercy – First and Last and Always (1985/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

The Sisters Of Mercy – First and Last and Always (1985/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96kHz | Time – 01:21:02 minutes | 1,7 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: AcousticSounds |  © Warner Music UK

With the band itself falling to bits shortly after the March 1985 debut of First and Last and Always, the album’s place in the skewed history of the rise of goth rock would, on one hand, be permanently linked with that discord but, on the other, not impacted in the slightest, leaving the fractious set’s success and structure to become a blueprint for an entire generation of up-and-comers. With static drumbeats and jangle-angled guitars backing Andrew Eldritch’s atonic, graveyard vocals, the songs on First and Last and Always paid to play alongside the ghosts of myriad forgotten post-punkers as well as the band’s own goth forebears. From the opening air-fire claustrophobia of “Black Planet” to the melancholy “No Time to Cry,” Eldritch continually assured listeners that “everything’s gonna be alright” — but, really, coming out of that mouth, did anyone actually believe him? Even on the occasional wobbly patches imbedded in the now classic “Marian” and the title track, where the song threatens to dissolve into irrelevance despite Eldritch’s chirky vocal, they pull up wonderfully on the bass-driven, bee-stung guitar gem “Possession” and the closing “Some Kind of Stranger,” an untouchable epic that, clocking in at over seven minutes, is the best of its kind from any time — period. “Some Kind of Stranger” not only became a love song for the doom and gloom crowd, but was also an anthemic, anemic declaration of intent laid bare in a haze of sonic smoke and mirrors. Copied to death, its brilliance has never been replicated. Indeed, the entire album remains unequaled in the genre, permanently granted top place on a pedestal from which it cannot be toppled. (more…)

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Tony Bennett – Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album (1968/2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Tony Bennett – Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album (1968/2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 29:07 minutes | 608 MB | Genre: Holiday
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | © Columbia/Legacy

Snowfall is Tony Bennett’s 1968 Christmas album. Arranged and conducted by Robert Farnon, the album was Tony Bennett’s first Christmas album. Bennett and Farnon had been friends since the early 1950s but had not worked together before recording this album, which included arrangements by Don Costa, Marion Evans, and Torrie Zito. (more…)

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Tony Bennett – I Left My Heart In San Francisco (1962/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Tony Bennett – I Left My Heart In San Francisco (1962/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 32:18 minutes | 685 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: HDTracks | © Columbia

I Left My Heart in San Francisco is revered vocalist Tony Bennett’s 1962 album. The record peaked at number 5 on the Billboard pop charts and is one of Bennett’s best selling albums. The record features the popular title track, along with “Smile”, “Love for Sale”, “The Best Is Yet to Come” and more! (more…)

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