ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Markus Poschner – Bruckner: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, WAB 102 (1872 Version, Ed. W. Carragan) (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:44 minutes | 1,06 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Capriccio
The most comprehensive Bruckner Symphonies cycle, including all available versions. Capriccio’s Complete Bruckner Symphonies Edition includes all versions of the symphonies either published or to be published under the auspices of the Austrian National Library and the International Bruckner Society in the Neue Anton Bruckner Gesamtausgabe (The New Anton Bruckner Complete Edition). Bruckner’s Second Symphony is rarely heard in its 1877 version, and it has remained virtually unperformed in the 1872 original version. This is not because of any deficiency in Bruckner’s earlier ideas compared with the later alterations. It’s mainly down to habit and convenience, since acquiring new parts and re-learning a score with many detailed differences requires significant extra effort and resources. That’s a pity, because it is well worth discovering the original rawness of Bruckner’s early masterpiece, something rarely heard since its creation, until now.
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Neave Trio – A Room of Her Own (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:23:11 minutes | 1,37 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chandos
In a follow-up to its extremely successful album Her Voice, the Neave Trio on A Room of Her Own once again champions the works of female composers. The only non-French composer on the album is Ethel Smyth whose Piano Trio, one of her earliest works, was composed in 1880. Like many of her works from this era, it shows a clear nod to the Austro-German influences of her studies in Leipzig, particularly of Brahms. Cécile Chaminade was born just a year before Smyth, and her First Piano Trio was written in the same year as Smyth’s. The Paris première was very well received by the critics, and the Trio was published a year later. Germaine Tailleferre’s Piano Trio began life in 1916 – 17 as a work in three movements, and then gathered dust for over sixty years, until a commission from France’s Ministère de la Culture, in 1978, enabled Tailleferre to revive and re-imagine it. By then in her mid-eighties, Tailleferre replaced the original second movement and added a fourth. The Trio is an excellent example of her compositional style – a voice that remained consistent though her long compositional career. Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps and D’un soir triste are perhaps now better known in their orchestral versions: this recording proves that the two pieces work equally well at either scale. As they are among the last compositions of her short life (she died of chronic illness at twenty-four), we are left to imagine what she might have written had she lived longer.
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Marie Nishiyama – Rameau: Pièces de clavecin, RCT 1-3, 12 & 12bis (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:31:13 minutes | 3,77 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © OMF
Marie Nishiyama is universally recognized as a rare artist who plays both the harpsichord and the historical harp. Nishiyama has collaborated with many musicians from a wide range of genres such as René Jacobs, Paddy Maloney of The Chieftains, Carlos Núñez, Michala Petri, Corina Marti, Mutsumi Hatano, Yosuke Yamashita and so on. Nishiyama has released many CDs with very good reputation. Her latest album is “J. S. Bach: Toccaten”(KCD-2073 / July 2019). After she took her master’s degree in harpsichord at Tokyo Music University, she studied with Rinaldo Alessandrini and Nicolau de Figueiredo (harpsichord), Heidrun Rosenzweik and Mara Galassi (historical harp), Jesper Christensen (Basso continuo, ensemble), and Pedro Memelsdorff (medieval ensemble) at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Nishiyama’s honors and awards include the first prize in the 11th Yamanashi Early Music Festival. Since 2012, she has been the artistic director of Shinshu Early Music Village (Workshop) and she contributes her energy to teach younger people as a lecturer of “Musashino Academia Musicae”.
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Marie Nishiyama – J. S. Bach: Englische Suiten (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/176,4 kHz | Time – 02:54:46 minutes | 8,10 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © OMF
Marie Nishiyama is universally recognized as a rare artist who plays both the harpsichord and the historical harp. Nishiyama has collaborated with many musicians from a wide range of genres such as René Jacobs, Paddy Maloney of The Chieftains, Carlos Núñez, Michala Petri, Corina Marti, Mutsumi Hatano, Yosuke Yamashita and so on. Nishiyama has released many CDs with very good reputation. Her latest album is “J. S. Bach: Toccaten”(KCD-2073 / July 2019). After she took her master’s degree in harpsichord at Tokyo Music University, she studied with Rinaldo Alessandrini and Nicolau de Figueiredo (harpsichord), Heidrun Rosenzweik and Mara Galassi (historical harp), Jesper Christensen (Basso continuo, ensemble), and Pedro Memelsdorff (medieval ensemble) at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Nishiyama’s honors and awards include the first prize in the 11th Yamanashi Early Music Festival. Since 2012, she has been the artistic director of Shinshu Early Music Village (Workshop) and she contributes her energy to teach younger people as a lecturer of “Musashino Academia Musicae”.
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Marc-André Hamelin – Hamelin: New Piano Works (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:14:19 minutes | 2,55 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Hyperion
Piano recordings do not come much more exhilarating (or entertaining) than Marc-André Hamelin’s survey of some of his own recent works. Listening to one of the most formidably complex musical minds of today is a rare and rewarding privilege: prepare to be astonished.
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Manu Delago – Snow From Yesterday (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 50:47 minutes | 1006 MB | Genre: New Age, Nu Jazz, Electronic, Downtempo, World
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © One Little Independent Records
Manu Delago will release his new album ‘Snow From Yesterday’ on February 2nd through One Little Independent Records. The Austrian composer, innovator, Grammy nominee and acclaimed percussionist has teamed up with vocal ensemble Mad About Lemon to craft a profound and distinct new concept piece.
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Liv Andrea Hauge Trio – Ville Blomster (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 34:51 minutes | 335 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Hubro
February 2nd marks the release of Liv Andrea Hauge Trio’s first studio album, “Ville Blomster” (Wild Flowers). The trio’s debut album, “Live from St. Hanshaugen,” was recorded in Liv’s living room just a week after they started playing together. In contrast, “Ville Blomster” represents the result of a year of frequent touring, practice, and studio time. The trio has developed its own expression, allowing room for exploration and improvisation. The title “Ville blomster” symbolizes the wild and improvised side of their music, along with the beautiful and simple melodic elements (the flowers) that stand out.
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Lawrence Fields – To the Surface (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 59:50 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhythm ‘n’ Flow Records
Pianist Lawrence Fields is noted for a blend of compelling musicality, a lightning technique, and an expressive, personal sound. Dubbed a rising star by Downbeat Magazine, Fields’ new trio combines a musical grasp of both past and present — with a fluid, spontaneous approach to interplay.
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Lavinia Meijer – Winter (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 56:31 minutes | 1,06 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
On her album “Winter”, harpist Lavinia Meijer combines compositions by Max Richter, Philip Glass and Nils Frahm, among others, to tell a story about this unique season and how it is being changed by the climate catastrophe. The album, released in February 2024, also contains two of Lavinia Meijer’s own compositions and collaborations with violinist Nadia Sirota, the vocal ensemble Wishful Singing and the Alma Quartet.
Lavinia Meijer developed the concept for “Winter” based on the piece “Open Window”, which she had already written during the production of the previous album “Are You Still Somewhere?” in winter 2020. She directly associated the “cold” of the pandemic-related lockdown and the resulting alienation in society with the season and the effects of climate change on nature. As a result, she began researching and collecting works on the subject. This resulted in a total of 18 pieces.
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Kula Shaker – Natural Magick (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 46:38 minutes | 561 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Strange F.O.L.K. LLP
Kula Shaker’s new album “Natural Magick” shows the band using the force to unleash their strongest magic yet, with blazing psychedelic sermons, raga rave-ups, stardust-coated pop gems and mood-lifting mantras.
“This chapter in the band’s life is very much driven by the live energy and the spiritual connection with the audience that comes with it. We all agreed that the songs shouldn’t be longer than three minutes. There are no epics.” (says Crispian)
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Jamie Webster – 10 For The People (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 39:07 minutes | 506 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Modern Sky UK
He’ll always be a man of his people, but Jamie Webster’s message has cut through hearts all over the land since the folk troubadour’s debut album ‘We Get By’ in 2020. The songwriting may have evolved from those defiant early days on the acoustic guitar, but the hard-hitting storytelling that made his name remains as he continues to give a voice to the masses through towering anthems to hold close through uncertain times.
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J Mascis – What Do We Do Now (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 44:39 minutes | 997 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sub Pop Records
Best known as the leader of Dinosaur Jr., a trio addicted to monstrous levels of volume, J Mascis has another side to his musical character. Inside this apostle of ear-shredding noise lurks a sensitive indie rock balladeer, whose creaky, minor key voice—often compared to Neil Young—is the perfect accent to his opaque songs of loss and doubt.
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Hera Hyesang Park – Breathe (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:19:21 minutes | 334 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
Heras second album for Deutsche Grammophon is the deeply personal result of an existential confrontation of Hera’s with the foundation of her being, resulting in her determination to embrace life: ‘As I contemplated death, I found my soul infused with the magnificence of life. A profound sense of gratitude began to fill my soul’. Presenting operatic favourites by Massenet (‘Meditation’), Delibes (‘Flower Duet’ w/ Emily D’Angelo), Humperdinck (‘Abends wenn ich schlafen geh’) side by side with contemporary works by Luke Howard, Cecilia Livingston, Hyowon Woo and Bernat Vivancos. A spectacular under water shot music video for ‘While you live’ accompanies the album release.
Read moreHeinrich von Kalnein & Sophie Min – Intertwined Trees (2024) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]
Heinrich von Kalnein & Sophie Min – Intertwined Trees (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 47:35 minutes | 476 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Galileo Music Communication
‘What can we expect from music made by two people who never had heard about each other and who couldn’t be more diverse? I had the luck to be present in this encounter, which happened in Australia early in November 2022. Festival promoter, renowned jazz composer and band leader Mace Francis had invited both of them for a duo performance during the 2022 edition of the International Perth Jazz Festival.
On the day of our departure back to Europe Heinrich and Sophie entered the studio on an early sunny morning. Three weeks earlier the two had successfully used the possibility of exchanging their musical ideas for the first time during a rehearsal at the Queensland Conservatory in Sophie’s now home town Brisbane, on the other side of the continent.
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Ferenc Fricsay, Wiener Philharmoniker – Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 29, 39, 40 & 41 Jupiter by Ferenc Fricsay (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:49:01 minutes | 1,89 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Alexandre Bak – Classical Music Reference Recording
Ferenc Fricsay’s career lasted barely 20 years, from the period immediately prior to World War II until his incapacity from illness forced him to curtail his musical activities in the early 1960’s. During that time, however, he became one of the most acclaimed conductors of his generation, and left behind a major body of recordings which are still admired more than 30 years after his death at age 50. Fricsay was born in Budapest, Hungary, and studied at the Budapest Academy of Music under both Zoltan Kodaly and Bela Bartok, whose music he later came to champion. He was appointed to his first conducting post in Szeged in 1936, remaining there until 1944.
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