Tengyue Zhang – Guitar Recital (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:03:12 minutes | 1,02 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
Tengyue Zhang won the 2017 Guitar Foundation of America (GFA) International Concert Artist Competition, one of the world’s most prestigious events. His debut recital illustrates the moods, colors and techniques of the concert classical guitar from baroque transcriptions to masters of the twentieth-century genre such as Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Tansman, and Brouwer. Despite being from very different backgrounds and time periods, several of the pieces share intriguing relationships in their use of variation form or thematic motifs and harmonic progressions. Aside from the GFA, Tengyue Zhang has also won first prizes at other well-known competitions- Austria’s Forum Gitarre Wien International Youth Competition, the Changsha International Guitar Competition, the 2017 Schadt String Competition, and the 2017 Alexander Frauchi International Competition in Moscow.
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TENET Vocal Artists & Jolle Greenleaf – Love Enfolds Thee Round (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:02:29 minutes | 1007 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Olde Focus Recordings
TENET Vocal Artists, NYC’s prëeminent early music ensemble, releases a Christmas disc of music spanning medieval to modern day repertoire. TENET’s pristine, one-on-a-part singing lends itself well to both well-known and rarely heard songs and carols featured in this recording. New compositions and fresh arrangements make Love Enfolds Thee Round a stand-out among holiday recordings. Each member of the ensemble is well featured, creating an intimate sound-world to celebrate the holiday season.
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Theory Of A Deadman – Say Nothing (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 34:58 minutes | 441 MB | Genre: Alternative Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Atlantic Records
Theory get a little more topical on their new album, as Say Nothing actually says quite a bit while tackling such issues as domestic abuse, racism and the divisive nature of politics. “I look at the record as a microcosm of our current era,” says guitarist Dave Brenner. “It’s a reminder to look inward at what’s happening and what we’re becoming. I hope everyone dives into the words. At the same time, music is still an escape. Maybe we can give the world a little solace and encourage everyone to treat each other better.”
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Theodore Shapiro – Destroyer (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 46:10 minutes | 413 MB | Genre: Soundtrack
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Lakeshore Records
In the first decade of the 21st century, film score composer Theodore Shapiro (aka Teddy Shapiro) became the go-to guy for movie comedies starring the major comic actors of the time, including Ben Stiller, Will Farrell, and Owen Wilson. He was born Theodore Michael Shapiro on September 29, 1971, in Washington, D.C., and earned a B.A. in music from Brown University, then a masters from the Juilliard School of Music. In 1993, he scored episodes of the television series The State. His first film score came with the crime drama Hurricane Streets in 1998; his first comedy was Safe Men later that same year. In 1999, he scored the comedy Six Ways to Sunday and the boxing documentary On the Ropes (along with Ray “Web” Davis). The drama Restaurant was released in early 2000, followed that year by the adventure film Prince of Central Park; another film taking boxing as its subject, Girlfight; and, at the end of the year, the David Mamet comedy State and Main. In 2001, Shapiro scored Wet Hot American Summer, Heist, and Not Another Teen Movie. His only film of 2002 was Love in the Time of Money, but in 2003 he had two comedy scores, Old School (with Luke Wilson, Will Farrell, and Vince Vaughn) and View from the Top. No less than four comedies followed in 2004: Along Came Polly (Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston); Starsky & Hutch (Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Vince Vaughn); 13 Going on 30; and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn). In 2005, Shapiro scored the comedies The Baxter and Fun with Dick and Jane (Jim Carrey), and in 2006 the comedies The Devil Wears Prada; You, Me and Dupree (Owen Wilson); and Idiocracy (Luke Wilson). Bug, released in early 2007, was more of a drama than a comedy, but Blades of Glory (Will Farrell), which followed shortly, was played for laughs; Shapiro also scored Mr. Woodcock and The Girl in the Park that year. His three movies of 2008 were Semi-Pro (Will Farrell), Tropic Thunder (Ben Stiller, Jack Black), and Marley & Me (Owen Wilson, Jennifer Aniston), and in 2009 he had I Love You, Man, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, and Year One (Jack Black).
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Various Artists – Stefan Heucke: Woodwind Sonatas, Op. 114 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:22:41 minutes | 1,22 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © GWK Records
GWK RECORDS presents four new sonatas by Stefan Heucke, each for a woodwind instrument and piano, which were created during the Corona lockdown in 2020 and immensely enrich the relatively narrow repertoire of the genre, in the first recording with internationally leading soloists and promising newcomers. With his Opus 114, Stefan Heucke (*1959; Germany/Italy) has composed a sonata cycle that captures the different characteristics of the four most prominent European woodwind instruments and, reinforced by highly demanding, complex and virtuoso piano parts, plays them off in a rousing way. In his “integrative tonal” (Heucke), subjective-emotional and at the same time intellectual-constructive musical language, Heucke dissolves the boundaries between the classical European tonal system and new music and further develops the traditional forms. The flute sonata, which Daniela Koch (flute) and Kimiko Imani (piano) interpret in a highly musical manner, breathtakingly expresses the flexible, bright, brilliant character of the flute. Expressively recorded by Ramón Ortega Quero (oboe) and GyuTae Ha (piano), the oboe sonata is deeply touching in its succinct melancholy and its piercing, sometimes cartoonish intensity. In the expressive interpretation of the bassoon sonata by Marceau Lefèvre (bassoon) and Kimiko Imani (piano), the extremes of the bassoon, the elegiac and bizarre, the majestic, and its poetry fascinate. An exception is the clarinet sonata in the sonata cycle as well as in Heucke’s oeuvre, insofar as the composer incorporated biographical circumstances into it: the second pandemic lockdown. For Heucke, this found its excellent symbol in the video of the song “O du stille Zeit” by C. Bresgen, which the composer’s fellow singers posted in November 2020. The quiet drama and turmoil, gloom, heaviness and shadows, even a tarantella-like dance of death develop around Bresgen’s folk song-like, simple, innocent theme. Simon Degenkolbe (clarinet) and Tobias Haunhorst (piano) express the drama of the sonata and the time it was written in a profound and compelling way.
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Clutch – PA Tapes (Live in Nashville, 9/24/2022) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:20:09 minutes | 1,63 GB | Genre: Hard Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Weathermaker Music
Head-bangin’, booty-shakin’ rock squad CLUTCH have announced the fourth release in their series of live concert recordings, shared under the collective moniker PA Tapes.
Released today, Tuesday 12th September, PA Tapes (Live In Nashville, 9/24/22) boasts another 20 live tracks to delight both new and old fans alike, drawn from the whole breadth of their three decade, stellar catalogue.
Legendary for changing the set list every night, with each band member taking turns in the hot seat, Nashville’s songs that evening were selected by chief storyteller Neil Fallon, who notes, “Marathon Music Works is one of our favourite venues in the U.S. The crowds there make it easy to have a good time and we certainly did just that on September 24th.”
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Christone “Kingfish” Ingram – Live In London (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:34:35 minutes | 1,07 GB | Genre: Blues
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Alligator Records
Recorded in front of a rabid crowd at The Garage in London, this release is a white hot testament to the exhilarating live Kingfish experience. Christone is in masterful control whether blasting out molten, rock-infused riffs or picking the bluesiest single notes this side of heaven. At 16 songs and 109 minutes long, it’s a motherlode of blues magic, and the set list is a fan’s dream show, including “Outside Of This Town,” “662,” “Another Life Goes By” and a new, previously unrecorded song, “Midnight Heat.” “Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram has already made his mark as one of the best, and undoubtedly most exciting, blues guitarists in the world.”
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Ten Years After – A Sting in the Tale (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 52:47 minutes | 608 MB | Genre: Classic Rock, Blues Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ten Years After
In 1967 four young musicians from Nottinghamshire, England formed Ten Years After. Alvin Lee, Chick Churchill, Ric Lee & Leo Lyons became one of the most explosive quartets on the world stage and cemented themselves as one of the biggest bands in Rock ‘n Roll history. The band scored eight Top 40 albums on the UK Albums Chart and twelve multimillion selling albums on the US Billboard 200 between 1967 and 1974.
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Captain Kaiser – RHYME&REASON (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 31:01 minutes | 389 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © [PIAS] Recordings Belgium
One stage at a time, Captain Kaiser has conquered the punk scene while driving the van, celebrating life and making the walls drip with sweat.
The band has grown, but that word means more than bigger rooms or stage. It refers to a new stage in their musical development, a level of emotional depth they’ve never explored before, Captain Kaiser sounds more raw and pure than ever, thanks to producer and hardcore wizard Jay Maas (Defeater, Title Fight, Death Of A Nation), without having lost their knack for catchy melodies. One calls it hardcore and others talks about postpunk, but let’s forget the tags and just feel it, right there where it hurts.
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Barenaked Ladies – In Flight (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 50:30 minutes | 625 MB | Genre: Pop Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Raisin’ Records
In Flight, BNL’s eighteenth studio album, retains the dry wit and keen observation we expect from vocalist/guitarist Ed Robertson, bassist Jim Creeggan, keyboardist/guitarist Kevin Hearn and drummer Tyler Stewart, but adds a strong sense of maturing and lessons learned. There is also a sense of joy (which is exemplified in the first single, “Lovin’ Life) and appreciation. On the new single, “One Night”, BNL honor “…the magical connection that happens between a whole audience and a band.” Songwriter Robertson, says, “When it goes right – which it almost always does – for that ‘One Night’, it’s a very intense connection.”In addition to the eight songs written/co-written by Ed Robertson, the album features four songs from Kevin Hearn, (two of which are love letters to Toronto – “See the Tower” and “The Peace Lady”) and two from Jim Creeggan (including “Wake Up”, a co-write with the Arkells’ Max Kerman).
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Behzod Abduraimov, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della Rai, Juraj Valcuha – Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1; Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No.3 (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:04:20 minutes | 1,14 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca Music Group Ltd.
Completed in 1921 in a rural summer retreat at Étretat on the coast of Normandy, the Third Piano Concerto nevertheless contains not a hint of anything that could be called pastoral. It is one of those works that seem to reflect not the actual surroundings of the moment, but a quite other environment that the composer is hankering after. The atmosphere it breathes is of a world that Prokofiev had left only temporarily: the world of musical centres, busy concert life, excitement, exuberant virtuosity, and applause.
The First Piano Concerto is one of the most popular of all Tchaikovsky’s works, to the extent that it has completely eclipsed the other two concertos for piano. A skillful mixture of ardour and melancholy, of simple Ukrainian folk tunes and brilliant passage work, of wistful melodies and waves of orchestral sound worthy of a symphony. One might criticize it for an excess of grandiloquence, but one cannot deny its success in at least two respects: the variety of its inspiration and the verve of the piano part, which guarantees an instant triumph to any virtuoso capable of playing it.
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Ingolf Wunder, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra & Vladimir Ashkenazy – Tchaikovsky & Chopin (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:12:40 minutes | 1,33 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
Austrian pianist Ingolf Wunder won second prize at the 2010 Warsaw International Chopin Competition, demonstrating how skillfully he plays works by the great Polish composer. On this 2014 release, Wunder revisits his beloved Chopin and presents two of the greatest hits in the piano repertoire: Chopin’s and Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concertos, recorded live at St. Petersburg’s 2012 White Nights Festival. Wunder teams up with the supreme musicianship of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of legendary conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy.
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Telex – This Is Telex (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 53:47 minutes | 1,06 GB | Genre: Electronic, Synth-pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mute
When Belgian musicians Dan Lacksman and Marc Moulin first joined forces as Telex in the late 1970s, the goal, Lacksman said last year, “was to do something not serious,” like taking a well-known French song and make it as slow as possible. It was Moulin who suggested couching their hijinks in synth pop’s minimalism.
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Television Personalities – Beautiful Despair (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 47:57 minutes | 440 MB | Genre: Indie Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Fire Records
The Television Personalities were an English post-punk band formed in 1978. Here’s a lost album from post-punk greats band is getting a wide release. “Beautiful Despair” was recorded on 4-track by Dan Treacy and Jowe Head in 1990 (between the recordings of their albums “Closer to God” and “Privilege”), at Head’s London flat.
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Roman Simovic, LSO String Ensemble – Tchaikovsky – Serenade in C; Bartók – Divertimento (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:50 minutes | 1,17 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © LSO Live
The LSO’s magnificent string sound is world renowned and this recording marks the LSO Live debut of the LSO String Ensemble, led by LSO Leader Roman Simovic, who directs a performance of the much loved Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings, together with Bartók’s Divertimento.
The Serenade has proved to be one of Tchaikovsky’s most enduringly popular works, a piece he described as being “passionately in love with”. Inspired in part by Mozart, its elegant music weaves Russian folk-song, and a fine example of the composer’s beloved Waltz, with an elegiac musical centrepiece.
Also featured on this release is Bartók’s Divertimento, one of the composer’s last works before leaving Europe for exile in the US. The Divertimento is a highly original work in its own unique idiom, contrasting two buoyant and light-hearted movements with a sombre Adagio in four sections.
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