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Sly & The Family Stone – There’s A Riot Goin’ On (1971/2013)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 48:01 minutes | 1,9 GB | Genre: R&B, Soul, Funk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: ProStudioMasters | Booklet, Front Cover | © Epic Records
Recorded: 1970–71, The Record Plant, Sausalito, California
During the late ’60s, Sly and the Family Stone was the house band for the new utopia: celebratory, integrated, intent on breaking down walls, and full of relentlessly positive, idealistic energy. 1971’s „There’s A Riot Goin’ On“ directly contradicted all of these characteristics. Instead, the album represented the dark days of post-’60s disillusionment–a move from right-here/right-now ethos to reflection (‘Time’), from integration to separatism (‘Thank You For Talkin’ To Me Africa’), and from Sly’s exuberant cheerleading to a weary, craggy-voiced vocal style. Many fans considered the album a ‘downer’ at the time.
In truth, „There’s A Riot Goin’ On“ is stunningly innovative and artistically accomplished. Here Sly began playing with subtle, sophisticated rhythms, creating webs of interlocking parts and textures, foregrounding mood over pop structures. The production is murky, keeping with the dark, edgy themes of the album, yet it is packed with detail. The burbling guitars, keys, lock-pop bass, and ghostly vocals create a warm, enveloping cocoon, as on the honeyed, heavy-lidded groove of ‘Just Like A Baby,’ the percolating surge of ‘Family Affair’ (one of Sly’s finest moments), and ‘(You Caught Me) Smilin’,’ which catches a wistful flash of the old optimism. Though it may be a challenging listen for the uninitiated, „There’s A Riot Goin’ On“ rewards endless repeated listens.
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Sir Neville Marriner, The Academy Of St. Martin-in-the-Fields – G.F. Handel: Ballet Music (1972/2018)
DSD128 (.dsf) 1 bit/5,6 MHz | Time – 44:17 minutes | 2,08 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/176,4kHz | Time – 44:17 min | 1,56 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96kHz | Time – 44:17 minutes | 846 MB
High Definition Tape Transfers, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Digital booklet
George Frideric Handel’s “Alcina”, “Ariodante” and “Il pastor Fido” (The Faithful Shepherd) were cornerstone of Sir Thomas Beecham’s so-called ‘lollipops’ and are beautifully rendered here. These recordings represent some of Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields with Sir Neville Marriner’s earliest, dating from 1970 and 1971.
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Valentin Tournet & La Chapelle Harmonique – Charpentier: Te Deum (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:04:31 minutes | 1,16 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Château de Versailles Spectacles
In 1692, Charpentier wrote the Te Deum that would make him famous into the 20th century. Played for the military victory of Steenkerque, most probably at the church of Saint-Louis-des-Jesuites, this masterpiece, which glorified the armies of Louis XIV, is a powerful fresco whose prelude opens with the martial rhythms of the timpani and trumpets, symbolising the Grand Siecle of the arts, but also Louis XIV’s conquests. Valentin Tournet adds pieces to the programme whose pomp is matched by their quality and expressiveness: the De Profundis has an extraordinary solemnity, while the Marche de Triomphe sounds the trumpets for the king considered the greatest in the world.
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Sir Simon Rattle & London Symphony Orchestra – Haydn: An Imaginary Orchestral Journey (2018)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,8 MHz | Time – 51:27 minutes | 2,04 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 51:27 minutes | 1, GB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Digital booklet
Sir Simon Rattle pays homage to a composer he holds close to his heart with An Imaginary Orchestral Journey through the music of Joseph Haydn. Rattle trawls through the great composer’s impressive catalogue, piecing together excerpts from symphonies, oratorios and operas spanning a 40-year period in what the director describes as ‘a kind of greatest hits’ format.
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Stéphane Degout & Simon Lepper – Lieder & Balladen (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:03:16 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © harmonia mundi
“The mystery of the ballad comes from the way it is told” – Goethe. This fascinating repertory requires the performer to play each of the characters as he or she would in an opera.
Who better than Stéphane Degout to take up the challenge of plunging into the heart of German Romanticism? Fresh from winning a Victoire de la Musique in 2019, the French baritone truly embodies each of the protagonists in these shattering miniature dramas. Beside him here are a longstanding partner and two exceptional guests.
Read morePekka Kuusisto, Tapiola Sinfonietta – Sibelius: Works for Violin and Orchestra (2006/2015) DSF DSD64
Pekka Kuusisto, Tapiola Sinfonietta – Sibelius: Works for Violin and Orchestra (2006/2015)
DSF Stereo DSD64, 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 01:04:16 minutes | 2,54 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: AcousticSounds | Booklet, Front Cover | © 2xHD/Ondine Oy, Helsinki
For lovers of Sibelius’s famous Violin Concerto, this album offers an ideal opportunity to discover his less-performed works for violin and orchestra, played by celebrated Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto. Known as a cutting edge musician, Kuusisto is acclaimed for his tone, technique, infectious enthusiasm and his imaginative interpretations, all of which are on display here. The Tapiola Sinfonietta, one of the top professional orchestras in the Nordic countries, is famous for its fine performances of classical, contemporary and less familiar chamber orchestra repertoire.
Pekka Kuusisto and composer Jean Sibelius seem to be an ideal match. After his highly successful debut recording, playing the Sibelius concerto, Kuusisto returns here as soloist and conductor of the Tapiola Sinfonietta for another strong showing with some of Sibelius’ lesser-known works for violin and orchestra.
This album was mastered using our 2xHD proprietary system. In order to achieve the most accurate reproduction of the original recording we tailor our process specifically for each project, using a selection from our pool of state-of-the-art audiophile components and connectors. The process begins with a transfer to analog from the original DSD master, using cutting edge D/A converters. The analog signal is then sent through a hi-end tube pre-amplifier before being recorded directly in DXD using the dCS905 A/D and the dCS Vivaldi Clock. All connections used in the process are made of OCC silver cable.
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London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis – Sibelius: Symphony No 2 & Pohjola’s Daughter (2007)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 58:38 minutes | 2,33 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: nativeDSDmusic | Booklet, Front Cover | © LSO Live
Sibelius’s Pohjola’s Daughter is usually classified as a ’tone poem’– in other words, not a ’pure’ symphonic work, but one in which a literary or pictorial idea is represented in music. But Sibelius’s description was ’Symphonic Fantasy’ – which is exactly how the onemovement Seventh Symphony was entitled when it first appeared in 1924. It is quite possible to appreciate Pohjola’s Daughter simply as a colourful and highly compact one-movement symphony. All the same, unlike the Seventh Symphony, Pohjola’s Daughter does come with a story, printed in verse form in the score. It tells how V.in.m.inen – the wizard-hero of the Finnish folk-epic, the Kalevala – sees the daughter of the moon-god Pohjola sitting at her spinning wheel atop a rainbow. Instantly he falls in love with her, and begs her to join him. She agrees to come down when V.in.m.inen has conjured a boat from her spindle – in other words: ’Thanks, but no thanks’. V.in.m.inen tries heroically, but fails. Furious, humiliated, he springs onto his sleigh and vanishes.
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Shirley Horn – Live at the 4 Queens (2016)
DSF Stereo DSD128, 1 bit/5,6 MHz | Time – 54:54 minutes | 4,37 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: nativeDSDmusic | Booklet, Front Cover | © 2xHD/Resonance Records
The first previously unreleased music by Shirley Horn in nearly a decade was recorded live at the 4 Queens Hotel in Las Vegas in May 1988 and feature Horn’s longtime trio, bassist Charles Ables and drummer Steve Williams. The set was recorded by KNPR radio for a syndicated jazz show and captures the angora-voiced jazz singer and pianist at the very beginning of her resurgence on the jazz scene. Renowned for her inimitable ability to negotiate melodies and lyrics at an exquisitely unhurried pace, Horn applies her unique alchemy to classic and contemporary songs: when she sings a song, she changes the way it’s heard forever.
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Russian National Orchestra, Paavo Berglund – Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 8 ‘Stalingrad’ (2006)
DSF Stereo DSD64, 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 01:06:28 minutes | 2,62 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download – Source: nativeDSDmusic | Booklet, Front Cover | © Pentatone Music B.V.
Not until later on, in his posthumously published memoirs, did Shostakovich provide a personal insight into his Symphony No. 8 in C minor, Op. 65, which he completed on September 9, 1943 in only two months’ time, following a short, yet agonisingly dry creative period: “The Seventh and the Eighth are my ‘Requiem’.” At the time, his first comments on the new work were very different, and (as was usual during Stalin’s regime, one should add) meaningless: “This work mirrors my thoughts and feelings following the joyous reports on the first victories of the Red Army.” For sure … After all, it would be hard to come up with another 20th-century symphony that soundsas inscrutable and sadly fateful as Shostakovich’s Eighth.
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Stratovarius – Visions Of Europe (Reissue 2016) (1998/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:38:13 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Metal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © earMUSIC
“Visions of Europe” is a live album by power metal band Stratovarius. The album was recorded on two dates in Italy and Greece during the band’s tour for their 1997 smash hit album “Visions”. “Visions of Europe” have been remastered in 2016 as part of Stratovarius’ reissue campaign.
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Stratovarius – Enigma: Intermission II (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:15:00 minutes | 895 MB | Genre: Power Metal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © earMUSIC
“Enigma: Intermission 2” is a compilation album by power metal band Stratovarius. The album has a collection of rare Stratovarius tracks from their four most recent studio albums: “Polaris”, “Elysium”, “Nemesis” and “Eternal”. It also includes three new tracks: ‘Enigma’, ‘Burn Me Down’ and ‘Oblivion’, along with four orchestral versions of previous Stratovarius songs. The album is a follow-up to 2001’s “Intermission”.
Read moreStratovarius – Destiny (Expanded Reissue 2016) (1998/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]
Stratovarius – Destiny (Expanded Reissue 2016) (1998/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 02:06:25 minutes | 1,53 GB | Genre: Metal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Epic – Legacy
“Destiny” is the seventh studio album by Finnish Power Metal band Stratovarius. At the release time it reached No.1 on the Finnish albums chart and remained on that chart for 17 weeks. In 2016 the album has been remastered & reissued along with European, U.S. & Japanese bonus tracks and expanded with rare live bootleg “Visions Of Destiny” which has been recorded in October 1999 during their triumphant, album accompanying tour.
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Strand of Oaks – In Heaven (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 42:43 minutes | 915 MB | Genre: Indie Folk, Folk Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Galacticana Records
To say In Heaven is about conquering grief would be oversimplifying everything Tim Showalter has achieved on the eighth studio album from Strand of Oaks. A stunning, hopeful reflection on love, loss, and enlightenment, In Heaven is a triumph in music making, and a preeminent addition to the Strand of Oaks discography.
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Strand of Oaks – Eraserland (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:05:20 minutes | 701 MB | Genre: Folk Rock, Singer-Songwriter
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Dead Oceans
“When I was writing these songs, every day I would walk on the beach and I was completely alone and overwhelmed by fear…but then I realized how there really aren’t any rules for who you are, who you’ll become, or who you think you need to be. Eraserland is just that. It’s death to ego, and rebirth to anything or anyone you want to be.” In December 2017, Tim Showalter was uncertain about his next record and the shape it would eventually take. With no new songs written, he was unprepared for the message he would receive from his friend Carl Broemel, the conversation that would follow, and the album that would become Eraserland. Leading off with standout track “Weird Ways” and his powerful declaration of “I don’t feel it anymore,” Eraserland traces Showalter’s evolution from apprehension to creative awakening, carving out a new and compelling future for Strand of Oaks. Revived by the support of Broemel and his bandmates, Showalter felt the pressure to deliver songs worthy of musicians he had admired long before and after a 2015 Oaks/MMJ tour. So in February 2018, he spent two weeks alone in Wildwood, New Jersey writing and demoing all of the songs that would eventually comprise Eraserland. And in April, he went into the studio to record with Kevin Ratterman at La La Land Studios in Louisville, Kentucky, and with Broemel, Hallahan, Koster, and Blankenship as his band. Jason Isbell also contributed his Hendrix-esque guitar work to Eraserland, while singer/ songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle provided gorgeous vocals. Every song was recorded live, with all musicians playing together in one room and working to bring Showalter’s ideas to fruition. “I remember sitting next to Tim and Kevin listening to the final mixes with tears rolling down my cheeks,” said Hallahan. “From start to finish, this one came from the heart.”
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Straight No Chaser – Social Christmasing (Deluxe Edition) (2020/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 52:35 minutes | 647 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Arts Music
Chart-topping a cappella group Straight No Chaser are “Back In The High Life,” kicking off their 2021 fall tour dates tonight in Minnesota at the Mystic Lake Casino. The group, who have built a name for themselves through their holiday music, today released a deluxe edition of last year’s album Social Christmasing with two new songs, “Celebrate Me Home (with Kenny Loggins)” and “Christmas Show.”
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