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Marius Neset – Tributes (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 49:10 minutes | 584 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
“This album marks a new phase,” says Marius Neset. “It was the last thing I did in Copenhagen, which has been my life for the past seventeen years.” In late 2019 the saxophonist and composer moved from the Danish capital to return to his native Norway. In “Tributes”, recorded shortly before he left, he marks this point of transition with music that has astonishing freshness – and unmistakably vivid feelings of joy and fulfilment.
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Marius Neset – Pinball (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:01:17 minutes | 1,14 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
Artists prize certain recording studios as much as they do producers or players. The room that adequately captures sound and provides optimal conditions for musicians working at the highest creative level is much in demand, and in some instances it is the location that can be something of a game changer. A studio in an unusual place with a unique ambience or history can greatly affect the act of making music.
Ocean Sound Recordings is a case in point. Built on the Norwegian island of Giske, it wears its name well, offering those who come to blow horns, strike keys or beat drums a grandiose view of the Atlantic.
It was here that Marius Neset, the 29 year-old Norwegian saxophone prodigy who has made major waves on the European jazz scene in the past three years following the release of the lavishly acclaimed albums, 2011’s Golden Explosion, 2013’s Birds and 2014’s Lion, a collaboration with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra, spent five days with his band in the spring of 2014. The experience has hardly ebbed from his mind. “The studio is in a big house, and the musicians who use it, get to live on the second floor,” Neset explains. “It’s the most amazing feeling to be in this space where you’re surrounded by nature. We all worked from early morning until late night but you’re aware of this unique environment all the time. I mean it’s just two minutes walk from the studio to the beach, so it was a very special place to make music.”
Marius Neset – Circle Of Chimes (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:17:44 minutes | 1,39 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
The Norwegian reeds star often sounds like several saxophonists playing simultaneously, and, as a composer, he can similarly suggest he’s aiming to pack in every possible new discovery he’s made from album to album. Circle of Chimes develops his growing interest in , with a central role for classical cellist , and world musician Lionel Loueke on vocals and guitar. Bookended by the sombre chiming of tubular bells, peppered with mind-warping rhythmic switchbacks and high-speed improv, see-sawing between stuttery minimalism and grooves, and leavened by airy sax and flute reveries, poignant cello parts and Loueke’s sensuous singing, the album is packed with surprises. Neither Neset’s deft manipulation of anchoring motifs, nor the fluency of the soloists (also including pianist Ivo Neame, vibraphonist , and Neset’s sister Ingrid on flute) dispel a slightly inchoate impression, but Loueke’s vocal warmth in the finale of Star, the -like momentum of A New Resolution, and the pretty melody of Prague’s Ballet are highlights of a venture buzzing with fresh contemporary musical thoughts.
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Marius Neset – A New Dawn (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:31 minutes | 648 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © ACT Music
The energy and the unassailable virtuosity with which Marius Neset burst onto the scene have not been forgotten. Back in 2004, as a nineteen-year old student recently moved to Copenhagen, he won the Talent Award at Norway’s Nattjazz Festival. He then made a huge impression as a member of groups led by Django Bates in 2008-2010. John Fordham of the Guardian described his 2011 debut album of original compositions as “sensational”, “indispensable”. He was the only artist from Europe in the Downbeat 2016 feature “25 For The Future,” in which he was described as “not only an impressive technician but also a formidable composer.” There has always been much more to Neset’s artistry than mere virtuosity: he has achieved several huge and successful composition projects with both classical and jazz orchestras, notably on three of the six previous albums he has produced on ACT since 2014, one of which, “Lion”, won him the coveted Norwegian Grammy, the Spellemannprisen.
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Marissa Nadler – The Path of the Clouds (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 46:18 minutes | 959 MB | Genre: Indie Rock, Indie Folk, Female Vocal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sacred Bones Records
The Path of the Clouds, Marissa Nadler’s ninth solo album, is the most stylistically adventurous, lyrically transfixing, and melodically sophisticated collection of songs in her already rich discography. Gripped by wanderlust while suddenly housebound at the start of the pandemic in 2020, Nadler escaped into writing, and came back with a stunning set of songs about metamorphosis, love, mysticism, and murder. Blurring the line between reality and fantasy and moving freely between past and present, these 11 deeply personal, self-produced songs find Nadler exploring new landscapes, both sonic and emotional.
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Marissa Nadler – July (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 46:09 minutes | 488 MB | Genre: Alternative, Indie, Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Bella Union
On July, her debut for Sacred Bones, Marissa Nadler strips away the metaphorical language that has been a hallmark in her songwriting–even when it was self referential. She speaks in the first person charting the aftermath of a devastating romantic relationship. These songs are colored in deep, gauzy American Gothic in lyric, melody, and production – the latter provided by Randall Dunn (Earth, Akron/Family, Wolves in the Throne Room). Nadler’s lithe vocals and fingerpicked acoustic guitar are, as always, at the forefront of these 11 songs. They are adorned by enough reverb to make them feel as if they were frozen in time. Among Nadler’s accompanists are violist/string arranger Eyvind Kang, guitarist Phil Wandscher, and keyboardist Steve Moore. Opener “Drive” charts the ephemeral, haunted memory of a road trip with her former lover. Grief and desire coexist in recollections of songs on the radio, road signs, shared glances and thoughts, and what’s left – his property rotting in her back seat. Jason Kardong’s forlorn pedal steel undercores her vocal. Despite its tender parlor-esque melody – which walks a line between Stephen Foster and early 20th century country music – “Firecrackers” reframes her absent lover as her attacker in documenting the song cycle’s origin: “…July 4th of last year/We spilled all the blood/How’d you spend all your summer days?….” “Was It a Dream” features Wandscher’s reverbed electric guitar introducing the lyric, and later delivering a weighty, sparse solo. Textured by Kang’s strings, Nadler reveals a “lost” year, wondering if this relationship was “a dream or something sinister.” The beauty in songs like these is that they don’t merely engage in an exorcism or catharsis, but offer an evolutionary process; experience gets integrated into the fabric of everyday life as it goes on – whether she wants it to or not. As strings, acoustic guitar, and synths swirl about her voice on “Desire,” she relates the album’s bitterest truth: “I sent my song too soon/You didn’t free me at all/And I barely needed you…I had it all wrong/I was about to believe/I could fall for you/And you had eyes for me/You got it all wrong/I was about to believe/That you had desire for me….” Dunn’s commitment here is to avoid anything that would deviate from the inherent power of Nadler’s singing or entrancing guitar playing. Because of the material and the inspired collaboration between songwriter, performers, and producer, July unfolds as a harroing, but near-perfect song cycle. ~ Thom Jurek
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Marissa Nadler – Instead of Dreaming (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 40:28 minutes | 362 MB | Genre: Indie Folk, Female Vocal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Bella Union
Having spent the better part of her adult life on a fairly continuous tour, American singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler found a small silver lining peeking through the darkness of this ongoing era. During this unexpected time she had the opportunity to record a collection of covers to serve as a salve of serenity and comfort.
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Marissa Nadler – For My Crimes (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 34:09 minutes | 371 MB | Genre: Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Bella Union
In a period of overabundance of major folk singers, Marissa Nadler undoubtedly stands out. She has for a long time in fact… The songwriter from Washington is no rookie as For My Crimes is already her eighth album. A wonderful record with a gothic feel, in which Joni Mitchell’s worthy heir excels in creating a dreamlike atmosphere. You could see Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval fitting right in here. The album has been co-produced and arranged by Lawrence Rothman (who was involved in Qobuzism The Book of Law!) and allows Nadler to dive deeper into the well-worn theme of love with her fresh, quirky outlook. On For My Crimes, for which she designed the cover art, the American artist collaborated with Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten and Kristin Kontrol, as well as Dana Colley (Morphine) on the saxophone, Patty Schemel (Hole, Juliette & the Licks) on drums, Mary Lattimore on the harp and Janel Leppin on the violin. The perfect soundtrack for a slow-paced gothic western! – Marc Zisman
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Mariss Jansons & Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra – Mahler: Symphony No. 7 (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:19:53 minutes | 2,47 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Mariss Jansons’s international reputation as a Mahler conductor is indisputable. During his tenure as chief conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Jansons did not record a full cycle of Mahler symphonies. With this new 2016 recording that project is now nearing completion. Mahler himself led the Concertgebouw Orchestra in the Dutch premiere of the Seventh in October 1909. How must the audience in the Main Hall have reacted to this whimsical work with its night-time atmosphere and eerie sounds? Although this vast symphony, featuring a number of unconventional instruments like the mandolin and guitar, did not catch on right away, it would slowly but surely win the hearts of music lovers everywhere.
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Mariss Jansons – Wolfgang Rihm: Requiem-Strophen (Live) (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:19:47 minutes | 782 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BR-Klassik
Wolfgang Rihm’s Requiem-Strophen is a magnificent work. The composer, who was long contained with avant-garde circles, shows us here that he is also Brahms’ direct heir – the formal parallels with Brahms’ German Requiem are obvious in the lyrical tenderness of the most contemplative moments. Requiem-Strophen – created in 2017 by the same Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra who recorded it live here – combines Latin and German, mixing both the sacred biblical texts (the “Requiem” as well as passages from the Bible) with the secular poems (“stanzas”) of Rilke, Michelangelo and Johannes Bobrowski. The orchestral writing, powerfully modern and yet in tune with all the music of the past, displays sounds that are disturbing at times, reassuring at others, but always fascinating. Undoubtedly Rihm’s Requiem-Strophen joins the elite group of great Requiems in the history of music: Mozart, Britten, Brahms, Duruflé, Verdi, Penderecki, Berlioz and Fauré, to name of few of the best.
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Mariss Jansons – Stravinsky: Le sacre du printemps & The Firebird Suite (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:04:42 minutes | 622 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BR-Klassik
The two essential pieces of early 20th-century ballet music by Stravinsky combined on this new CD are live recordings of concerts performed on January 16, 2009 in the Philharmonie im Gasteig (Le sacre du printemps) and on November 17, 2016 in the Herkulessaal of the Munich Residenz (L’oiseau de feu), and both feature the excellent recording quality of the Bayerischer Rundfunk.
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Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks & Mariss Jansons – Rodion Shchedrin: Carmen Suite – Respighi: Pini di Roma (Live) (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:06:07 minutes | 664 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BR-Klassik
This new CD from BR-KLASSIK features the ballet music ‘Carmen Suite’, based on the famous melodies from George Bizet’s eponymous opera and masterfully arranged and adapted by the composer Rodion Shchedrin in 1968, and Ottorino Respighi’s well-known symphonic poem ‘Pini di Roma’ (The Pines of Rome), written in 1924. The name of the Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin is primarily associated in the West with his ‘Carmen Suite’, which has been highly popular ever since its first performance. The thirteen movements of this ballet music are based on Bizet’s opera Carmen, and carefully adapted to the musical language of the present day. After Shchedrin’s wife Maya Plisetskaya, long-time prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theatre, had vainly asked both Shostakovich and Khachaturian to compose a Carmen ballet especially for her, her husband decided to do so instead – a decision that was rewarded with international success. The rousing music in Shchedrin’s interpretation sounds very familiar, yet in many ways, entirely new! The Italian composer Ottorino Respighi is especially admired for his masterly instrumentation. The symphonic poems in his ‘Roman Trilogy’, which deal with the fountains, pine trees and festivals of his adopted home city of Rome, made his name immortal. In his ‘Pines of Rome’ he describes four locations in the Eternal City, each with a different historical background.
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Symphonieorchester Des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons – R. Schumann: Symphony No. 1, Op. 38 “Spring” – Schubert: Symphony No. 3, D. 200 (Live) (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 58:09 minutes | 575 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BR-Klassik
The two orchestral works on this new CD from BR-KLASSIK reflect early experiments with the symphonic genre by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann, who would both later become such important Romantic composers. In his Third Symphony in D major, D. 200, written in the early summer of 1815 and probably first performed at a private concert, the eighteen-year-old Schubert emancipated himself from the style copies of his First and Second Symphonies and finally found his own musical expression. None of his symphonies would be heard in public during his lifetime, however; the Third was first performed as late as 1881 in London, where it was immediately received with great enthusiasm. Schumann’s First Symphony in B flat major, op 38 (after an unfinished symphony he wrote in his youth) was an impressive success for the 31-year-old composer. Two months after its completion, in January 1841, the work was premiered by Felix Mendelssohn at the Leipzig Gewandhaus to great public acclaim.
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Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mariss Jansons – Mahler : Symphony No. 9 (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:20:43 minutes | 784 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BR-Klassik
Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony is primarily regarded as the composer’s reaction in the summer of 1908 to the diagnosis of a heart ailment, which he received just before writing the first sketches for the work. Mahler was deeply distraught and cannot have known how few years he still had left to live. His processing and exploration of his life experiences, and of valedictions, the meaning of life, death, salvation, life after death and love, always took place in and through his music. The Ninth Symphony was composed between 1909 and 1910 in Toblach, in a kind of creative frenzy, and was first performed in Vienna on June 26, 1912 by the Vienna Philharmonic, under the baton of Bruno Walter. Mahler had already died on May 18, 1911, and was no longer able to experience the premiere of his last completed work. Willem Mengelberg, the first ardent conductor of the composer’s works, wrote in his score: “Mahler’s soul sings its farewell!” Mahler’s Ninth Symphony represents the culmination of a development process. The progressive chromaticism and maximum utilization of the tonal are here taken to their limits – and, for the first time, beyond them. Indeed, the two movements that frame the work, in particular, depart from the tonal entirely, pointing clearly to the dawn of a new musical epoch. Alban Berg even called this symphony “the first work of New Music”. The Munich concert event of October 2016 is now being released on CD by BR-KLASSIK – it is an outstanding interpretation of one of the most important compositions of the international symphonic repertoire of the early 20th century.
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Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Mariss Jansons – Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor “Resurrection” (Live) (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:20:54 minutes | 744 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BR-Klassik
Gustav Mahler’s Second Symphony, also referred to as the “Resurrection Symphony”, is a complete expression of Mahler’s existential struggle; both its form and its overpowering sound make this utterly clear. This live recording from 20011 is performed by the Chor and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under its chief conductor Mariss Jansons with the two singers Anja Harteros and Bernarda Fink.
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