![Yes - Mirror To The Sky (Deluxe edition) (2023) [High Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-Ray Disc]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2024/05/07/431fc5ccc69a7bf19509084e0e9f70ba.jpg)
![Nektar - Remember The Future (Deluxe Edition) (1973/2023) [High Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-Ray Disc]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2024/05/01/NjktMTk3MS5qcGVn.jpg)
Lara Downes – LIGHT: Migration Music Part 1 (EP) (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 13:21 minutes | 119 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rising Sun Records
This initiative is created and curated by iconoclastic Billboard Chart-topping pianist and NPR Music personality Lara Downes, inspired by exploration of her own mixed-race heritage as a trailblazing interpreter of diverse American traditions, and building on the legacies of history, family, and collective memory.
Read more
Lara Downes – Holes in the Sky (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:07:01 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Masterworks
The American pianist Lara Downes is known for unique programming ideas in which classical and vernacular materials mix, not so much in what is called crossover as simply representing parts of a common tradition. She has experience as a jazz pianist and is especially adept at finding pieces from the African-American classical tradition that fit multi-genre programs. Recently signed to the major Sony label (of which Portrait is an imprint), Downes continues to expand her reach. Holes in the Sky, whose title comes from a quotation from Georgia O’Keeffe (“I want real things…music that makes holes in the sky — I want to love as hard as I can”), is unique among Downes’ releases in that among the solo piano works, from composers ranging from Florence Price to Elena Ruehr, there are songs from vocalists of various kinds. All the composers and all the vocalists are women, and Downes provides an elegant reflection on her place in this tradition in the booklet, which also contains a conversation between Downes and folk vocalist Judy Collins about Collins’ contribution, her early song Albatross. This doesn’t cover all the selections on the album, but it is relevant to them all: Downes finds a personal connection in each piece, and as the program proceeds, its power gathers. The piano works and song arrangements come from various places, and Downes weaves them together so that they appear as facets of a diamond. Absolutely marvelous. ~ James Manheim
Read more
Lara Downes – For Lenny: An Intimate Tribute to Leonard Bernstein (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:03:43 minutes | 515 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Worldwide
Pianist Lara Downes celebrates the launch of her Sony Classical debut album FOR LENNY, a Leonard Bernstein centennial tribute that spans the landscape of American music from the past, present, and future. Downes, joined on stage by singer Rhiannon Giddens, presents a portrait of Bernstein the man, full of boundless curiosity and a fervent belief in the power of music to change our world for the better.
Read more
John Storgårds, Lapland Chamber Orchestra – Karlsson: 7 Songs & Clarinet Concerto (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 54:44 minutes | 913 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BIS
Lars Karlsson was born in 1953 on Åland, an archipelago in the Baltic Sea which forms part of Finland although its population is Swedish-speaking. He soon moved to Helsinki, however, in order to study at the Sibelius Academy, where his teachers included Einar Englund and Einojuhani Rautavaara. Since 1976, he has himself been teaching at the Academy. Following his own distinctive route on the Finnish contemporary music scene, Karlsson composes in a neotonal vein and has been called a ‘romantic modernist’ – as well as a ‘modern romanticist’. His work list includes all genres from chamber music and solo works to orchestral works, and he has also composed extensively for voices. Two of his later works are recorded here, in performances conducted by John Storgårds with whom Karlsson has collaborated extensively, both as conductor and violinist. Storgårds and his Lapland Chamber Orchestra have previously recorded four discs with music by Kalevi Aho for BIS – discs which have received critical acclaim and international distinctions such as the prestigious German ECHO Klassik award. Here they are joined by Gabriel Suovanen and Christoffer Sundqvist, the soloists for whom Lars Karlsson composed his Songs to texts by Lagerkvist and Clarinet Concerto. The song cycle charts what the composer calls ‘a life-journey’, setting texts by the Swedish poet and Nobel Prize laureate Pär Lagerkvist. In the Concerto, Karlsson instead revisits his own production, exploring an interest for fourths and fifths which was particularly strong during the early part of his career, but also reusing themes from other works, for instance in the folksong-like second movement.
Read more
LANY – gg bb xx (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 38:13 minutes | 450 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Polydor Records
If you haven’t heard LANY’s music yet, you’ve heard a dozen variations of the same thing: syrupy synths and watered-down beats, electropop shuffles and lyrics culled from Instagram captions. This is the sound slumping across Spotify, playlist-friendly and palatable enough to put on shuffle; this is music that can never disappoint you, because you’ve been conditioned to expect nothing from it. Lauv, a reigning sadboi of streaming, sounds like this, all smeared vocals and finger snaps; so do, at times, Tove Styrke, who rasps quasi-confessional electropop, and Dixie D’Amelio, the TikTok star turned singer who cycles through market-tested genres. It’s the limp, flat soundtrack of Ubers and malls everywhere.
Read more
Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra & Reuben Blundell – American Discoveries (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 30:21 minutes | 562 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © New Focus Recordings
The Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra and conductor Reuben Blundell release American Discoveries, a continuation of their series of promoting previously unrecorded orchestral repertoire. This collection features music by three female composers: Priscilla Alden Beach, Linda Robbins Coleman, and Alexandra Pierce.
Priscilla Alden Beach’s City Trees reflects her studies at Eastman School of Music in the 1920’s and more specifically the influence of composition mentor Howard Hanson. The work is in a ternary form, with languid outer sections and a heroic internal più mosso. Beach’s writing is evocative and colorful, painting vivid scenes with lush orchestration.
Read more
Lani Hall – Es Facil Amar (1985/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 38:17 minutes | 774 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Herb Alpert Presents
Es Fácil Amar” is a studio album recorded by American singer Lani Hall. It was produced by Albert Hammond, mixed by Bill Bottrell, mastered by Arnie Acosta, and released in 1985. The album won Hall a Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Performance in 1986.
Read more
Lang Lang – Romance (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:19:56 minutes | 610 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
Sony Classical has brought together the most beautiful and romantic piano works recorded by Lang Lang to create Romance. Carefully selected from his Sony Classical discography, each work exhibits the artist’s mature and nuanced lyricism at its finest. Heralded by the New York Times as “the hottest artist on the classical music planet,” Lang Lang has had an almost unparalleled impact on classical music, whose most notable performances include the Sydney Opera House and Beijing’s 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony, watched by billions. Every track is well-known and a joy to listen to – from Liszt’s “Liebestraum”, Schubert’s “Ave Maria”, Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the sugar plum fairy”, Bach’s “Air on the G string” and Chopin’s most relaxing Nocturnes & Etudes. Romance also features a couple of Lang Lang’s most evocative movie soundtrack collaborations including Hans Zimmer’s “Theme from Gladiator” and the main theme from the UK’s smash hit TV drama “Poldark.”
Read more
Lang Lang – Piano Magic (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 50:10 minutes | 432 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
“Lang Lang – Piano Magic” is a compilation of a wide variety of recordings made between 2010 and 2014; the album brings together short pieces, and also some of the most popular isolated movements in piano music – which are often played as encores. In a few minutes, each of these morsels conjures up its own miniature universe, as if by magic… Hence the title. While the majority of pieces are brilliantly virtuoso, our pianist doesn’t forget to include a few rather less complex moments, which put the emphasis more on softness and solemnity. The magnificent Entertainer by Scott Joplin which closes the album, is played with an offbeat wit and a very personalised idea of rhythm with a few melodic turns which Lang Lang puts a jazzy spin on, as if re-improvising the whole thing on the spot.
Read more
Lang Lang – Piano Book EP: Around the World (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 20:18 minutes | 403 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
One of the world’s biggest classical stars, Lang Lang, returns with his brand new solo album ‘Piano Book’ – a collection of pieces which first inspired him to play the piano and led him on his path to international stardom. The recording, his first new studio album in three years, marks his return to Universal Music Group and Deutsche Grammophon
Read more
Lang Lang – Piano Book (Encore Edition) (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:01:06 minutes | 2,16 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
Piano Book is a compilation of post-Bach piano music’s greatest hits. Lang Lang puts together a retrospective anthology beginning with J.S. Bach’s Prelude in C major from the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier. The piece, in fully written arpeggio, which every piano student has studied to practice fingering, articulations, and harmonic tiering is followed by Beethoven’s Lettre à Elise. Lang Lang then invites Mendelssohn (La Fileuse), Chopin (15th Prelude from Opus 28), and Mozart (Allegro from Sonata “Semplice” or Variations on “Ah, vous dirai-je Maman”) The record also includes lesser-known repertoire from such composers as Badarzewska-Baranowska, Czerny, or Clementi and a few Chinese classic and traditional / popular songs from diverse parts of the world.
Lang Lang has fun, especially when he plays French music. Performing Debussy’s Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, he enjoys each afterbeat, plays with the basses, and even sings.
Read more
Lang Lang – Piano Book (Deluxe) (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:45:59 minutes | 1,88 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
“Piano Book” is a compilation of post-Bach piano music’s greatest hits. Lang Lang puts together a retrospective anthology beginning with J.S. Bach’s Prelude in C major from the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier. The piece, in fully written arpeggio, which every piano student has studied to practice fingering, articulations, and harmonic tiering is followed by Beethoven’s Lettre à Elise. Lang Lang then invites Mendelssohn (La Fileuse), Chopin (15th Prelude from Opus 28), and Mozart (Allegro from Sonata “Semplice” or Variations on “Ah, vous dirai-je Maman”) The record also includes lesser-known repertoire from such composers as Badarzewska-Baranowska, Czerny, or Clementi and a few Chinese classic and traditional / popular songs from diverse parts of the world. Lang Lang has fun, especially when he plays French music. Performing Debussy’s Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, he enjoys each afterbeat, plays with the basses, and even sings.
Read more
Lang Lang – New York Rhapsody (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:20:32 minutes | 824 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical
As it has wowed musicians for over a century, the magic of New York City fired the imagination of superstar pianist Lang Lang who is joined by a one-of-a-kind cast of collaborating artists for the creation of his new album, New York Rhapsody. From the haunting reveries of Gershwin and Copland to the in-the-moment intensity of songs made famous by Alicia Keys, Lou Reed and Don Henley, New York Rhapsody rediscovers the dazzle and the soul of America’s most symbolic city as great artists have imagined them.
Lang Lang with Grammy Award®-winning producer Larry Klein have assembled an album that embraces the musical spirit of New York in ways both surprising and traditional. The centerpiece of New York Rhapsody is inevitably Rhapsody in Blue that features Lang Lang and jazz legend Herbie Hancock in a two-piano recreation of Gershwin’s most popular work with the London Symphony Orchestra. Surrounding it are creative collaborations with Lang Lang anchoring each track that reimagine songs reflecting the varying moods and experiences New York offers. Other guest artists include Andra Day, Jason Isbell, Jeffrey Wright, Lindsey Stirling, Madeleine Peyroux, Kandace Springs, Sean Jones, Jerry Douglas and Lisa Fischer.
Read more
Lang Lang – Mozart: Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major, K. 545 “Sonata facile” (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 11:04 minutes | 207 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
How many words have been written already about the phenomenon that is Lang Lang? His playful, flamboyant approach to music has won him a zillion fans and also a few critics.
Of course, his story makes great copy too. The lonely Chinese child prodigy brought up by a tyrannical father, rising phoenix-like from poverty at the end of the Cultural Revolution to become one of the hottest properties in the classical music world.
Lang Lang is symbolic too of China’s determination to make a name in the cultural sphere. The boom he’s triggered in Chinese children learning the piano, dubbed “the Lang Lang effect” is estimated at 40 million.
After injury in 2017 forced him into a sabbatical from concert life, Lang Lang is back with a new album Piano Book, and giving concerts in Australia for the first time since 2016.
Read more
Lang Lang – Live At Carnegie Hall (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:37:40 minutes | 1,84 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
This is a dazzling recital, taped live at Carnegie Hall in November 2003–complete with applause. Lang Lang’s virtuosity is almost frightening: the Liszt “Reminiscenses du Don Juan” is a showpiece when played “normally.” Here, Lang plays it to its extremes, with soft passages amazingly soft and subtly delineated and the bigger moments heaven-thundering. And it is played so fast, and so accurately (a cascade of notes in mid-“La ci darem la mano” sounds like a waterfall), that it leaves the listener breathless–surely just what Liszt wanted. In a Haydn sonata, Lang’s classical line is impeccable, but he’s not afraid to shine through the music and embellish occasionally. The Schumann “Traumerei” is suitably dreamy and hushed; Schubert’s “Wanderer” Fantasy, a real crowd-pleaser, is just that–beautifully played, familiar yet fresh sounding. And an encore, with Lang’s father playing a two-string fiddle called the erhu, is a fascinating look into Eastern music. There’s more (this is a 2-CD set), and it’s stunning–and highly recommended for all admirers of great piano playing. –Robert Levine
Read more