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Isabel Villanueva – Ritual (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 54:41 minutes | 915 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Isabel Villanueva
Silence is an indispensable condition for the appearance of sound, to make the verb habitable. When language could not express the deepest human abysses, music emerged as a privileged way to put us in contact with the mystical, with the transcendent element of reality. The musical rite then emerged, where word and melody go hand in hand to access a space where spirits and gods are honoured, where the unknown and even the forbidden are invoked. The rite is a sacred and protected ceremonial, a symbolic place where human beings congregate to access the unmanifest, that which likes to hide. Music is the heart of the rite, the beat that gives life and illuminates the rhythms of the ceremony. But if the rite is the map, it is so because it also indicates the limits, everything that is beyond our understanding. The rite is the entrance to the mysterious, and music, the vehicle that leads us to this terra incognita. For this reason, music eventually passes into the empire of silence, and in it its journey culminates. Music is a rite because it is the only language that brings us back to the condition of all that is possible. Music is rite because it is the only language that speaks to us of the impossible.
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Institute of Landscape and Urban Studies – Dammed Landscapes (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 23:27 minutes | 259 MB | Genre: Electronic, Ambient, Field Recording
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Institute of Landscape Architecture
Field recordings, photographs and laser scans from hydropower dams in the Swiss Alps. The second part of our Swiss water trilogy, after “Melting Landscapes”.
The 20th Century radically transformed the balance of the alpine landscape by building impressive hydraulic dams, that became the Modernist pride of Switzerland. They changed the country by providing energy to the cities located in the valleys below. Today, these dams bare witness to a foregone era, when glaciers and snow covered peaks were abundant and thought of as the eternal water providers of the nation. Yet all these glaciers are melting rapidly nowadays, and bountiful water will probably be sorely missed soon. Whether the monuments of modernity will take on a new significance in the course of renewable energy strategies is yet to be seen. Visiting the pumped-storage power plant Punt dal Gall and Ova Spin up in the Grisons over the past three years, the Chair of Landscape Architecture of Professor Christophe Girot recorded and documented the dam infrastructures and their immediate surroundings with the help of ETH architecture students. Together they tested a mix of underwater, airborne, electromagnetic, and vibrational recordings as well as lidar technology and analogue photography to produce this compilation. Through a precise composition of images and sounds, the imposing stature of these dams, and all the technocratic power they symbolize, unfold in an overwhelming sensory discovery and experience of place. «Dammed Landscapes» sounds quite ominous — and it is, for it questions first and foremost, the scale and passing materiality of time and space embodied through these objects in the alpine landscape. – Christophe Girot
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Il Pomo d’Oro, Giuseppe Maletto – Gesualdo: Sacræ Cantiones (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:05:32 minutes | 1,02 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Aparté
The year 1603 marked a turning point for Carlo Gesualdo: at the age of thirty-seven, the Prince of Venosa, having made a name for himself with his first four books of madrigals, turned to sacred compositions with two substantial collections of Sacræ Cantiones, published that year in Naples by Costantino Vitale. The first volume (presented here) consists of nineteen five-part motets, while the second one, which has not survived in its entirety, contains the same number of six- part motets and a motet for seven voices. The references to sin and the pleas for forgiveness might suggest a personal desire for atonement: thirteen years previously, in 1590, Gesualdo had ordered the murder of his wife Maria d’Avalos and her lover Fabrizio Carafa, caught in flagrante delicto. But it is perhaps unwise to gauge the possible consequences of that tragic event four centuries later, when mentalities are not at all the same. Religion was very important to Gesualdo, and it was present in his own family, with a maternal uncle, Carlo Borromeo, who was canonised in 1610, and a paternal uncle, Alfonso Gesualdo, who was a Cardinal from 1561 until his death in 1603. In 1585, five years before the honour killing, Gesualdo, then aged nineteen, had published his first motet, Ne reminiscaris Domine delicta nostra (Remember not our faults, O Lord). Although this early attempt at sacred music displays no harmonic audacity, it already shows a subjective adherence to the penitential text. So, if we were unaware that the piece was written in the 1580s, we would tend to associate it with the guilt of having organised the killing of his wife – an interpretation that would be historically unfounded.
The two books of Sacræ Cantiones of 1603 pick up the thread of that early motet, but show a more mature style. We notice first of all Gesualdo’s desire to assert his technical mastery, then to infuse his polyphony with a highly subjective pathos that was generally absent from religious music of that time.
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Il Gardellino, Peter Van Heyghen – Die Befreiung Israels: Oratorios by Telemann & Rolle (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:18:20 minutes | 1,52 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Passacaille
Il Gardellino is a period-instrument ensemble devoted largely to the performance of Baroque music, both instrumental and vocal. Consisting of eight core members, Il Gardellino can range in size from three to as many as thirty players, depending on demands of the repertory. That said, most of the instrumental concerts feature fewer than a dozen performers.
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Huw Wiggin – Nicholas Simpson: Fastness (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:03:18 minutes | 623 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © MPR
Fastness is a disc of orchestral music by Nicholas Simpson, who read law at Nottingham University, played guitar in rock bands, and then studied composition with John Tavener at Trinity College of Music, where he won the Chappell Prize for composition and the Ricordi Prize for conducting. Simpson practised as a criminal layer in London, but quit to be a professional musician on moving back to Manchester in 1998. His music has been widely played both in the UK and abroad, his output including three symphonies, a piano concerto, chamber music, an oratorio and Quarantine, an opera based on Jim Crace’s 1995 Booker-shortlisted novel of the same name.
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Huelgas Ensemble & Paul Van Nevel – Ludwig Daser: Polyphonic Masses (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 56:11 minutes | 1,01 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © deutsche harmonia mundi
This recording is dedicated to German Renaissance composer Ludwig Daser. Paul Van Nevel and the Huelgas Ensemble have recorded two polyphonic masses by the Munich-born composer, who was a contemporary of famous composers such as Orlando di Lasso and Cipriano di Rore. Ludwig Daser came from a wealthy Munich family. His composition teacher was to be the then famous Ludwig Senfl. Thanks to his compositional talent, Daser was promoted to Kapellmeister in 1552 – a post he held until 1562 (he was to be succeeded by none other than Orlando di Lasso). In 1572 Daser was then appointed Kapellmeister at the Stuttgart court of Duke Ludwig von Württemberg. A post he held until his death in 1589. Paul Van Nevel presents two masterpieces from Daser’s rich Munich church music output with the Huelgas Ensemble. Van Nevel has selected the monumental “Missa Praeter rerum seriem”. It survives in a Munich choir book written between 1544 and 1555. The “Missa Praeter rerum seriem” is a so-called “parody mass”. The model from which Daser was inspired is the six-part motet of the same name by the great Franco-Flemish composer Josquin Desprez. The second work, Daser’s four-part “Missa Fors seulement”, is of a completely different nature, it is an impressive example of the special characteristics of Franco-Flemish vocal music, which Daser had become acquainted with through Ludwig Senfl.
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Hespèrion XXI, La Capella Reial De Catalunya, Tembembe Ensamble Continuo & Jordi Savall – Bailar Cantando (2018) (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:10:01 minutes | 1,26 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Alia Vox
The twenty pieces comprising the musical collection in the Codex Trujillo del Perú are an exceptional case in the history of the indigenous music of the New World. This collection of tonadas, cachuas, tonadillas, bayles, cachuytas and lanchas offers a glimpse of the repertory native to the traditions of the country, as indicated by the text of one of the cachuas sung “al uso de nuestra tierra” (“according to the customs of our land”) and in particular the songs and dances favoured by the popular classes who lived in the “Viceroyalty of Peru” at the end of the 18th century.
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Hermann Scherchen – Mozart: Requiem in D minor, K. 626 by Hermann Scherchen (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:02:45 minutes | 1,07 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Alexandre Bak – Classical Music Reference Recording
Hermann Scherchen (21 June 1891 – 12 June 1966) was a German conductor.
Scherchen was born in Berlin. Originally a violist, he played among the violas of the Bluthner Orchestra of Berlin while still in his teens. He conducted in Riga from 1914 to 1916 and in Königsberg from 1928 to 1933, after which he left Germany in protest of the new Nazi regime and worked in Switzerland. Along with the philanthropist Werner Reinhart, Scherchen played a leading role in shaping the musical life of Winterthur for many years, with numerous premiere performances, the emphasis being placed on contemporary music. From 1922 to 1950, he was the principal conductor of the city orchestra of Winterthur (today known as Orchester Musikkollegium Winterthur).
Making his debut with Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, he was a champion of 20th-century composers such as Richard Strauss, Anton Webern, Alban Berg and Edgard Varèse, and actively promoted the work of younger contemporary composers including Iannis Xenakis, Luigi Nono and Leon Schidlowsky.
He was the teacher of Karel Ančerl, Egisto Macchi, Marc Bélanger, Françoys Bernier, Anna Renfer, Frieda Belinfante and Karl Amadeus Hartmann, and contributed to the libretto of Hartmann’s opera Simplicius Simplicissimus. He also premiered Hartmann’s early work Miserae. Conductor Francis Travis was a pupil, then conducting assistant, for five years.
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Henri Salvador – Homme Studio (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 43:08 minutes | 505 MB | Genre: Pop, Chanson, Easy Listening, Jazz, Bossa Nova, Electronic
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Born Bad Records
A pop star who turned his back to show business to become an independent artist, steered by the revolutionary ideas of his wife Jacqueline in 1960’s France; these are the outlines of Henri Salvador’s unusual musical career. It made him into a star then led him to entirely dissociate from the record industry, preferring to make music in his living room with his guitars. At 50, Salvador starts experimenting with synths and drum machine, multi-track recorders and altered voice collages. He takes up editing and mixing, and solitarily makes songs for young and old from his home in Paris’ Place Vendôme.
“Unfortunately, it’s not beautiful songs that make an amazing career. These are songs that will exist after I die.” (1969)
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Helmut Eisel – Prayer (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:04 minutes | 1,02 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neuklang
Klezmer as an element that connects styles, people and cultures is that Trademarks of this CD. My two duo formations could hardly be more different: on the one hand birch Falkenroth as great classical harpist, who only became familiar with our collaboration also enthusiastic about klezmer and with their rare instrument is a special feature of klezmer music. On the other side of the Sebastian Voltz, overflowing with enthusiasm for playing and improvising “Swinging Klezmer” on the grand piano. For me it is with both duo partners always different – and always a great pleasure, together and in dialogue to create music. We wanted this attractive contrast mediate with this CD.
We now understand even better than before what “being Klezmer” means: It means expressing that we find joy in life, in everyone day we are allowed to be on this earth. We want to play that we would like to convey to our audience. We sincerely pray and hope that we never forget!
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Harry James & His Music Makers – Flash Harry (1965/2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 47:14 minutes | 770 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Hep Records
Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947 but shortly after he reorganized and was active again with his band from then until his death in 1983. He was especially known among musicians for his technical proficiency as well as his tone, and was influential on new trumpet players from the late 1930s into the 1940s. He was also an actor in a number of films that usually featured his band.
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Goldmund Quartet – PRISMA (EP) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 23:16 minutes | 428 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neue Meister
The Germany-based Goldmund Quartet extends it’s repertoire into modern classical music with a deep dive into the world of contemporary classical music arranged for string quartets. It features pieces by Arvo Pärt, Uno Helmersson, and Philip Glass and newly composed pieces by Sophia Jani and Pascal Schumacher.
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Girls in Airports – How It is Now (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 44:13 minutes | 834 MB | Genre: Contemporary Jazz, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Kaja RECORDS
On March 23, 2023, Girls in Airports will release their eighth album titled “how it is now”. It is the band’s first release since going from being a quintet to Quartet in 2020. The smaller ensemble allows more space for all four instrumentalists and creates a stronger sense of togetherness, with the band members playing from an inner force.
The expression on the nye album is more imaginative, melodic and dynamically varied than hitherto. The album is a kind of documentation of where the band is right now, exploring a brighter sound with endless possibilities. The album is a testament to having the courage to be yourself and choose your own path. It revolves around themes such as having the courage to stand by oneself and giving oneself space and tranquility to exist.
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Gene Krupa & His Orchestra – Gene Krupa ’44’46 (1979/2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 46:03 minutes | 701 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Hep Records
During his time as a drummer with Benny Goodman, Krupa legally recorded a number of tracks under his own name twice (as Gene Krupa and His Chicagoans in November 1935 for Parlophone and in February 1936 as Gene Krupa’s Swing Band) with soloists such as Chu Berry, Vido Musso, Israel Crosby (for whom Krupa wrote “Blues for Israel”) and Roy Eldridge, including vocal numbers with Helen Ward, Irene Daye and Jerry Kruger. A few months after the spectacular Carnegie Hall concert, which took place in January 1938, Krupa left Goodman’s orchestra and formed his own big band.
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Geir Draugsvoll – Fachwerk – Silenzio (2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:54 minutes | 905 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
Sofia Gubaidulina’s distinguished career and her 80th anniversary are celebrated with this world première recording of Fachwerk. Recorded here by its acclaimed dedicatee Geir Draugsvoll and in the presence of the composer, this dramatic but also magical work is inspired by a fascination with architectural styles of timber framing. The bayan is a distinctively Russian variant of the accordion and is an essential feature of this piece, also giving a special character to the subtle poetry and textures of Silenzio.
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