![Nektar - Remember The Future (Deluxe Edition) (1973/2023) [High Fidelity Pure Audio Blu-Ray Disc]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2024/05/01/NjktMTk3MS5qcGVn.jpg)
![Biosphere - N-Plants (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2023/03/01/m8pqk5h84rtxc_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Biosphere – N-Plants (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:10:12 minutes | 699 MB | Genre: Ambient
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Biophon Records (Norway)
Early February 2011: Decided to make an album inspired by the Japanese post-war economic miracle. While searching for more information I found an old photo of the Mihama nuclear plant. The fact that this futuristic-looking plant was situated in such a beautiful spot so close to the sea made me curious. Are they safe when it comes to earthquakes and tsunamis? Further reading revealed that many of these plants are situated in earthquake-prone areas, some of them are even located next to shores that had been hit in the past by tsunamis. A photo of Mihama made me narrow down my focus only to Japanese nuclear plants. I wanted to make a soundtrack to some of them, concentrating on the architecture, design and localizations, but also questioning the potential radiation danger (a cooling system being destroyed by a landslide or earthquake, etc). As the head of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the plants were so well designed that “such a situation is practically impossible.” The album was finished on February 13th. On March 17th I received the following message from a FB friend: “Geir, some time ago you asked people for a photo of a Japanese nuclear powerplant. Is this going to be the sleeve of your new coming album? But more importantly: how did you actually predict the future?”
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![Ben Allison - Action Refraction (Remastered) (2011/2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2023/03/01/v6asknqbi060a_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Ben Allison – Action Refraction (Remastered) (2011/2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 47:23 minutes | 900 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sonic Camera Records
Action-Refraction is the tenth album by American bassist Ben Allison. It was released on the Palmetto Records label in 2011. It’s his first album to focus on the compositions of others.
In a review for AllMusic, critic reviewer Phil Freeman wrote: “Action-Refraction isn’t a straight jazz album, but it’s more likely to appeal to young jazz listeners than to indie rock fans, though it offers pleasures for anyone with open ears.”
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![Beatrice Rana, The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Yannick Nézet-Séguin - Clara & Robert Schumann: Piano Concertos (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2023/03/01/i59e7veiwe0ga_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Beatrice Rana, The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Yannick Nézet-Séguin – Clara & Robert Schumann: Piano Concertos (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 57:21 minutes | 1,92 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
“How rich in invention, how interesting from beginning to end it is,” Clara Schumann once enthused about Robert Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor when she premiered it. With her album Clara & Robert Schumann: Piano Concertos, pianist Beatrice Rana shows that the piano virtuoso could hold a candle to her husband in terms of composition. Together with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, she complements Robert Schumann’s imaginative Piano Concerto in A minor with a piano concerto that his wife had already composed as a 13-year-old – also in A minor and almost more ingenious than that of her husband.
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Aya Nakamura – DNK (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 41:54 minutes | 511 MB | Genre: R&B, Soul
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rec. 118
A true generational icon, Aya Nakamura is the author of three successful albums, one of which (Nakamura, 2018) sold one and a half million copies, obtaining a diamond disc on national soil, and another diamond disc for export.
Aya’s success markers are more than three billion views on YouTube, including a third for the planetary hit Djadja, certified triple-diamond in France.
She collaborated with Balenciaga, broke records belonging to Edith Piaf, performed on Fortnite in front of millions of users, had her portrait taken by the Times, before making the front page of Vogue France, she went on stage alongside Alicia Keys in Bercy, and made Rihanna dance.
Today she presents her fourth album, “DNK”.
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![Amber Quartet - Mendelssohn: String Quartets Nos. 2 & 6 (2023) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download](https://i0.wp.com/imghd.xyz/images/2023/03/01/my7jgkqa705sa_600.jpg?resize=500%2C500&ssl=1)
Amber Quartet – Mendelssohn: String Quartets Nos. 2 & 6 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 59:11 minutes | 1,12 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
“The German composer’s output also contains many chamber works that display an emotional intensity, which deserve to be heard by the audience,” says Yang Yichen, the cellist of Amber Quartet, who is also a teacher at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing.
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Grace Mahya – Love Songs For You (2016)
DSD128 (.dsf) 1 bit/5,6 MHz | Time – 48:00 minutes | 3,78 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/176,4 kHz | Time – 48:00 minutes | 1,72 GB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Source: Mora.jp | Front Cover | Genre: Jazz | © King Record
Grace Mahya is Japanese female vocalist/pianist, who is also known as the ‘great treasure of Japan Jazz world’. “Love Songs For You” makes the 10th anniversary of her debut and focusing on beautiful standard love songs. The album was recorded in native DSD. Please enjoy authentic jazz sharpened by tension without any editing at high end sound. Sound that feels full of presence and depth, directs the ultimate space for adults.
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Soloists, Chorus & Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, Alexander Vedernikov – Mikhail Glinka: Ruslan and Lyudmila (2004)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,8 MHz | Time – 03:23:10 minutes | 8,03 GB | Genre: Classical, Opera
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 203:31 minutes | 3,97 GB
Official Digital Download – Source: nativeDSDmusic | Front Cover | © Pentatone Music B.V.
Recorded live at the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, April 23rd –27th , 2003
This is the Ruslan and Lyudmila we’ve been waiting for. The music flows. The singers are all excellent. The chorus is clear, the Bolshoi orchestra is fantastic. Performance-wise, there is little if anything that I would complain about. In multichannel, the orchestra, the chorus and soloists are in perfect balance. Virtually every detail of the orchestration is crystal clear, the different vocal timbres of the choir nicely separated, the soloists in good perspective, all the while harmony and balance between the assembled forces is maintained. The violins are bright, but always nice and warm. There is good separation between the various string voices. The brass instruments are the most spectacular: recorded with a true three-dimensional sonority. They are never two-dimensional, squeeky or congested. Percussion has just the right amount of bang and reverb. In other words, this thing sounds like a concert. I’ll go even further and say that it actually sounds better than a concert. This new critical version goes back to the original Glinka scores and attempts to recreate the opera as it was meant to be heard, rather than the version which has been played in the past century. A very special Thank You to Pentatone for releasing this. I’ve waited a long time to hear Ruslan and Lyudmila given the proper treatment. The result is worth the wait.
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Gianandrea Noseda, Filarmonica Teatro Regio Torino – Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade, Version 2 (2015/2019)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,8 MHz | Time – 44:30 minutes | 1,75 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 44:30 minutes | 911 MB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Digital booklet
Gianandrea Noseda is widely recognized as one of the Leading conductors of his generation. He is Musical America’s 2015 Conductor of the Year. On “Scheherazade” by Nikolaj Rimsky-Korsakov, Noseda proves as sensitive playwright who manages to still have energy for the next highlight in store at all dramatic outbursts of sumptuous work, and easily take back to the quiet and introspective moments sound violence and mood – and the handset so inevitably to captivate. This release (marked as Version 2) is the exact same same orchestra, same conductor, same interpretation and same location as the originally released version. The difference is that in the previous version – the recording has been made with three couples of valve microphones, all ancient and original Neumann U47, U48 and M49. This special edition has been made with only two microphones Neumann U47, capturing more acoustics of the theatre.
The lush occupied Orchestra (all in triplicate occupied woodwinds, strings, twelve brass and a gigantic array on percussion instruments) have been adopted in this recording from 2015 with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Teatro Regio Torino. Giulio Cesare Ricci took this magnificent interpretation purely analog in Teatro Regio with the unbeatable Neumann tube microphones on – no better way to hear this! A real must-have. With some characteristic leitmotifs and themes, leitmotifs treated instrumentation and an enormous sense of dramaturgy and dramatic Rimsky-Korsakov leads with more accurate narrative magic through the fairytale world of the East, can Sinbad ship gliding through stormy seas, a young prince and princess fall in love, opulent feasts in romanticized Baghdad arise in the mind’s eye – and through the four movements of the work repeatedly leads the delicate voice of the storyteller Scheherazade, represented by the cantabile solo violin.
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Gianandrea Noseda, Filarmonica Teatro Regio Torino – Rimsky-Korsakov: Sheherazade (2015)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,8 MHz | Time – 44:30 minutes | 1,75 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 44:30 minutes | 995 MB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Digital booklet
Gianandrea Noseda is widely recognized as one of the Leading conductors of his generation. He is Musical America’s 2015 Conductor of the Year. On “Scheherazade” by Nikolaj Rimsky-Korsakov, Noseda proves as sensitive playwright who manages to still have energy for the next highlight in store at all dramatic outbursts of sumptuous work, and easily take back to the quiet and introspective moments sound violence and mood – and the handset so inevitably to captivate. The lush occupied Orchestra (all in triplicate occupied woodwinds, strings, twelve brass and a gigantic array on percussion instruments) have been adopted in this recording from 2015 with the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Teatro Regio Torino. Giulio Cesare Ricci took this magnificent interpretation purely analog in Teatro Regio with the unbeatable Neumann tube microphones on – no better way to hear this! A real must-have.
… With some characteristic leitmotifs and themes, leitmotifs treated instrumentation and an enormous sense of dramaturgy and dramatic Rimsky-Korsakov leads with more accurate narrative magic through the fairytale world of the East, can Sinbad ship gliding through stormy seas, a young prince and princess fall in love, opulent feasts in romanticized Baghdad arise in the mind’s eye – and through the four movements of the work repeatedly leads the delicate voice of the storyteller Scheherazade, represented by the cantabile solo violin.
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Gerry Mulligan and The Concert Jazz Band – At The Village Vanguard (1961/2014)
DSD128 (.dsf) 1 bit/5,6 MHz | Time – 40:34 minutes | 3,2 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 40:34 minutes | 843 MB
High Definition Tape Transfers, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Digital booklet
“Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band at the Village Vanguard” is a live album recorded by American jazz saxophonist and bandleader Gerry Mulligan featuring performances recorded at the Village Vanguard in late 1960 which were originally released on the Verve label in 1961.
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George Duke – Faces in Reflection (1974/2015)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,8 MHz MHz | Time – 00:39:42 minutes | 1,57 GB
or FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 00:39:42 minutes | 783 MB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: highresaudio.com | Artwork: Front Cover | © MPS
Genre: Jazz | Recorded: Hollywood, January, 1974 by Fred Borkgren
In many ways, this trio recording is a milestone in the career of this young Californian. Duke unveils more of his early experiments with the ARP synthesizer, as well as a new creativity on such more conventional keyboards, as the Wurlitzer, Fender Rhodes, and the clavinet. As a result, “Faces in Reflection” is characterized by a wide variety of tonal hues. The journey moves from the explosive “The Opening” on to the tender-tinged “Capricorn”, which Duke had snatched from the Cannonball Adderley repertoire. Adderley had been the second major player he had worked with during that early period; Frank Zappa was the first. Two impressionistic solo intermezzi segue into the funky fusion escapade “Psychosomatic Dung”, with superb interplay between drummer “Ndugu” and bassist John Heard. The title piece’s secretive synth lines are the moments of calm before Duke’s passionate love affair with Brazil on the B side. The most surprising excursion on this side is the vibrant and rhythmically intricate adaptation of Milton Nascimentos’ “Maria Três Filhos”, counterbalanced by the synth laboratory of “North Beach”. Duke himself cherished the recordings; he stated that, “This was the first LP that really said what I wanted to say.”
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George Benson – Good Kind Bad (1976/2013)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,8 MHz | Time – 36:50 minutes | 1,45 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 36:50 minutes | 787 MB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: e-Onkyo | Genre: Jazz | © CTI Records
The R&B elements get stronger, the sound and mix are more attuned to the dancefloor, yet this brings out the best in George Benson’s funky side. Thanks in part to the more rigid beat, Benson pares down his style to its rhythmic essentials, refusing to spray notes all over the place at random, and as a result, the record cooks and dances. His treatment of Vince Guaraldi’s “Cast Your Fate to the Wind,” hugely complemented by Joe Farrell’s wistfully prancing flute, is a mini-masterpiece in the use of space, of hitting exactly the right stabbing note right in the pocket. Again, Creed Taylor turns to a James Brown alumnus, David Matthews, for arrangements, and he discreetly and wisely stays out of Bad George’s way. Buy this one for “Cast Your Fate,” but there is plenty more to savor here.
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Gary Cooper – Beethoven: Diabelli Variations (2011)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,82 MHz | Time – 01:12:28 minutes | 2,91 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:12:28 minutes | 1 GB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Artwork: Digital booklet | © Channel Classics
The decision to use a historic Viennese instrument for this recording – built in the very year Beethoven completed his Diabelli Variations – is, in one sense, self-explanatory. Newly & magnificently restored by Edwin Beunk, the Walter und Sohn grand piano featured here is both a beautiful & charming instrument. In approaching the timeless, expansive sound world of Beethoven’s late, great works, any piano is constantly tested; historic instruments not far off two hundred years old additionally so! This is the first commercial recording, to my knowledge, which attempts to place this particular masterpiece firmly in the sound-world of the early 1820s, when it was conceived and first played. In the process of doing so, previously hidden colours and textures may well be revealed to the listener: for pianos of this period have everything to do with colour, while at the same time having very little to do with sheer power, brilliance of clarity, or a capacity to sustain effortlessly: the sound-world to which we are mostly accustomed in the C21st. Therefore, the challenge to both instrument and performer using historic pianos is appreciably great (including occasional moments of audible pedal & action noise, for which I ask the listener’s patience and understanding) but I feel well worth the effort, since only additional rewards can be attained in serving to illuminate areas of this immense, mystical, timeless work of art from differing perspectives.
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Gabor Szabo – Macho (1975/2013)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,8 MHz | Time – 38:10 minutes | 1,5 GB
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/96 kHz | Time – 38:10 minutes | 814 MB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: e-Onkyo | Genre: Jazz, Fusion | © CTI Records
This 1975 album is one of the headiest in the Hungarian-born guitarist Gabor Szabo’s entire catalog. Produced by Bob James, the album is deep in fretless Fender basslines courtesy of Louis Johnson, funky Rhodes pianos and synthesizers from James and former Mother of Invention Ian Underwood, guitar savvy from Szabo with Eric Gale on rhythm, and a horn section that features no less than George Bohanon, Jon Faddis, and Tom Scott, with the venerable Harvey Mason Sr. on drums. This is a tough, in-your-face, funky soul-jazz band. Szabo’s sense of camp was eternal as he covers, disco-style, Franz Liszt’s “Hungarian Rhapsody #2,” but slips into the souled-out groove-jazz of his own “Time,” without a seam. Szabo’s playing, with its mysterious, liquid runs and razor sharp melodic sensibilities, is centered here by James, who attempts to make Szabo’s six strings be at the absolute dead-center of the mix. Tracks like James’ own “Transylvania Boogie,” (the long title track), and Phoebe Snow’s “Poetry Man,” offer a glimpse of Szabo as the consummate melodist: with teeth. Harmonically, this band was as disciplined as the charts would allow, giving nothing away in the ensemble sections. This is a tough, streetwise, commercial jazz album that has plenty to offer to anyone with an open mind. In the pocket, groove-soaked, and flawlessly executed.
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Hozier – Hozier (Deluxe Edition) (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:11:38 minutes | 804 MB | Genre: Alternative, Soul, Blues, Singer-Songwriter
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Universal-Island Records Ltd.
Hozier is the eponymous debut studio album from Irish musician Hozier. The album was released on 19 September 2014 through Island Records and Rubyworks Records. The album contains his first hit, Take Me to Church and From Eden.
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