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Heinz Holliger, Camerata Bern, Alexander van Wijnkoop, Thomas Füri – Graun, Krebs, Telemann: Oboe Concertos (2004)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:14:55 minutes | 1,36 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Archiv Produktion
In its time, the high Baroque oboe concerto was the ne plus ultra of the virtuoso, the sin qua non of the soulful, and the denier cri of the tuneful. But times change and for all but the most epicurean of the cognoscenti, the oboe concertos of Johann Gottlieb Graun, Johann Ludwig Krebs, and Georg Philipp Telemann are at best terra incognito and at worst nearly persona non grata. In his day, Heinz Holliger was the crème de la crème of oboe virtuosity, the apex, the acme, and the essence of the metaphysical quintessence of oboe virtuosity. So great was Holliger’s celebrity that, after he had finished recording the oboe concertos of Mozart, Bach, and Strauss, he was allowed to record the oboe concertos of Graun, Krebs, and Telemann.
Of course, Holliger’s performances are terrific. Beyond the fact that he is a supreme oboe virtuoso, Holliger is a supreme musician, and he makes the most convincing case possible for the music. And the music of Graun, Krebs, and Telemann is terrific, too, virtuosic, soulful, and wonderfully tuneful. The accompaniment by the Camerata Bern under both Alexander van Wijnkoop and Thomas Furi is attentive and supportive. In its time, Archiv’s late stereo sound was superlative and this digital remastering improves the superlative.
“the elegance and intelligence of his playing remain peerless, and the qualities that made him the greatest oboist of the 20th century are obvious as ever.” (The Guardian)
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Ginuwine – The Life (2001)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 66:50 minutes | Scans included | 4,53 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/48 kHz | Full Scans included | 927 MB
The Life is the third studio album from American R&B singer Ginuwine, released on Epic Records in 2001. The album debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 152,000 copies sold in the U.S. and was certified Platinum by the RIAA.
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Gil Evans – Out Of The Cool (1960) [Analogue Productions Remaster 2010]
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DSD64 Stereo > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 74:51 minutes | Scans included | 1,13 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 758 MB
Out of the Cool, released in 1960, was the first recording Gil Evans issued after three straight albums with Miles Davis — Sketches of Spain being the final one before this. Evans had learned much from Davis about improvisation, instinct, and space (the trumpeter learned plenty, too, especially about color, texture, and dynamic tension). Evans orchestrates less here, instead concentrating on the rhythm section built around Elvin Jones, Charlie Persip, bassist Ron Carter, and guitarist Ray Crawford. The maestro in the piano chair also assembled a crack horn section for this date, with Ray Beckinstein, Budd Johnson, and Eddie Caine on saxophones, trombonists Jimmy Knepper, Keg Johnson, and bass trombonist Tony Studd, with Johnny Coles and Phil Sunkel on trumpet, Bill Barber on tuba, and Bob Tricarico on flute, bassoon, and piccolo. The music here is of a wondrous variety, bookended by two stellar Evans compositions in “La Nevada,” and “Sunken Treasure.” The middle of the record is filled out by the lovely standard “Where Flamingos Fly,” Kurt Weill-Bertolt Brecht’s “Bilbao Song,” and George Russell’s classic “Stratusphunk.” The sonics are alternately warm, breezy, and nocturnal, especially on the 15-plus-minute opener which captures the laid-back West Coast cool jazz feel juxtaposed by the percolating, even bubbling hot rhythmic pulse of the tough streets of Las Vegas. The horns are held back for long periods in the mix and the drums pop right up front, Crawford’s solo — drenched in funky blues — is smoking. When the trombones re-enter, they are slow and moaning, and the piccolo digs in for an in the pocket, pulsing break.
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Gil Evans – Gil Evans & Ten (1957) [Reissue 2003]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 33:19 minutes | Scans included | 1,34 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 710 MB
Although arranger Gil Evans had been active in the major leagues of jazz ever since the mid-’40s and had participated in Miles Davis’ famous Birth of the Cool recordings, Gil Evans & Ten was his first opportunity to record as a leader. The set features a typically unusual 11-piece unit consisting of two trumpets, trombonist Jimmy Cleveland, Bart Varsalona on bass trombone, French horn player Willie Ruff, Steve Lacy on soprano, altoist Lee Konitz, Dave Kurtzer on bassoon, bassist Paul Chambers, and either Nick Stabulas or Jo Jones on drums, plus the leader’s sparse piano. As good an introduction to his work as any, this program includes diverse works ranging from Leadbelly to Leonard Bernstein, plus Evans’ own “Jambangle.” The arranger’s inventive use of the voices of his rather unique sidemen make this a memorable set.
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Gianna Nannini – Perle (2004)
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 51:53 minutes | Scans included | 819 MB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 954 MB
Backed by a string quartet, Gianna Nannini’s 18th album, Perle, sees the Italian singer/songwriter perform new interpretations of some of her biggest hits. Produced by Christian Lohr, the 2004 LP features 13 re-workings of tracks taken from her 30-year career, including material from 1979’s California, her 1986 breakthrough, Profumo, and her 2002 effort Aria.
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Leontyne Price, Erich Leinsdorf – Giacomo Puccini – Madama Butterfly (2006)
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 3,62 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 863 MB | Full Artwork
Label/Cat#: RCA Red Seal “Living Stereo” # 82876 82622-2 | Country/Year: US 2006 | 3% Recovery Info
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Opera, Italian
This recording of Madama Butterfly is one of my all time favorites. It was one of the 1st records that I bought myself in the early 1970’s. Since then I have acquired original 1963 LP pressings, UK-made LP’s, the the original R2R tape, & the old CD issue, all in hopes of finding the best sounding edition. Up till now, the Reel-Reel tape was the best, apparently avoiding the some of the dull Dynagroove equalization that RCA imposed on this & most of its subsequent 1960’s releases.
Now here is where the DSD/SACD mastering has proved its worth! This disc reveals a master recording of breadth & subtlety, the equal of any of the “Living Stereo” era recordings. The 3D soundstage is spacious, the orchestra warm & detailed, & the voices exquisitely clear & vivid. All of this is in a sound environment that is never forced or harsh. I think one can safely say that we have never truly heard this beautiful performance in all of its glory until now.
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Giovanni Marradi – The Romantic Piano Of Giovanni (2014)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 47:09 minutes | Scans included | 744 MB
or DSD64 2.0 (from SACD-ISO to Tracks.dsf) > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | Scans included | 1,87 GB
or FLAC (carefully converted & encoded to tracks) 24bit/44,1 kHz | Scans included | 515 GB
Giovanni is one of the most successful expressionist pianists of the 21st Century. Composer, recording artist, arranger, performer, inventor, and cartoonist. One hundred twenty thousand CDs sold in one 120 minute segment on QVC! A record that still stands as one of Giovanni’s outstanding achievements. Selling over four million CDs during his appearances on QVC and The Home Shopping Network alone.
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Grateful Dead – Complete Studio Albums Collection: 1967-1989 (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 08:40:22 minutes | 9,91 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Grateful Dead – Rhino
This new hi-res collection of the Grateful Dead’s studio work has been painstakingly produced from the original master tapes of each album, using their original mixes to produce a work that is truer to the original sound than any previous release. Included in this collection are the band’s 13 studio albums, spanning three decades and containing over 8 hours of music, lovingly rendered in hi-resolution…
The Complete Studio Albums Collection contains all 13 of Grateful Dead’s studio albums. Drawing from the 1960s, the bundle features the group’s gold-certified self-titled debut; Anthem of the Sun, which is the first with drummer Mickey Hart; and Aoxomoxoa, which boasts the live staple “St. Stephen.” Music from the 1970s includes: the back-to-back platinum releases Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty; Wake Of The Flood, the first with keyboardist Keith Godchaux who replaced founding member Ron “Pigpen” McKernan; From the Mars Hotel, which features the debut of “Scarlet Begonias”; Blues For Allah with the standout track “Franklin’s Tower”; and two gold albums in a row, Terrapin Station and Shakedown Street. The 1980s are represented by: Go To Heaven, the first with keyboardist Brent Mydland; the double-platinum In The Dark; and the group’s final studio album, Built To Last, which debuted on Halloween 1989.
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Grateful Dead – May 1977: Get Shown The Light (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 10:38:11 minutes | 20,94 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Grateful Dead – Rhino
Four Complete Shows on 11 discs
Four folios housed in a slipcase
5/5/77 Veterans Memorial Coliseum: New Haven, CT
5/7/77 Boston Garden: Boston, MA
5/8/77 Barton Hall, Cornell University: Ithaca, NY
5/9/77 Buffalo Memorial Auditorium: Buffalo, NY
50-page book of liners and photographs
Sourced from the Betty Cantor-Jackson soundboard recordings, transferred by Plangent Processes
Mastered in HDCD by Jeffrey Norman
Artwork by Grammy-winning graphic artist Masaki Koike
Release Date: May 5, 2017
WHAT DEAD HEADS HAVE BEEN SAYING ABOUT…
NEW HAVEN 5/5/77
“Here is a prime example of the saying ‘the whole is greater than the sum of the parts’ … It’s called synergy and the Dead wrote the book on it.”
BOSTON 5/7/77
“The music they laid down brought me places I had not been before.”
CORNELL 5/8/77
“…the single best rock performance anywhere, anytime, by anyone.”
“There was just some kind of magical connection this night between the band members and the band and the audience – some texture, or some type of cosmic or celestial force is in the room.”
“This show is, was, and always will be Mecca.”
BUFFALO 5/9/77
“…an awesome display of the Dead’s captivating power”
Grateful Dead – Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO 7/8/78 (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 02:50:02 minutes | 5,45 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Grateful Dead – Rhino
In the history of Grateful Dead performances, 1978 is widely praised as one of the group’s finest years. This set marks the official debut of one of their first ever performances at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre, a show highly sought-after by Dead Heads, and the first official release of master recordings from the long lost “Betty Boards”. The complete July 8, 1978 show at Red Rocks is widely considered one of the greatest concerts in Grateful Dead history and now it’s available as a three-disc set.
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Grateful Dead – Grateful Dead Records Collection (Remastered) (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 03:29:17 minutes | 7,92 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Grateful Dead – Rhino
The four albums gathered here were released by the band’s own label, Grateful Dead Records: Wake of the Flood (1973), From the Mars Hotel (1974), Blues for Allah (1975) and the much-maligned live compilation, Steal Your Face (1976). The three studio albums, even if they suggest songs really different from what they have become later, are enjoyable. This is the album “live” that benefits most from the remastering, which it well deserved.
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Grateful Dead – Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses) [50th Anniversary Expanded Edition] (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 02:26:40 minutes | 6,13 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Grateful Dead – Rhino
“For the Grateful Dead’s second live album, released two years after its predecessor LIVE/DEAD, the band delivered an equally magnificent, but entirely different, Grateful Dead sound. Whereas LIVE/DEAD was a perfect sonic encapsulation of the band at the peak of their Primal Dead era, SKULL & ROSES captures the quintessential quintet, the original five piece band, playing some of their hardest hitting rock ‘n’ roll (‘Johnny B. Goode,’ ‘Not Fade Away’), showing off their authentic Bakersfield bona fides (‘Me & My Uncle,’ ‘Mama Tried,’ ‘Me & Bobby McGee’), and some originals that would be important parts of the Dead’s live repertoire for the next 24 years (‘Bertha,’ ‘Playing In The Band,’ ‘Wharf Rat’). Of course, the Dead were never defined by one specific ‘sound’ and amongst the aforementioned genres and styles the band brought to this album, they also delved deeply into their psychedelic, primal playbook with an entire side dedicated to their 1968 masterpiece ‘The Other One.’ This is one of the most deeply rich and satisfying tracks preserved on an official Grateful Dead album, up there with LIVE/DEAD’s ‘Dark Star’ and EUROPE ’72’s ‘Morning Dew.’ SKULL & ROSES sounds as fresh today as the first time I heard it in 1985, and as fresh as it was upon its spectacularly well-received release in 1971.” – David Lemieux
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Grateful Dead – Giants Stadium Boxset (Live) (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 12:46:18 minutes | 15,73 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Grateful Dead Productions
By 1987, the Grateful Dead had lived many of their nine lives but were about to embark on one not a soul had seen coming. In The Dark, their first studio album in seven years, had spawned a hit (A TOP 10 SINGLE FOR THE GRATEFUL DEAD?!) and “Touch Of Grey” begat a new generation with their fanny packs and their MTV and their undeniable quest to join the party already in progress. And boy, did the Dead let them in! But not without fine-tuning their sonic vibes to meet the new demand.
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Grateful Dead – Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO (12/10/71) (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 03:03:29 minutes | 6,05 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Grateful Dead – Rhino
One of the shortest-lived iterations of the Grateful Dead was the band that existed December 1971 through March 1972. Jerry, Bob, Phil, Bill, Pigpen, and Keith formed a formidable version of the Dead that only played a few shows together before Donna Jean joined as vocalist, and before Pigpen would depart the stage for good in June 1972. What this sextet lacked in quantity of shows it made up for with creativeness, power, and inspiration.
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Grateful Dead – Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO (12/09/71) (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 02:08:42 minutes | 4,24 GB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino Entertainment
One of the shortest-lived iterations of the Grateful Dead was the band that existed December 1971 through March 1972. Jerry, Bob, Phil, Bill, Pigpen, and Keith formed a formidable version of the Dead that only played a few shows together before Donna Jean joined as vocalist, and before Pigpen would depart the stage for good in June 1972. What this sextet lacked in quantity of shows it made up for with creativeness, power, and inspiration.
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