Czech Philharmonic, Semyon Bychkov – Smetana: Má Vlast (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:21:47 minutes | 1,40 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PENTATONE
The Czech Philharmonic and its Chief Conductor and Music Director Semyon Bychkov present a new recording of Bedřich Smetana’s masterpiece Má vlast (My Homeland). The album celebrates both the bicentenary of Smetana’s birth and, the start of 2024’s Year of Czech Music which has been celebrated every ten years since Smetana’s 100th anniversary in 1924. Má vlast (1874-1878) is a potent symbol of the Czech Republic’s turbulent political history and has played an important role in the Czech national movement. Contemplating the landscape, history, and legends of Bohemia, Má vlast is best known for its world-famous Moldau melody. For Bychkov, who was born in Russia before emigrating to the United States, and now lives in France, the question of ‘the homeland’ is particularly poignant – how to take pride in the best of its heritage, while also coming to terms with its darker pages. For the Orchestra to revisit this seminal piece with Bychkov, with whom it has developed such a close working relationship over the past few years, makes the recording all the more personal and topical.
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Cannonball Adderley & Bill Evans – Know What I Mean? (Original Jazz Classics Series / Remastered) (1960/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 40:32 minutes | 1,18 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Craft Recordings
“Know What I Mean?” was originally released in 1960 as a collaboration between jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and legendary pianist Bill Evans, along with the rhythm section of the Modern Jazz Quartet, Percy Heath (bass) and Connie Kay (drums). This new edition is released as part of the Original Jazz Classics Series and features remastered audio from the original master tapes. Available on 192/24 hi res digital.
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Bruce Dickinson – The Mandrake Project (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 58:47 minutes | 1,15 GB | Genre: Hard Rock, Heavy Metal
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BMG Rights Management (UK) Limited
Renowned around the world as one of the greatest and most distinctive heavy metal vocalists of all time, Bruce Dickinson releases a brand new solo album on BMG Records. Entitled The Mandrake Projectit sees him reunited with long-time musical collaborator and producer Roy Z. The Mandrake Project is Dickinson’s seventh solo album and his first since Tyranny Of Souls in 2005. The Mandrake Project is a dark, adult story of power, abuse and a struggle for identity, set against a backdrop of scientific and occult genius.
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BrhyM – Deep Sea Vents (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 36:49 minutes | 413 MB | Genre: Soft Rock, Art Pop, Chamber Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Zappo Productions
Deep Sea Vents is a collaboration between Bruce Hornsby and yMusic, who are artistically known as BryhM. The album was produced by Hornsby and Rob Moose, Music violinist. Guest artists are Branford Marsalis, soprano sax on “Platypus Wow” and “Phase Change,” Mark Dover, clarinet on “The Wake of St. Brendan” and “Deep Blue,” and Chad Wright, drums on “Deep Blue”. BryhMexplores seafaring themes, sounds and metaphors encapsulated in progressive chamber music and Hornsby’s vocals.
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Big Big Train – The Likes of Us (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:13:15 minutes | 1,44 GB | Genre: Rock, Progressive Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © InsideOutMusic
The award-winning progressive rock band Big Big Train release their 15th studio album via InsideOut Music marking the first full release with new frontman Alberto Bravin (ex-PFM). The anxiously-awaited unveiling of ‘The Likes Of Us’ follows BIG BIG TRAIN’s massively successful recent European tour, which saw them perform 17 concerts across nine countries, concluding with two triumphant appearances at London’s Cadogan Hall. The album is a stunning piece of work that retains all the elements that make the band so special, including absorbing and memorable arrangements and first-rate musicianship.
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Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers – Caravan (Original Jazz Classics Series / Remastered) (1963/2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 39:23 minutes | 1,58 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Craft Recordings
Originally released in 1963, “Caravan” was Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers’ first album for Riverside Records. Featured in addition to Blakey are Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Curtis Fuller (trombone), Wayne Shorter (sax), Cedar Walton (piano) and Reggie Workman (bass). This reissue features remastered audio from the original master tapes and is available on 192/24 hi res digital.
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Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya – Muffat: Componimenti musicali per il cembalo (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 02:24:36 minutes | 5,44 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Linn Records
For her first solo album on Linn – she has appeared with her Duo Pleyel partner Richard Egarr on three occasions, and more will come! – Alexandra Nepomnyashchaya has taken the bold route of recording the little-known Gottlieb Muffat. Son of Georg Muffat, who most Baroque aficionados will know, Gottlieb attained far greater success in his working life, ultimately being promoted to first organist of the Austrian Habsburg court. In this double album Alexandra has recorded the lavish Componimenti musicali per il cembalo , a collection of seven ‘suites’ that are rich in texture, emotional range and flamboyant decoration. Carefully notated in the magnificent score, the breathtaking ornamentation is there to add expressiveness to the performance. These works represent one of the pinnacles of keyboard music from the mid-eighteenth century, and deserve their place in the repertoire.
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Albert Hammond – Body of Work (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 58:47 minutes | 668 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © earMUSIC
Albert Hammond is one of the most prolific, versatile songwriters and performers of his or any generation. His earliest solo hits include “It Never Rains in Southern California” and “The Free Electric Band.” His contributions to popular music (writing and and/or contributing to hit songs by Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias, Diana Ross, Starship, The Hollies, Joe Cocker, Johnny Cash, Aretha Franklin) cross genres and generations.
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Alan Choo, Apollo’s Fire, Jeannette Sorrell – Biber: Mystery (Rosary) Sonatas (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:09:23 minutes | 2,40 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © AVIE Records
The Mystery Sonatas by Austrian composer Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, believed to have been penned in the 1670s, remain unsurpassed for their virtuosity and extended use of scordatura, a unique tuning system that underscores different aural colours and timbres of the violin, thereby illuminating the pictorial themes of the Rosary – the processions devoted to major moments in the lives of Christ and the Virgin Mary – which Biber’s work depicts.
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Afra Kane – Could We Be Whole (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 39:24 minutes | 432 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Music Central Europe
She won the Montreux Jazz Talent Award in 2019, was honored with the coveted “Record of the Week” at BBC Music Introducing and crosses genre boundaries with her cinematic sound, in short: Afra Kane is one of the most exciting neo-soul and jazz talents of recent times. The young Italian singer-songwriter and pianist based in Biel (CH) has announced her second album “Could We Be Whole” for early 2024, which also marks her debut on Warner Music.
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