Trio ClariNoir – Mozart’s Night Train (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 58:56 minutes | 998 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © gpARTS
Is it a classical, jazz, klezmer or tango album? Stylistically, the second album by the still young trio ClariNoir is difficult to categorize, because it combines the entire musical range of the young musicians in the compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ilja Ruf. They have been playing together for 10 years now, founded in November 2013 as 12 to 14 year olds by the brothers Ivo and Ilja Ruf and their friend Nikolai Gast on the occasion of the national Jugend Musiziert competition that took place the following year. Mozart was the inspiration from the beginning and shaped all of their programs and also their debut CD “Mozart On the Road”, which was on the longlist 2/2020 for the German Record Critics’ Prize in the Grenzgang category and for the OPUS KLASSIK in the categories “ Young Artist of the Year”, “Chamber Music Recording”, “Classical Music Without Borders” and “Innovative Concert” were nominated. While the first album was a mix of different composers, in this album ClariNoir remembers its musical inspiration Mozart and takes him with it as a lively, improvisational spirit into Ilja Ruf’s compositions. The result is a stylistically diverse album permeated by influences from Viennese classical music, concert tango, jazz, klezmer and contemporary music.
Read moreRoyal String Quartet – Nowak, Mykietyn, Wojciechowski (2024) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]
Royal String Quartet – Nowak, Mykietyn, Wojciechowski (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 47:57 minutes | 886 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CD Accord
String Quartet No. 3 derives from a tune sung by Nadia who is looking for her mother. She cannot find her, even though she is looking everywhere. The composition was written in 2019/2020, commissioned by the Royal String Quartet. Aleksander Nowak String Quartet No. 4 written in 2022 was commissioned by the Royal String Quartet and is dedicated to the ensemble. Paweł Mykietyn The piece Magenta [2021] is a kind of reflection on the historical form of the string quartet. In it we can hear both classical and contemporary playing techniques. Sound samples accompanying the instruments come from a variety of sources and times. For example, we can hear a fragment of Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 1, recorded in 1921. All these heterogeneous snippets from different traditions and styles are combined in carefully composed colourful structures. The eponymous ‘magenta’ is both a verbal logotype and one of the basic colours in the synthesis of colours. Sławomir Wojciechowski Works of art always function in contexts: of their own genre, its tradition, the composer’s work or the accepted aesthetics of the time. In the case of these three compositions, also in the context of the Kwartesencja festival, where they were first performed. The world’s history also adds an extra bit to it: Aleksander Nowak’s Quartet No. 3 was written before the conflict in Ukraine, which has been smouldering since 2014, broke into our consciousness once again. The composer’s commentary becomes even more moving in the contemporary context. The three quartets – written for the same ensemble and compiled on one disc – also interact with one other. The pieces can be listened to in any order; by doing so, they are sure to reveal new meanings.
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Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Julius P. Williams & Daniel Washington – A Legacy of the African American Classical Spirit (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 59:11 minutes | 545 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Albany Records
Composer/conductor Julius P. Williams leads the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra in a recording of works by Black composers. In addition to Williams’ compositions, there are works by the Dean of African-American composers, William Grant Still, Augustus O. Hill, and a work by Edmund Thornton Jenkins restored and arranged by his nephew Tuffus Zimbabwe. Julius P. Williams was named one of Musical America’s Top 30 Professionals of the Year in 2022. His career has taken him to musical venues around the globe and he has been involved in virtually every musical genre. He is currently Artistic Director and Conductor of the Berklee Contemporary Symphony Orchestra and was composer-in-residence with the Boston Symphony. His music has been performed by countless symphony orchestras including the New York Philharmonic. Cleveland Orchestra, and Detroit Symphony, to name but a few. His recordings appear on the Albany, Centaur, Videmus, and Naxos labels.
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Perez Prado – Mambo By The King (1956/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 24:20 minutes | 495 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Legacy Recordings
Pérez Prado (Spanish: Pérez Prado, [ˈpeɾes ˈpɾaðo]; December 11, 1916 — September 14, 1989) was a Cuban musician, composer, and orchestra leader who played a major role in popularizing mambo in the United States of America in the 1950s. He is often called the “King of mambo”
Perhaps his most famous compositions as a composer are “Mambo No. 5” (later twice at the top of the British chart: in 1999 performed by Lou Begi and in 2001 performed by the animated character Bob the Builder) and “Mambo No. 8”.
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Nick Wheeldon – Waiting For The Piano To Fall (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 39:41 minutes | 448 MB | Genre: Folk
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Le Pop Club Records
The man with multiple groups seems perpetually in search of imbalance or surprise. Like a lover of first dates, Nick Wheeldon never tires and adds up the new formations with an ease that borders on the supernatural. A disconcerting number of trains in advance to say the least. After a very noticed first solo album in 2021, “Communication Problems”, then a 2nd “Gift” (Record of the Month *****, Rock & Folk) in 2022, Nick Wheeldon, the Parisian Englishman from Sheffield, returns with a third LP, “Waiting For The Piano To Fall”. 2024 will be big!
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