Markus Becker – Reger: Piano Concerto & Solo works (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Markus Becker – Reger: Piano Concerto & Solo works (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 58:57 minutes | 523 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CAvi-music

Back when Reger was writing his Piano Concerto, 1910, Debussy was working on La Mer and Stravinsky his Firebird. Vienna was becoming the crucible of the new dodecaphonism style. Reger kept his distance from all these tendencies, preferring to explore his own path, which, while sometimes difficult, was always marked by polyphony and counterpoint. His music’s architecture was always made up of self-contained cells, like a kind of careful patchwork in which the various elements didn’t always seem to relate to each other. Just listen (or re-listen, rather) carefully to the Concerto and you will get a taste of this juxtaposition of modernity with a desire to remain rooted in the past. Markus Becker (who recorded all of Reger’s solo piano works over twenty years) rounds off the collection with the Épisodes, written in the same year as the Concerto, but in an almost-miniaturist style – which just goes to show that all of Reger’s work isn’t marked by gigantism as these pieces all clock in at three or four minutes each. In them, the composer returns to the path of his great inspirations: the later Brahms and Beethoven’s final works including the Bagatelles.

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Markus Becker – Haydn: Piano Sonatas (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Markus Becker – Haydn: Piano Sonatas (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:15:04 minutes | 670 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CAvi-music

This music may seem easy to grasp at first glance: so much seems clear and straightforward. However, once you take a closer look and spend more time playing and listening to Haydn’s music, it develops an endless, multifaceted life of its own. It becomes more concrete and at the same time more mysterious. Unexpected turns of phrase, sudden occurrences, humorous juxtapositions and startling asymmetries are just as much a part of this music as its extended melodic arcs that make the piano sing. Haydn’s music forms an intimate bond between song and speech. In each movement of the ca. 60 piano sonatas he wrote, we meet a personality, an unmistakeable character, evoked in detail.

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Markus Becker – Haydn: Piano Works II (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Markus Becker – Haydn: Piano Works II (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:10:38 minutes | 601 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CAvi-music

Haydn’s piano sonatas have thrilled me since childhood. This music may seem easy to grasp at first glance: so much seems clear and straightforward. However, once you take a closer look and spend more time playing and listening to Haydn’s music, it develops an endless, multifaceted life of its own. It becomes more concrete and at teh same time it develops an endless, multifaceted life of its own. It becomes more concrete and at teh same time more mysterious. Unexpected turns of phrase, sudden occurences, humorous juxtapositions and startling asymmetries are just as much a part of this music as its extended melodic arcs that make the piano sing. Haydn’s music forms an intimate bond between song and speech. In each movement of the ca. 60 piano sonatas he wrote, we meet a personality, an unmistakeable character, evoked in detail. Haydn was long viewed as teh mere forerunner of vienna Classicism – Mozart and Beethoven’s Papa, so to speak. His sonatas were mainly regarded as witty, useful pedagogical material. Several generations seem to have been unaware of his profoundly nuanced approach. Perhaps, however, Haydn’s keyboard oeuvre might require even better interpreters than the works written by his towering colleagues. One cannot clothe this music in an adequate form without applying a great deal of fantasy in one’s choice of timbres, along with a keen sense for musical thetoric and careful regard for phrasing. Most of all, the Haydn performer should be able to modify the entire timbre effect and redistribute the balance among parts from one moment to the next. We must not forget that he was born way back in 1732: Haydn thus still had one foot in the Baroque age, as one can tell from the latent polyphony and frequent figures of musical rhetoric. His variegated types of articulation cover a wide spectrum: dozens of nuances fill out the range between Haydn’s profound, songlike legato and his humorously accentuated staccato. Here is not where we will find Beethoven’s force and dramatic vigor, neither Mozart’s ethereal beauty. Haydn wrote a music of profound humanity, with a basic outlook similar to what the German Romantics called humor’: a reflection of human life with all its beauties, unfathomable depths, hopes, losses, crises and joys, all shouldered with a large dose of passion and irony.

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Markus Becker – Beethoven: Piano & Winds (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Markus Becker – Beethoven: Piano & Winds (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:05:02 minutes | 613 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CAvi-music

While string instruments gave rise to a new repertoire of chamber music at the end of the 18th century with new forms emerging such as the quartet and its derivatives, quintets, septet or octet, the same could not be said for wind instruments since their construction was constantly changing, preventing a cohesive sound when it came to playing together. These counter-productive technical constraints caused a delay in terms of new works.

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Marko Ylonen, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra & John Storgårds – Vasks: Symphony No. 3 – Cello Concerto (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Marko Ylonen, Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra & John Storgårds – Vasks: Symphony No. 3 – Cello Concerto (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:16:56 minutes | 1,48 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 2xHD – Ondine

The Tampere Philharmonic, one of Scandinavia’s foremost symphony orchestras, is led by John Storgårds on this album dedicated to Pēteris Vasks, spotlighting the Third Symphony, a one-movement piece of spiritually deep and emotionally compelling music. Also included here is the Latvian composer’s Cello Concerto, a highly personal and moving work that reflects suffering under the Soviet regime and the strength required to survive. It features soloist Marko Ylönen, who specializes in contemporary repertoire.

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Marko Topchii – Guitar Recital: Marko Topchii (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Marko Topchii – Guitar Recital: Marko Topchii (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 58:39 minutes | 955 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos

Marko Topchii, winner of the 2017 Michele Pittaluga Guitar Competition, has selected a rich and varied repertoire ranging from neo-Romanticism to serialism, each work offering a unique vision of the instrument’s technical and expressive capabilities. Antonio Jose’s Sonata is remarkably inventive, bringing a new language to ancient dance forms, while Frank Martin’s Quatre Pieces breves, written in the same year, offers the flourish and vigor of contemporary harmonic vocabulary. Ronald Dyens’ Libra Sonatine is one of the most virtuosic and brilliant of late 20th-century guitar works. Ukranian-born guitarist Marko Topchii, has been the winner of more than 40 international guitar competitions. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Salle Cortot, Yamaha Ginza Hall, and at the Tchaikovsky Hall. He often performs with orchestras, having performed more than ten concertos for guitar and orchestra. He is sponsored by the D’Addario Strings Company and records with a guitar made by Jim Redgate.

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Marketa Irglova – Muna (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Marketa Irglova – Muna (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 51:47 minutes | 918 MB | Genre: Folk, Piano, Singer-Songwriter
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Anti – Epitaph

The second solo outing from the Czechoslovakian singer/songwriter who rose to fame in 2007 after winning a Best Original Song Oscar for “Falling Slowly” (co-written with Frames singer Glen Hansard under the Swell Season moniker), Muna utilizes the talents of 27 musicians (choir, strings, orchestral percussion) and was inspired by, according to Irglová, Jesus Christ Superstar and author Neale Donald Walsch’s book trilogy Conversations with God. Muna, which means “remembering” in Icelandic, is a gospel record through and through, but it also reflects the rugged natural beauty of the land in which it was birthed. Produced with great warmth by Irglová’s partner Sturla Mio Thorisson, the 11-track collection begins and ends with the choir incantation “You can have whatever you can dream of,” and that simple edict of hope forms the basis, at least ideologically, for everything that lies in between. Lyrically, Muna reads a bit like scripture, even going so far as to intone The Lord’s Prayer on the stark and stoic “Without a Map,” and the album’s unwavering religiosity makes for a rather overly serious listen, especially if one doesn’t share the same spiritual persuasion. That said, it’s a musically rich audio tome that rarely overplays its hand, despite the fact that it took a small army to create it, and standout cuts like “Point of Creation” and “The Leading Bird,” with their hymn-like group vocals, gentle strings, and soft piano, emit a monastic aura that is undeniably comforting.

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Markéta Čepická, Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice & Dario Salvi – Auber: Overtures, Vol. 2 (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Markéta Čepická, Czech Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice & Dario Salvi – Auber: Overtures, Vol. 2 (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:01:13 minutes | 1,98 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos

The second volume in this series continues to explore little-known examples of Auber’s elegant and refined operatic music. Julie was his first stage work, its fantasia-like beauty foreshadowing the operas, opéras-comiques and lyric dramas to come. Striking melodies and haunting episodes abound in these overtures and entr’actes, and there is restrained yet fragrant Iberian colour in the overture to Léocadie. The Violin Concerto is lightly scored and gentle, with a tarantella-like finale full of folk vitality.

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Mark Wonder – Remz of the Dragon Slayer (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Mark Wonder – Remz of the Dragon Slayer (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 47:54 minutes | 542 MB | Genre: Reggae
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Oneness Records

Out of a stable of contemporaries, Mark has risen to establish himself as a pillar in the roots and culture arena. Commonly known as the “Dragon Slayer” his influences include American R&B icons of the 60’s and 70’s. His vocal styling and spot on intonation is reminiscent of artists such as Curtis Mayfield, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye. Drawing from the greats of Jamaican roots Artists such as Burning Spear, Bob Andy and Dennis Brown, he is committed to the tradition of marrying his militant message with melody in a captivating style. His second release for Oneness Records it’s a heady, spiritually and socially conscious mix of Roots, Dub and Funky Soul – with flashes of Jazz thrown in for good measure.

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Mark Wingfield with Jane Chapman and Adriano Adewale – Zoji (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Mark Wingfield with Jane Chapman and Adriano Adewale – Zoji (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:04:50 minutes | 1,20 GB | Genre: Jazz, Ethnic Fusion
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mark Wingfield

Parallel Times. Dizzying constellations of notes netted within the soundboard of the harpsichord, quill-plucked and sent spinning in darting arcs and ascending steps. . . Harmonic fog adrift from which notes slip out in silvery streaks, gleaming with passion, while some, disconsolate, fall into dark silence snuffing out their glow. . . Cymbals sizzle and resonate, ceding space to the crackle of shells shaken. Wood, skin, clay all brushed, touched and tamped, honed into accents and beats, breathing between the firefly flurries criss-crossing through their time…

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Mark Wingfield – Tales From The Dreaming City (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Mark Wingfield – Tales From The Dreaming City (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:02:54 minutes | 1,25 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mark Wingfield

Fueled by the momentum generated from two landmark 2017 group efforts – the Wingfield-Reuter-Stavi-Sirkis quartet’s magical “”The Stone House,”” and the leaned down Wingfield-Reuter-Sirkus trio effort, the potent “”Lighthouse”” (both critically acclaimed works of extraordinary creativity and vision) – Mark Wingfield’s sophomore effort for MoonJune Records launches into the cosmos, from the space station where his stellar MJR debut, 2015’s “”Proof of Light,”” docked! Rejoined by the sublime rhythmic engine of Yaron Stavi, on fretless bass, and supreme drummer, Asaf Sirkis, the innovative guitar impressionist carries his unprecedented expansion of the electric guitar’s sonic palette of sound and expression into further uncharted dimensions. The session is augmented by a guest appearance from fellow MoonJune artist, keyboardist Dominic Vantomme, whose tasty synth work decorates four selections. The compositions are as spellbinding as Mark’s far-reaching guitar work and the trio’s sensitive corporate delivery. Prepare to be starstruck on this ambitious new release, as Mark Wingfield’s adventurous, pioneering guitar work transports listeners to destinations previously unreachable! “”Tales from a Dreaming City”” is immediately essential, further cementing the artist’s position among the instrument’s most radically unconventional practitioners and its most forward-thinking tone architects, ever.

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Mark Wade – Songs from Isolation (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Mark Wade – Songs from Isolation (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 23:35 minutes | 177 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © AMP Music & Records

All the music is performed on solely the acoustic and electric bass. Each track has an accompanying video that helps tell the story that unfolds throughout the five offerings. Wade, a three-time Downbeat Magazine Reader’s Poll finalist, unlocks the full range of the bass to create this captivating music.

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Mark Viner – Alkan: Paraphrases, Marches & Symphonie for Solo Piano, Op. 39 (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Mark Viner – Alkan: Paraphrases, Marches & Symphonie for Solo Piano, Op. 39 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:11:36 minutes | 1,10 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Piano Classics

British pianist Mark Viner continues his complete Alkan-cycle with the 4th volume, containing one of the most extraordinary piano works of the 19th century, the Symphony for piano solo. It is one of Alkan’s most darkly impassioned conceptions, its declamatory rhetoric, passionate outbursts and towering climaxes all bound by a tightly organised structure. The sometimes ten note chords, thick, chordal tremoli and volleys of double octaves create a truly symphonic sound spectrum.

Also included are the Three Marches ‘quasi da cavalleria’ Op. 37, the haunting Funeral March Op. 26 and the festive and pompous Triumphal March Op. 27.

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Mark Vincent, Mario Lanza – A Tribute to Mario Lanza (2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Mark Vincent, Mario Lanza – A Tribute to Mario Lanza (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 39:04 minutes | 478 MB | Genre: Opera, Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Music Entertainment

Eight years after he won Australia’s heart and went on to record seven chart-topping albums with worldwide sales exceeding half a million units, Mark Vincent is about to set a new benchmark: a ‘virtual duet’ with one of the giants of the Golden Age of Hollywood, Mario Lanza. In his forthcoming album, ‘A Tribute To Mario Lanza,’ Mark sings alongside Mario in ‘Because You’re Mine,’ one of the legendary movie star’s biggest hits. Re-mastered and re-edited, the song, taken from the MGM musical of the same name, is given a fresh and brilliant new dynamic with the addition of Mark’s rich tenor tones. Like Mark, Mario Lanza was a handsome tenor frequently compared to Enrico Caruso, who inspired him and whom he portrayed in The Great Caruso, the top grossing movie of 1951. Lanza died in 1958, just 10 years after he made his Hollywood debut. By then he was the most famous tenor in the world, adored by millions around the world. “It’s an amazing thrill to be singing with the greatest tenor of his time,” Mark says, “I feel, in a humble way, I am simpatico with him. We were both brought up in Italian families – he was raised in Philadelphia – where there was a lot of love, but also a lot of hard times. That seems to go with the territory. As a kid, Caruso performed in cafes, singing Neapolitan favourites. I sang for customers at my grandfather Bruno’s pizza shop from the age of five. For tenors, apparently, it’s never too soon to start!” Ellisa Lanza Bregman, Mario Lanza’s daughter, has given her imprimatur to Mark and the album, “As the trustee of my father’s legacy, his reputation, and his memory, I’m pleased to allow his recorded voice to be joined on this historic recording by the exciting young Australian tenor, Mark Vincent. Like all artists, tenors are competitive, but they share a special bond: a heritage that goes back to Caruso and a mutual acknowledgement of the artistic links that influenced their careers. Mario Lanza, my father, also grew up listening to Caruso’s recordings. Eventually he came to be compared to him. In turn, Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras and many other artists – Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley among them – told of their love of Mario Lanza and how he had inspired them. Mark Vincent, I wish you every success and I know that this unique recording will be sought after and cherished by music lovers everywhere.” Mark Vincent stole headlines in 2009 when he won Australia’s Got Talent. Since then he has accrued seven back-to-back #1 albums on the ARIA Classical chart and sold out national headline tours. Now, in addition to the release of ‘A Tribute To Mario Lanza,’ Vincent stars in the Julie Andrews’ stage production of My Fair Lady, touring Australia nationally this year.

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Mark van de Wiel, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, Christopher Warren-Green – Phibbs & Mozart: Clarinet Concertos (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Mark van de Wiel, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, Christopher Warren-Green – Phibbs & Mozart: Clarinet Concertos (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 54:42 minutes | 904 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Signum Records

Mark van de Wiel joins the Philharmonia Orchestra under Christopher Warren-Green in the premiere recording of Joseph Phibbs’ Clarinet Concerto, praised by The Sunday Times following its UK debut as a work “that will surely be performed all over the world”. Following a long friendship between composer and soloist, Phibbs and van de Wiel collaborated to create this stunning and virtuosic new work for the clarinet and orchestra, which features a thrilling cadenza at the end of the first movement. It is paired with a scintillating live concert-recording of Mozart’s timeless Concerto for Basset Clarinet in A Major, K. 622, performed with the London Chamber Orchestra.

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