Lauren White – At Last (2007) SACD ISO

Lauren White – At Last (2007)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 49:00 minutes | Full Scans included | 2,01 GB
Genre: Jazz, Vocal Jazz| Publisher (label): Groove Note GRV1037-3

Lauren White is an extremely talented 20-year old from Texas who has been studying under the same vocal coach as Norah Jones. Lauren blends the sensuality and vulnerability of Norah Jones with the vocal range of Linda Ronstadt combined with a voice that exhibits both emotional depth and nuance and delicacy!

Lauren’s first album features a wide array of songs, the album opens with a Billie Holiday styled tune “My One & Only”, then drops to the darker overtones of the Anthony Wilson arranged “Love For Sale”, and transitions into a swinging “Mack The Knife”. This album also includes memorable

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Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing Trio – In Full Swing (2003) MCH SACD ISO

Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing Trio – In Full Swing (2003)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 / 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 57:14 minutes | Full Scans included | 3,01 GB
Genre: Jazz | Publisher (label): Odyssey SS87880

In Full Swing Review by Ken Dryden
Mark O’Connor’s second CD with his Hot Swing Trio is more than just a salute to the late, legendary jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli; it firmly establishes as him as a bona fide jazz violin virtuoso, thanks to being distributed by a major label this time around. The capable guitarist Frank Vignola plays gypsy swing à la Django Reinhardt without sounding like a clone; bassist Jon Burr, who spent a decade as a member of Grappelli’s rhythm section in his last years, provides a perfect match for his two bandmates. Each member of the trio contributed originals to the session. O’Connor’s “In Full Swing” is absolutely breathtaking, while it is fun imagining how Grappelli and Reinhardt might have interpreted his enticing “Stephane and Django.” Burr’s pulsating “Three for All” and Vignola’s lyrical “A Beautiful Friendship” are also worthwhile songs. The remaining selections all come from the repertoire of either Grappelli or the Grappelli-Reinhardt partnership, with occasional guest appearances by Wynton Marsalis and singer Jane Monheit. There are plenty of fireworks in the trio’s wild ride through “Limehouse Blues” (which, of course, isn’t a blues at all). The high-flying duo introduction to “Tiger Rag” by O’Connor and Marsalis is a meeting of two masters. Monheit’s interpretations of “Misty” and “As Time Goes By” are merely average, and she doesn’t loosen up enough to appreciate the fun within Fats Waller’s “Honeysuckle Rose,” though Marsalis makes up for her shortcomings. In any case, Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing Trio provide first-rate swing all by themselves, so adding guests isn’t really necessary.

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Monty Alexander – Calypso Blues (The Songs Of Nat King Cole) (2008) MCH SACD ISO

Monty Alexander – Calypso Blues (The Songs Of Nat King Cole) (2008)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 / 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 56:04 minutes | Full Scans included | 3,94 GB
Genre: Jazz | Publisher (label): Chesky Records SACD339

Monty Alexander follows up his tribute to Tony Bennett with an homage to another classic jazz singer, Nat King Cole. Also recorded in New York City at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church with the same trio of Chicagoans Lorin Cohen on bass and drummer George Fludas, the veteran pianist seems more in his element with this artist’s repertoire, one that sharply defined his own sound and thinking about popular jazz. Though all of the tunes selected are not so closely linked to Cole’s hit parade songbook, the way Alexander plays them with subtlety and depth does reflect what made Cole the king in the late ’50s and early ’60s. With the immaculate sound and performance by this fine trio–not to mention that they don’t play Cole’s songbook by rote or by the numbers–it’s hard to fault the effort, heart, and soul behind a concept album that should delight many jazz listeners.

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Various Artists – Telarc SACD Sampler 3: Jazz (2004) MCH SACD ISO

Various Artists – Telarc SACD Sampler 3: Jazz (2004)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 / 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 70:54 minutes | Full Scans included | 4,34 GB
Genre: Jazz | Publisher (label): Telarc SACD-63008

https://www.discogs.com/release/10107399-Various-Jazz-SACD-Sampler-3

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Gary Karr – Apres Un Reve (1983/2014) SACD ISO

Gary Karr – Apres Un Reve (1983/2014)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 00:40:58 minutes | Full Scans included | 1,66 GB
Genre: Classical | Publisher (label): King International – KIGC-1006

Gary Karr performs with Harmon Lewis on piano for an offering of classical pieces by composers that include Gershwin, Wagner, Hindemith, and more.

For bassists, this album should have been titled “Hindemith Sonata.” Karr’s non-academic approach to this romantic music is very compelling and different from most interpretations.

Gary Karr, acclaimed as “the world’s leading solo bassist” (Time Magazine), is, in fact, the first solo double bassist in history to make that pursuit a full-time career. It is a career that adds new luster to his already lustrous 1611 Amati double bass which was given to him by the widow of Serge Koussevitzky.

Since his debut with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in 1962, Karr has performed as soloist on six continents with orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, Simon Bolivar Orchestra (Caracas, Venezuela), Jerusalem Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and with all the major orchestras of Australia.

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Gary Karr – Songs Of Prayer (1986/2014) SACD ISO

Gary Karr – Songs Of Prayer (1986/2014)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 00:41:44 minutes | Full Scans included | 1,69 GB
Genre: Classical | Publisher (label): King International – KIGC-1003

Gary Karr performs with organist Harmon Lewis for these reverent songs such as Ave Maria, O Holy Night, When You Wish Upon A Star, and more!

Gary Karr, acclaimed as “the world’s leading solo bassist” (Time Magazine), is, in fact, the first solo doublebassist in history to make that pursuit a full-time career. It is a career that adds new luster to his already lustrous 1611 Amati double bass which was given to him by the widow of Serge Koussevitzky.

Since his debut with Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in 1962, Karr has performed as soloist on six continents with orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, Simon Bolivar Orchestra (Caracas, Venezuela), Jerusalem Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, and with all the major orchestras of Australia.

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Michael Schlierf – Clouds And Silver Linings (2011) DSF DSD64

Michael Schlierf – Clouds And Silver Linings (2011)
DFF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 01:00:32 minutes | 2,39 GB | Genre: Classical
Source: SACD | Artwork: Front cover | © Stockfisch Records SFR 357.4070.2

A Wonderful Jazz Piano Album with 14 of Michael Schlierf’s pieces arranged for several instruments!

Michael Schlierf started playing piano at the age of 5. Beginning with a classical education he later decided to learn jazz piano. Since 1985 he studied jazz and popular music at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Stuttgart.

As an enthusiastic aficionado of instrumental music – Michael Schlierf lets the music do the talking. This can be felt in the music of his compositions – that language that begins where words start to fail. Stockfisch-Records releases a wonderful SACD album with 14 of his pieces arranged for several instruments: besides the piano you’ll hear string quartet, oboe, cor Anglais, flute, clarinet and harp plus saxophone, guitar, dobro, bass and drums.

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Kaspars Putnins, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir – Ülo Krigul: Liquid Turns (2022) DSF DSD64

Kaspars Putnins, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir – Ülo Krigul: Liquid Turns (2022)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 01:05:49 minutes | 2,6 GB | Genre: Classical
Source: SACD | Artwork: Front cover | © BIS

“Ülo Krigul studied in Tallinn and Vienna, and has written music in a wide variety of genres. Three works on the present disc – And the Sea Arose, Aga vaata aina üles (‘But Look Always Up’) and liquid turns – were completed in 2019–20 when Krigul was composer-in-residence with the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir. Linked by a common concept and the recycling of musical material, the three form a triptych-like set, here preceded by Vesi ise (‘Water Is’) from 2015. The latter is the first piece that Krigul wrote for the choir and its conductor Kaspars Putniņš and includes ideas that has been carried over into their later collaboration. If Vesi ise here functions as a prelude, liquid turns is to an extent a summation of the programme: the composer has sampled text and music from the two preceding works and random phrases interact and emerge as a new whole. Krigul has chosen his texts from the New Testament, the writings of the philosopher Uku Masing and the sound poetry of Ilmar Laaban.”

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Sharon Bezaly – Synergy (2022) DSF DSD64

Sharon Bezaly – Synergy (2022)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 01:08:01 minutes | 2,7 GB | Genre: Classical
Source: SACD | Artwork: Front cover | © BIS

“On Synergy, flautist Sharon Bezaly and her musician friends demonstrate that one plus one can be much greater than two. Featuring works that celebrate the coming together of like-minded musicians, this project is a reminder, after more than two years of a pandemic that has affected all of us, that true musical synergy can only be achieved ‘face-to-face’, rather than ‘remotely’. With his Concerto for flute and recorder, Telemann not only creates a fusion of different musical styles of his time – namely Italian, German and French – but also shows a gift for borrowing elements from popular music. Saint-Saëns brings swirling colours and energy with a Tarentelle for flute, clarinet and orchestra that at times displays obsessive, even threatening undertones. From the same period, Doppler’s Concerto for two flutes is not far from the world of opera, providing the two soloists with ample opportunity to shine like two singers in front of an orchestra. In addition to celebrating the synergy created between musicians, the last two works featured on this disc, Bachianas Brasileiras No. 6 and Suite from the Orchestral Works, are telling examples of synergy between composers: it is as if Villa-Lobos and Mahler were shaking hands with Johann Sebastian Bach across distances of thousands of miles and hundreds of years.”

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Salvatore Accardo, I Solisti Delle Settimane Internazionali di Napoli – Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – Concertos for 3 & 4 violins (1987/2022) DSF DSD64

Salvatore Accardo, I Solisti Delle Settimane Internazionali di Napoli – Vivaldi: The Four Seasons – Concertos for 3 & 4 violins (1987/2022)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 01:04:00 minutes | 2,52 GB | Genre: Classical
Source: SACD | Artwork: Front cover | © Decca

A Tribute to Stradivari:
“During the period of his apprenticeship in Nicola Amati’s workshop, Stradivari began to modify the form of the instruments he was constructing, first by reducing the dimensions of the arching and then – during a period of intense experimentation – by changing the position of the sound-holes, the dimensions of the entire resonance chamber, the working of the scroll, the thickness of the wood, and, most important, the chemical composition of the varnish coating.

“But it is at the beginning of the new century that his violins attain their greatest elegance of design and best sound quality: this ‘golden age’ saw not only the perfection of formal design and choice of dimensions, but also extreme care in the choice and treatment of materials, so that a quality and ease of sound production was achieved that, even today, remains a paragon for violin-makers and is highly regarded by the most famous violinists.

“Some of the most splendid of these instruments have been chosen by Salvatore Accardo for this concert of music by Vivaldi recorded live at the fifth Cremona Festival. In particular, Accardo has decided to highlight the qualities peculiar to some of them by allowing them to be heard as solo instruments one after the other in the famous series of four concertos by Vivaldi, “Le quattro stagioni.” Taken from the collection “Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’invenzione,” Op. 8, these concertos may be regarded as Vivaldi’s most serious attempt to obtain new sonorities and variety of effects within the traditional form of the concerto gross; thus they represent the perfect showcase for the sound qualities of the solo instruments.” – from liner notes by Luca Tutino: English translation by Michael Ferris

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The Spirit of Gambo – John Jenkins: Late Chamber Music (2021) DSF DSD64

The Spirit of Gambo – John Jenkins: Late Chamber Music (2021)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 01:05:19 minutes | 2,59 GB | Genre: Classical
Source: SACD | Artwork: Front cover | © Stockfisch Records

The – mainly instrumental – music of John Jenkins (1592 – 1678), one of the most prolific composers of 17th century England, shows an interesting development from late-Renaissance to Baroque. Early works are the polyphonic fantasias for four-, five-, and six-part viol consort. In those days Jenkins presumably was active in London, where he was part of the music circles of the court of Charles I. Hardly anything is known about this first half of Jenkins’s life, but there is mention of him as a musician for the magnificent pageant “The Triumph of Peace” which took place in London in 1634.

The chamber music pieces on this CD must have originated during the time that Jenkins was staying with the Dereham and L’Estrange families. Whereas the music by Lawes often has a bold and angular character, the compositions by Jenkins from this period are clearly intended as compensation for the unsettled and perilous circumstances prevalent during the troublesome civil war years.

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Leila Josefowicz – Bohemian Rhapsodies (2022) DSF DSD64

Leila Josefowicz – Bohemian Rhapsodies (2022)
DSF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 01:10:13 minutes | 2,77 GB | Genre: Classical
Source: SACD | Artwork: Front cover | © Decca

Violinist Leila Josefowicz performs works of passion, intensity and romance by de Sarasate, Saint-Saens, Wieniawski, Massenet, Ravel and Chausson. Accompanied by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields led by Sir Neville Marriner, this program was recorded at Henry Wood Hall, London, in December 1995 and May 1996.

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Santana – Caravanserai (1972/2022) [Japan] MCH SACD ISO

Santana – Caravanserai (1972/2022) [Japan]
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 / 4.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 51:25 minutes | Full Scans included | 3,81 GB
Genre: Fusion, Psychedelic Rock | Publisher (label): Sony Records Int’l – SICP-10142

Santana’s “Caravanserai” becomes available as SA-CD Multi Hybrid edition for the first time in the world. Japanese original release.

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Michael Jackson – Thriller (2022 MFSL UltraDisc UHR SACD) (1982/2022) SACD ISO

Michael Jackson – Thriller (2022 MFSL UltraDisc UHR SACD) (1982/2022)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 00:42:22 minutes | Full Scans included | 1,8 GB
Genre: Disco, Funk, Soft Rock | Publisher (label): Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab – UDSACD 2251

Putting into perspective the incalculable impact and pioneering significance of the best-selling album of all time – Michael Jackson’s Thriller – has never been easy. Though Thriller lays claim to mind-boggling statistics that serve as reminders of how pervasive and indispensable it remains to music snobs and casual listeners alike, its essence always traces back to the greatness, power, and scope of the music. Now, as it celebrates its 40th anniversary, the record that reimagined pop; united audiences; made strides towards achieving racial equality; established the video as an artistic and commercial format; and taught the world how to dance sounds even more invigorating than it did during the advent of the Walkman.

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Various Artists – Super Audio CD Best Sound Selection (2008) DSF DSD64

Various Artists – Super Audio CD Best Sound Selection (2008)
DFF Stereo DSD64/2.82MHz | Time – 01:03:05 minutes | 1,04 GB | Genre: Classical
Source: SACD | Artwork: Front cover | © Stereo Sound – SSRR1

待望の柳沢功力氏選曲・構成「ステレオサウンド・リファレンスSACD」

柳沢功力氏の選曲・構成によるステレオサウンド・リファレンス・レコードが、SACD、CD両対応のハイブリッド・ディスクで遂に登場。ドイツ・グラモフォン、デッカ、フィリップス、アルヒーフ等、クラシックの名門レーベルを多数擁するユニバーサルミュージックの全面協力により、これらのレーベルをまたいでの選曲が実現。

カルロス・クライバーの指揮するアナログ録音の椿姫をはじめ、PCM録音によるブーレーズ指揮のマーラー、ゲルギエフ指揮のベルリオーズ、DSD録音による内田光子の弾くシューベルトのピアノ曲、諏訪内晶子の弾くラロのヴァイオリン曲など、世界最高峰の演奏家の優秀録音曲を、ヨーロッパ本国でマスタリングを行なって収録。さらには、このリファレンスレコードのためだけに、フォン・オッターによる歌曲とハーゲン弦楽四重奏団のバルトークをDSDマスタリングしてSACD化。この2曲をSACDで聴くことができるのは、世界中で本盤のみ。柳沢氏によるトラックごとの試聴ポイントも必読の、まさにオーディオファイル必聴のディスク。

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