Diana Panton – Blue (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:04:51 minutes | 1,50 GB | Genre: Vocal Jazz, Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © 2xHD Fusion
Two-time Juno Award winner and Jazz vocalist Diana Panton has released her tenth album, Blue. The album represents the final instalment of a “musical narrative of romance”.
That narrative began with pink (2009, Juno nominee in Canada and Silver Disc Award winner in Japan), followed by RED (2015, Juno winner). This trilogy “charts the emotional arc of an ill-fated romantic relationship” and the colours symbolically suggest the music’s content: pink is “the infatuation of first-time love”, RED, “the passion of true love”, and blue, the “heartbreak and mystery of love lost”.
Read more
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie – Shostakovich: Orchestral Works (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:02:43 minutes | 617 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © SWR Classic
Shostakovich never wrote an original composition entitled “Chamber Symphony”. Works known under this title are arrangements of the composer’s string quartets by the conductor Rudolf Barshai and authorized by the composer. The String Quartet No. 1, Op. 49 was written in 1938, after the Great Terror from 1937 and can be considered as an act of inner emigration. The String Quartet No. 8 in C minor, Op. 110 was written 22 years later, within three days, from 12 to 14 July 1960, in the Saxon health resort of Gohrisch. The Piano Concerto No. 1 in C minor, Op. 35, written in 1933, is one of the last works written in Shostakovich’s first creative period which was not yet overshadowed by Stalinist repressions and is peppered with a great deal of parodistic allusions. With the present recordings the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie under its young, energetic chief conductor Pietari Inkinen draws a dramaturgically convincing bow across Shostakovich’s work.
Read more
Various Composers – La chambre bleue: Music of the 17th-Century Parisian Salons (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 58:35 minutes | 1005 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Passacaille
Blue: the colour of stardust, the colour of the robe of Urania, the muse who holds the world in her hand. In Madame de Rambouillet’s 17th-century blue salons, ladies of wit and fashion – known as ‘les précieuses’ – conversed in an atmosphere of boundless elegance and refinement. Two musical ladies now recreate the colours of these graceful ladies in refined airs de cour, the popular secular vocal music of the period. Luxuriate in sounds that envelop the truth in soft blue satin, just like words.
Read more
Dave Rowntree – Radio Songs (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:36 minutes | 731 MB | Genre: Art Pop, Ambient Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Cooking Vinyl
Blur drummer Dave Rowntree releases his debut album Radio Songs on Cooking Vinyl. Standout track London Bridge was produced with Leo Abrahams (Wild Beasts / Brian Eno / Ghostpoet). It heralds the start of an exciting new project for Rowntree, over three decades since Blur formed back in 1989. London Bridge is an enticing opening statement. Deceptively bright and upbeat, with its staccato ‘la-la-la-la’ hook line, the music belies a lyrical sense of dread. As proficient with a synth or guitar as he is behind the drum-kit, Rowntree’s innate ear for a melody is given free-reign on this scuzzy but impactful, lo-fi number.
Read more
Dave Burns – Dave Burns (High Definition Remaster 2023) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 46:26 minutes | 554 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © J. Joes J. Edizioni Musicali
David Burns (March 24, 1924, Perth Amboy, New Jersey – April 5, 2009, Freeport, New York) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, arranger, composer, and teacher.
Burns began playing trumpet when he was nine years old, and heard bebop performances at Minton’s Playhouse as a teenager, including Dizzy Gillespie. His first ensemble was Al Cooper’s Savoy Sultans, with whom he played from 1941 to 1943, then joined the Army Air Force and led a band from 1943 to 1945 that included James Moody as a sideman. He joined Gillespie’s band in 1946 and appeared with Gillespie in Jivin’ in Bebop in 1947. After leaving Gillespie’s band in 1949, he worked with Duke Ellington from 1950 to 1952 and then with James Moody until 1957.
Read more
Dana Maiben, Sarah Cunningham, Lisa Goode Crawford – La Guerre: The Violin Sonatas (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:11:37 minutes | 1,48 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Centaur Records, Inc.
French musician, harpsichordist, and composer Elisabeth Claude Jacquet de la Guerre was born on March 17, 1665 into a family of musicians and master instrument makers. Rather than just teach her brothers, Elisabeth’s father, a master harpsichord maker, taught her as well. She was one of the few well-known female composers of her time. She mastered many forms in her compositions. The present release showcases the three violin sonatas that she composed in 1707. The artists featured here – violinist Dana Maiben, gambist Sarah Cunningham, and harpsichordist Lisa Goode Crawford- are experts in historical performance practice and give these works the life they deserve.
Read more
Cracow Philharmonic Orchestra – Auber: Le Philtre, S. 20 (Live) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 02:03:53 minutes | 1,30 GB | Genre: Classical, Opera
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
Die beiden führenden Opernkomponisten ihrer Zeit waren Rossini und Auber, der eine heute gefeiert, der andere weitgehend übersehen. 1831 produzierten Auber und sein langjähriger Librettist Eugène Scribe Le Philtre, das das Konzept der Petit Opéra auf die Spitze trieb und Rossinis Le Comte Ory sogar noch übertraf, indem es eine ländliche Szenerie darstellte, die nicht von arkadischen Hirten, sondern von einfachen Landleuten bevölkert war. Aubers französisch-italienischer Stil ist in den Ensembles des Werks zu hören, während die Oper ansonsten mit reichen Arien, Buffo-Elementen und reizvollen Cavatinas glänzt. Le Philtre war mit 243 Aufführungen ein voller Erfolg und inspirierte Donizettis L’elisir d’amore.
Read more
Cottbus State Theatre Philharmonic Orchestra – Luxembourg Contemporary Music, Vol. 2 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:09:16 minutes | 1,15 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
Marco Pütz gained international recognition after winning awards for his compositions in the mid-1990s. Accessibility and enjoyment for both audiences and musicians are a central element in Pütz’s music, and he is renowned for numerous symphonic, wind band and chamber works that have become standard repertoire throughout the world. Euphonia’s Voice is part of an exploration of lesser-known instruments, and the virtuoso contrasts of joy and grief in Chapters of Life are always at the service of expressiveness – the power of love, life and the commemoration of those close to us forming a theme throughout much of this superb programme.
Read more
Coleman Hawkins – The Best of Swing Jazz – Tenor Sax (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 49:24 minutes | 515 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Jazz Essential
Coleman Randolph Hawkins (November 21, 1904 – May 19, 1969), nicknamed “Hawk” and sometimes “Bean”, was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. One of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument, as Joachim E. Berendt explained: “there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn”. Hawkins biographer John Chilton described the prevalent styles of tenor saxophone solos prior to Hawkins as “mooing” and “rubbery belches.” Hawkins cited as influences Happy Caldwell, Stump Evans, and Prince Robinson, although he was the first to tailor his method of improvisation to the saxophone rather than imitate the techniques of the clarinet. Hawkins’ virtuosic, arpeggiated approach to improvisation, with his characteristic rich, emotional, and vibrato-laden tonal style, was the main influence on a generation of tenor players that included Chu Berry, Charlie Barnet, Tex Beneke, Ben Webster, Vido Musso, Herschel Evans, Buddy Tate, and Don Byas, and through them the later tenormen, Arnett Cobb, Illinois Jacquet, Flip Phillips, Ike Quebec, Al Sears, Paul Gonsalves, and Lucky Thompson. While Hawkins became known with swing music during the big band era, he had a role in the development of bebop in the 1940s.
Read more
Clio K – Jasmine in November (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 48:24 minutes | 466 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ankh Jazz
Creating a bridge of two different worlds, the Greek-French harpist experiments and redefines the role of the classical harp in contemporary musical trends, presenting a sound and a way of playing completely fresh.
Read more
Clélia Iruzun, I Musicanti, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra & Nimrod Borenstein – Nimrod Borenstein: Concerto for Piano & Orchestra, Op. 91, Light and Darkness, Op. 80 & Shirim, Op. 94 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:10:56 minutes | 2,24 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © SOMM Recordings
SOMM RECORDINGS is pleased to announce the label debut of composer and conductor Nimrod Borenstein with premiere recordings of three works centering on the piano in various forms: his Piano Concerto, the Piano Quintet Light and Darkness, and Shirim for solo piano.
Read more
Claudio Arrau – Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5, Op. 73 “Emperor” & Piano Sonata No. 22, Op. 54 (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 51:26 minutes | 2,00 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics
Legendary Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau is backed by the Philharmonia Orchestra headed by Italian conductor Alceo Galliera in this programme of Beethoven works, transferred from original analog sources to high-fidelity digital formats by Warner Classics!
Read more
Claudia Schellenberger – Bach, Beethoven & Others: Piano Fantasies (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:00:46 minutes | 519 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Kaleidos Musikeditionen
Der Begriff „Fantasie“ klingt in der Welt der Musik eher unverbindlich. Es ist eine Kompositionsform, die ihr Leben vor 500 Jahren auf der zarten Laute begann und sich stetig entwickelte. „Fantasie“ dient als Titel für ein Stück, das sich nicht so recht einordnen lassen will in Kategorien, anders als eine „Sonate“ oder „Fuge“. Und man assoziiert spontan vielleicht auch den Geist der Romantik, stellt sich KünstlerInnen vor, die ihren musikalischen Gedanken freien Lauf lassen und das Ergebnis als „Fantasie“ bezeichnen.
Auf ihrer aktuellen Solo-CD präsentiert Claudia Schellenberger eher weniger bekannte Vertreter der Gattung „Fantasie“ aus Barock, Klassik und Romantik und damit aus drei Epochen, die für ihr Instrument, das Klavier besonders wichtig sind. Eine „fantastische“ Reise! Claudia Schellenberger konzertiert erfolgreich im In- und Ausland und wurde Preisträgerin verschiedener Klavierwettbewerbe.
Als Fünfzehnjährige wurde sie Schülerin von Prof. Karl-Heinz Kämmerling und studierte nach dem Abitur an den Musikhochschulen Hannover, Wien und Frankfurt. Ihre CDs wurden u. a. mit dem „Supersonic-Award“ ausgezeichnet.
Read more
Claudia Nascimento – Santoro: Fantasias Sul América & Sonata for Solo Violin (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 58:12 minutes | 591 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Naxos
Claudio Santoro was one of Brazil’s leading composers, having written a considerable amount of solo, chamber and orchestral music, including arguably the most important symphonic cycle ever written in that country. The fifteen Fantasias Sul América, composed as competition pieces for individual instruments, represent fascinating syntheses of his style heard in compressed form. Freely atonal and highly virtuosic, these pieces are now standard repertoire for Brazilian soloists, and were even used later by Santoro as material for his Symphony No. 12 (Naxos 8.574406). The youthful Sonata for Solo Violin is a work of extraordinary density and experimentation that reveals an aesthetically consistent dialogue with the much later Fantasias.
Read more
Clamb – Glittering Watermelon Oracle (Live at the Midway Cafe, July 19, 2021) (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 42:00 minutes | 525 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mint 400 Records
The Boston-based psych/krautrock band CLAMB are releasing their newest live record “Glittering Watermelon Oracle” on January 13, 2023. Clamb are known throughout the Boston and Northeast experimental rock community for their dynamic live energy, with its members constantly reinterpreting their former material and engaging in to-the-minute interplay between all the instruments. The performance that comprises Glittering Watermelon Oracle was captured on July 19, 2021 at the Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain, Boston, Massachusetts and represents a particularly thoughtful night of reinterpreted tunes from the band’s debut LP Earth Mother Grapefruit (2021, Mint 400 Records) as well as documenting the moment of creation of three new improvised pieces that have remained in the Clamb live repertoire ever since. The improvised title track revolves around a single stuttering chord while Joshua Merhar’s polymetric drums and Jameson Stewart’s fretless bass build a web of rhythm around an unchanging center point. Triangular Fÿord, the meditative fan-favorite from the debut album, enters into a doom-adjacent midsection when Peter Danilchuk’s moaning synthesizer chords suddenly give way to roaring power chords. Plutonian Auspex, another of the evening’s free improvisations, opens with a bed of heavily delayed piano-like synthesizer notes and a mournful Moog lead, with fretless bass offering counterpoints and punctuating the synthesizers’ phrases., before the drums join in with a wide feel that gives each instrument room to fill or not fill the space afforded to it. Each instrument simmers with a restrained sense of purpose, only bursting out of its role when it has something to say, and otherwise remaining as part of the greater texture between three personalities, encased in amber, connecting with their audiences.
Read more