Christina Pluhar – Rossi: La lyra d’Orfeo & Arpa Davidica (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Christina Pluhar – Rossi: La lyra d’Orfeo & Arpa Davidica (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 02:39:34 minutes | 3,94 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Erato – Warner Classics

Christina Pluhar has long been interested in the vocal music of the 17th century, in particular that of composer Luigi Rossi born around 1597 in the beautiful province of Puglia. He was the titular composer to the Medicis in Florence before taking a job with Cardinal Barberini in Rome. In France, Cardinal Mazarin commissioned him to produce the first Italian opera written specifically for the French court. In a manner of speaking, Rossi is at the root of the productions that another Italian, Lully, would later write for Louis XIV.

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Christina Pluhar – Music for a While – Improvisations on Purcell (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Christina Pluhar – Music for a While – Improvisations on Purcell (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:16:19 minutes | 1,30 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics International

After the intoxicating heat of Mediterraneo, released in 2013, Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L’Arpeggiata – again in the company of countertenor Philippe Jaroussky, soprano Raquel Andueza and alto singer Vincenzo Capezzuto – now head to the cooler climes of England with Music for a while, an album based on the haunting, graceful and sometimes deeply moving music of Henry Purcell.

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Christina Pluhar – Los Pajaros Perdidos (2012) [Official Digital Download 24bit/88,2kHz]

Christina Pluhar – Los Pajaros Perdidos (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:15:39 minutes | 1,31 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Since founding L’Arpeggiata in 2000 as an early music ensemble, Christina Pluhar has taken it in some directions not usually associated with the rarified world of historically informed performance practice, particularly into the traditions of Southern European folk music and jazz. In Los Pájaros Perdidos: The South American Project, she ventures even further afield into the world of modern Latin American popular song and folk song. She argues persuasively that the Renaissance and Baroque instruments the Spanish introduced to the New World in the 16th and 17th century remained essentially the same, while back in Europe they developed in entirely new directions so that the difference between the sound of an early music ensemble and a popular South American instrumental group is less significant than one might expect. Based on the sound of this album, she seems to be right. She uses both European and Latin American instruments and although the results are clearly not exactly the same as they would be with either group on its own, they’re awfully close, certainly close enough to make the project entirely persuasive. Each of the songs or instrumentals uses instruments from both worlds and the blend is often magical. The addition of the European psaltery and distinctive American percussion in particular expand the traditional sound of either culture. The singers are all members of L’Arpeggiata and succeed in varying degrees in hitting the swing of the Latin rhythms. Countertenor Philippe Jaroussky is perhaps the least effective, although his singing is consistently beautiful. It’s only in contrast to Lucilla Galeazzi, Luciana Mancini, Vincenzo Capezzuto, and Raquel Andueza, who sound like they have this idiom in their blood, that Jaroussky sounds less that fully effective. Mancini is especially impressive; her gutsy alto is ideally suited to fiery, passionate songs like Montilla, while Capezzuto shines in the sunnier songs, and Galeazzi and Andueza excel in the languid, achingly poignant ballads. Andueza’s yearning Besame mucho is one of the highlights of the album. L’Arpeggiata and the quartet of Latin American instruments headed by Quito Gato play their hearts out. Virgin Classics’ sound is immaculate, finely detailed, and warmly intimate. Highly recommended.

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Christina Pluhar, L’Arpeggiata – Handel Goes Wild (2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Christina Pluhar, L’Arpeggiata – Handel Goes Wild (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:15:30 minutes | 1,35 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

“Handel goes wild”, that’s putting it mildly: in Christina Pluhar’s album, he goes wild to quite some extremes! Indeed the Austrian harpist, theorbist, and lute player picked a handful of Handel’s (and a bit of Vivaldi’s) arias, concerto movements and overtures, and put them not only in the hands of baroque musicians of the L’Arpeggiata Ensemble, but also of half a dozen jazz musicians of various styles. The result is a reinterpretation, in turn gypsy, Klezmer, salsa, New Orleans jazz, lounge, blues and so on, that everyone can either love or hate depending on their own degree of adaptability. Undeniably using a clarinet and piano in this language can be confusing for some… But Pluhar’s approach is simple: Handel himself reused, reshaped, tinkered, disguised, ransacked and rewrote, using both the works of other composers and his own, always with his own personal approach and the most immediate style of his time. So why not do the same nowadays?! In any case, this mixture of baroque instruments and voices with 20th-century instruments and genres is breathtaking. The artists invited include clarinettist Gianluigi Trovesi, pianist Francesco Turrisi and bass player Boris Schmidt in the field of jazz, but also countertenor Valer Barna-Sabadus and soprano Nuria Rial.

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Christina Pluhar – Himmelsmusik (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Christina Pluhar – Himmelsmusik (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:15:30 minutes | 1,30 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Himmelsmusik (‘heavenly music’), a programme of sacred songs and cantatas by German composers of the 17th century, presents a striking contrast with the previous Erato album from Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L’Arpeggiata: Händel Goes Wild.

Himmelsmusik sees Pluhar taking a more sober and traditionally scholarly approach. She and L’Arpeggiata are joined by star countertenor Philippe Jaroussky and the distinguished Belgian soprano Céline Scheen in a programme that includes the celebrated lamento ‘Ach, dass ich Wassers gnug hätte’ by Johann Christoph Bach (born over 40 years before his relative Johann Sebastian), Heinrich Schütz’s ‘Erbarm Dich mein, o Herre Gott’ and prompts discovery of works by such lesser-known figures as Johann Theile, Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, Christian Ritter and Franz Tunder. An instrumental piece by the Verona-born Antonio Bertali highlights the influence of Italian music on German composers of the time.

In an interview with the Bremen-based newspaper Weser-Kurier, Christina Pluhar provided some insights into the balance she strikes in her music-making with L’Arpeggiata.

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Christina Pluhar – Alla Napoletana (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Christina Pluhar – Alla Napoletana (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:44:21 minutes | 1,98 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

Christina Pluhar, L’Arpeggiata and eight guest singers explore the musical highways and byways of Naples, the most intoxicating and idiosyncratic of Italy’s large cities. Alla Napoletana, a double album, expresses the city’s mercurial personality in music from the 17th to the 20th centuries, embracing the operatic style of the so-called Neapolitan School, which rose to prominence in the late 1700s, and popular songs and dances. Among them are several examples of the tarantella, the lively, sometimes frenzied dance that epitomises southern Italy.

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Christina Perri – songs for rosie (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Christina Perri – songs for rosie (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 29:54 minutes | 460 MB | Genre: Pop, Children
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Elektra (NEK)

Christina Perri has not had an easy year. In July of 2020 the singer-songwriter shared that she was expecting another child with her husband, comedian Paul Costabile. The couple was overjoyed; this would be their rainbow baby after experiencing a pregnancy loss at 11 weeks in January of 2020. But in November of 2020, in her third trimester, Perri was hospitalized with pregnancy complications. Two weeks later, she and her family shared the devastating news that they had lost their daughter. “She was born silent, after fighting so hard to make it to our world,” Perri, who had been 33 weeks along, wrote at the time.

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christina perri – head or heart (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

christina perri – head or heart (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 49:56 minutes | 989 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Atlantic Records

In matters of love, should you rely on your heart or your head? This is the question christina perri posed as she began writing her second album, a collection of cathartic songs that seek to reconcile how we make decisions in love and life. head or heart was recorded over the past year, with further production from Jake Gosling (Ed Sheeran, One Direction), John Hill (Pink, Mayer Hawthorne, Santigold), and Butch Walker (Taylor Swift, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco). The album was mixed by GRAMMY Award-winning engineer Manny Marroquin (Kanye West, John Legend, Alicia Keys).

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Christina Perri – a very merry perri christmas (2012) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Christina Perri – a very merry perri christmas (2012)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 22:15 minutes | 250 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Atlantic Records

Christina Perri became an overnight sensation when her smash hit “Jar of Hearts” was featured on acclaimed television programs including So You Think You Can Dance, Glee and Switched at Birth. The sweet-voiced singer-songwriter has released her debut holiday EP, a very merry perri christmas. The album pairs an all-new seasonal staple, “something about december,” alongside unique renditions of favorites including The Carpenters’ “merry christmas darling” and Charles Brown’s “please come home for christmas.” This six-track collection features all of Perri’s all-time favorite Christmas songs, plus an engaging original. This must-have Holiday album is highlighted by a magical take on the classic, “happy xmas (war is over),” which features choral contributions from Michelle Branch, LP, Bushwalla and Boys Like Girls’ Martin Johnson.

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Christina & Michelle Naughton – American Postcard (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Christina & Michelle Naughton – American Postcard (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:03:32 minutes | 1,02 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Warner Classics

“They have to be heard to be believed,” said the Washington Post of piano duo Christina and Michelle Naughton. The twin sisters pay tribute to their homeland with the album American Postcard. It offers music by four US composers: John Adams (his Roll Over Beethoven, a work the Naughtons premiered in 2016), Aaron Copland, Conlan Nancarrow and Paul Schoenfield. As the sisters explain, “These pieces show the diversity and variety of American music. But one thing that ties them together is an exuberance that, to us, feels deeply American.”

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Christina Day Martinson, Martin Pearlman and Boston Baroque – Biber: The Mystery Sonatas (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Christina Day Martinson, Martin Pearlman and Boston Baroque – Biber: The Mystery Sonatas (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:00:12 minutes | 2,46 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Linn Records

Heinrich Biber’s astonishingly powerful and deeply emotional Mystery Sonatas represent a triumph of Baroque invention. Boston Classical Review described Christina Day Martinson’s live performance as ‘a flourish of technical complexity and musical wizardry’, whilst the Boston Globe wrote, ‘Day Martinson…didn’t just survive, she triumphed.’

The adventurous use of six baroque violins in fifteen different tunings creates otherworldly soundscapes that result in a deeply moving and glorious listening experience. This highly disorientating practice reaches its pinnacle in Sonata XI (The Resurrection) where the middle two strings are crossed over each other both in the peg box and behind the bridge, so that one can literally see a cross on the violin. The fifteen sonatas have been traditionally grouped into three sets of five: five joyful mysteries, five sorrowful mysteries, and five glorious mysteries.

Boston Baroque’s founder Martin Pearlman plays organ and harpsichord, with Michael Leopold on theorbo and guitar and Michael Unterman on cello.

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Christina Bjørkøe – Fini Henriques: Piano Pieces (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Christina Bjørkøe – Fini Henriques: Piano Pieces (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:19:17 minutes | 1,28 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Dacapo

During the last two decades of the nineteenth century, the generation of Danish composers born in the 1860s started to make an impact. Among them, Fini Henriques, who had a special gift for beautiful, well-shaped melodies, and his popularity rested firmly on a generous output of single pieces, usually strung together in collections such as those presented here by Christina Bjørkøe. Billedbogen (The Picture Book) is a collection for children and proved one of his absolute bull’s eyes, whereas Erotik (Eroticism) and Melodiske profiler (Silhouettes) see the composer exploring the world of adult life. Henriques’s best works maintain a high level with their honesty and that brilliant touch which few of his contemporaries could rival.

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Christina Bjørkøe – Animal Universe (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Christina Bjørkøe – Animal Universe (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:06:41 minutes | 1016 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Dacapo

The challenge of the Etude has intrigued and inspired composers from Bach and Chopin on: can music designed to improve technique hold its own aesthetic value?
Pianist Christina Bjørkøe has an inspired answer to that question. She commissioned a set of three animal etudes from twelve composers and here presents the charming, evocative and very useful musical menagerie that resulted. From flea to hippo, beginner to professional, there is something for everyone.

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Christina Aguilera – Lotus (Deluxe Version – Remastered) (2012/2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Christina Aguilera – Lotus (Deluxe Version – Remastered) (2012/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:03:01 minutes | 759 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RCA Records Label

Deluxe Edition features 17 tracks. 2012 release, the fifth studio album from the Global Pop/R&B superstar. Christina Aguilera has been in the studio for the past year working on this highly anticipated album. Working with writers and producers such as Alex Da Kid, and Sia, the album also features collaboration with CeeLo Green, Aguilera’s co-star on The Voice. . The first single is “Your Body” written by Max Martin, Shellback and Savan Kotecha and produced by Max Martin and Shellback.

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Christina Aguilera – Liberation (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Christina Aguilera – Liberation (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 49:25 minutes | 559 MB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RCA Records Label

For six long years, our pop star hasn’t brought out an album. Her last, and certainly not her best, was Lotus. The time since then has been relatively tough, and Christina Aguilera has had to contend with the complexities of a different world: television. A recurrent actor in the series Nashville, she quickly became a prisoner of a role that should have just been a job. But a bitter ball of anger was growing in her day after day. She had built her empire in music, not on a soap opera set; and never mind how long she’d been away, she would break her chains and, now aged 37, she signed off on a warlike record: Liberation. Her weapons? A strong base of hip-hop dressed up in pop, R&B and rock, and above all the powerful voice of rebel women. Because the #MeToo has seen Aguilera reveal more of her feminist side in a hip-hop world she accuses of misogyny. She has matured and become self-assured. For this eighth album, Kanye West wrote several tracks, including the sensational Maria and Accelerate. Demi Lovato comes in for a duet, Fall in Line a war-song, where women are soldiers commanded by a man’s voice. It’s a way of fighting against certain clichés, in a spirit of strength and rebellion. Aguilera has lost none of the intensity of her voice, the ingenuity that sees her bringing in children’s choirs, synth melodies or sensual, emotional ballads. Liberation is more than just a hip-hop album, but the reconstruction of a woman, a benevolent cry that aims to bring comfort to those who, like her, have known trying times. Everything here has been subtly calculated to transmit a message through music that, like Aguilera herself, has evolved. – Clara Bismuth

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