Mari Kodama – Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 5, 6 & 7 (2011)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 59:20 minutes | 1,02 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © PENTATONE
One could succinctly describe the Piano Sonatas Op. 10 – composed between 1796 and 1798 – as a “trilogy of contrasts”. As he had already done in Op. 2 and Op. 27, here Beethoven has collated various works in a single opus number. And his reason for doing so was not purely based on com- merce; in fact, he was motivated mainly by the musical content. These three works from his early sonata period exhibit artistic development, extensive contrasting, and independent formulation: not until his later works, in fact, do these three factors reap- pear at this same level. He dedicated the sonatas to the Countess Anna Margarete von Browne, a society lady in Vienna.
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Mahogany L. Browne, Sean Mason – CHROME VALLEY (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 38:28 minutes | 765 MB | Genre: Contemporary Jazz, Vocal Jazz, Spoken Word, Poetry
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © The Soapbox Presents
Distinguished writer, playwright, and Lincoln Center’s first poet in residence Mahogany L. Browne has teamed up with jazz pianist, composer and producer Sean Mason to create CHROME VALLEY, a genre traversing album and music essay on the Black experience in America set for release April 19. Inspired by Browne’s most recent critically acclaimed poetry anthology by the same name, CHROME VALLEY marks the debut album for project-based, community centered record label The Soapbox Presents.
On the poetry behind the new single, Browne shares, “If We Praise, is a healing litany. It is meant to call in ghosts and clear out the haunt. All the heavy is lifted in the declaration “We are beautiful”—which is to say, despite all the attempts to destroy, oppress, and commodify our blackness, we remain.”
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Ludovico Einaudi – Divenire (2006/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:22:14 minutes | 761 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca (UMO) (Classics)
Ludovico Einaudi is an Italian classical composer who is often placed into the minimalist movement. His main choice for an instrument, the piano, serves as the backbone for his songs, acting as the prominent foundation layer; however, other instruments and effects can be heard throughout his creations on occasion as well. Throughout his career, Einaudi has also worked on various soundtracks for movies, and a few key pieces from his albums – most notably “Fly” – have been used in various commercials for movies and sports promotions as well. Divernire is the composer’s seventh proper studio album.
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Ludovico Einaudi – Diario Mali (2003/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:08:04 minutes | 1,09 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Decca (UMO) (Classics)
To mark the 20th anniversary of “Diario Mali”, the joint album by Ludovico Einaudi and Ballaké Sissoko, Decca is releasing the album for the first time as a double album edition. Diario Mali is one of Ludovico Einaudi’s early masterpieces and is characterised by its musical fusion of piano and kora.
A masterpiece album by the Italian pianist Ludovico Einaudi and the African kora player Ballake, Sissoko. The music is a dialogue between two cultures, two different worlds. Echoes of Renaissance music, African music, blues and Karaibbean music.
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Lawrence Ball – Arp City (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 39:50 minutes | 412 MB | Genre: Classical, Progressive Electronic
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Navona
It doesn’t happen often that the talents of art and science unite in one person. Lawrence Ball, creator of experimental electronic music and accomplished tutor of mathematics, reconciles both disciplines on his new release, ARP CITY. The result is a truly timeless blend of synthesizers, layered soundscapes, and whimsical human creativity.
While the acoustic topography of ARP CITY is undeniably cerebral, it is also captivating to the ear. The instruments employed evoke the groundbreaking era between the 1960s and 1980s, when even the highbrow figures of popular music didn’t take themselves too seriously. Yet, there is an ethereal quality to Ball’s work that seems to draw its force not from the past; rather, it seems to be a transcendental exploration of a mysterious future.
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Kabaka Pyramid – The Kalling (Deluxe) (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:20:59 minutes | 995 MB | Genre: Reggae
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Ghetto Youths International – Bebble Rock Music
Winner of Best Reggae Album Grammy 2023. The Bebble Rock virtuoso Kabaka Pyramid released his sophomore album, The Kalling, produced by Damian ‘Jr Gong’ Marley. The fifteen-track masterpiece features some of the reggae icon’s most frequent collaborators like Damian Marley, Protoje, Black Am I, Jesse Royal, and new collaborators like Buju Banton and Stephen Marley. This second installment in Kabaka’s album discography is a symphony of songs that make a musical statement about the evolution of his craft.
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Johnny Mathis & Natalie Cole – Unforgettable: A Musical Tribute to Nat King Cole (1983/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 43:48 minutes | 1,64 GB | Genre: Pop, Easy Listening, Vocal Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy
Unforgettable – A Musical Tribute to Nat King Cole is a soundtrack album released in the UK in 1983 by the CBS Records division of Columbia in conjunction with the broadcast of American pop singer Johnny Mathis’s BBC television concert special of the same name that featured Cole’s daughter Natalie. The front of the original album jacket credits the concert performers as “Johnny Mathis and Natalie Cole”, whereas the CD booklet reads, “Johnny Mathis with special guest Natalie Cole”.
The LP entered the UK album chart on September 17, 1983, and reached number five over the course of 16 weeks, and the following month, on October 31, the British Phonographic Industry awarded the album with Gold certification for sales of 100,000 units in the UK.
In the liner notes on the original album sleeve Natalie Cole writes, “It was an honor to work with an artist of the stature of Johnny Mathis, one of the few artists in the world whom I feel can do justice to my father’s music.”
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James Gilchrist and Nathan Williamson – The Songs of Thomas Pitfield (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 54:55 minutes | 938 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Divine Art
Divine Art presents the songs of Thomas Pitfield, a revered composer whose catalogue boasts over 150 songs crafted over a lifetime of creativity and dedication. From heartfelt dedications to friends and colleagues to whimsical folk-inspired tunes, Pitfield’s compositions offer a kaleidoscope of emotions and experiences, showcasing his versatility and depth as an artist.
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Ingrid Michaelson – The Notebook (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 54:25 minutes | 633 MB | Genre: Soundtrack
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Atlantic Records
When performances of the new Broadway musical The Notebook begin Thursday (March 14), the team behind the show based on the beloved Nicholas Sparks novel (which itself became a now-classic film starring Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams) will have something else big to celebrate, too. Billboard can exclusively announce that Atlantic Records will release The Notebook (Original Broadway Cast Recording) on April 19.
The show, with a score by singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, is the latest addition to Atlantic’s extensive catalog of original Broadway cast recordings, which includes Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen and Jagged Little Pill. “I saw The Notebook during its out-of-town run in Chicago in late 2022 and was blown away by how good it was,” Atlantic’s president A&R Pete Ganbarg tells Billboard. “The adaptation from page to screen to stage felt flawless. We’ve always been fans of Ingrid’s writing and her songs really connected for us in the context of the story.”
The show marks Michaelson’s Broadway debut as a composer (she briefly starred in Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 in 2017).
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Hector Bingert – Jardins (1987/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 32:03 minutes | 721 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Universal Music AB
Héctor José Bingert Aleman (born March 3, 1944 in Montevideo) is a Uruguayan jazz and entertainment musician (soprano and tenor saxophone, flute, composition), who also performs under the name Finito Bingert.
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Gloria Coates – Gloria Coates: Time Frozen – Works for Chamber Orchestra (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 52:36 minutes | 929 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © NEOS Music
In 1978, a sensation at the Warsaw Autumn Festival was caused by a woman composer’s sonically groundbreaking opus, which bore the soberly descriptive title “Music on Open Strings”: music on empty, i. e. non-fingered, strings. At that time, being a woman made an eminent difference in one’s artistic career. When Gloria Coates appeared with this work on the musica viva programme in Munich in 1980, it was the first work by a woman composer to be performed since the concert series was founded in 1946. “Music on Open Strings” is a particularly successful example of the radical path taken by the American composer and remains one of her best-known works to this day.
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Emily – Rub Al Khali (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 56:05 minutes | 615 MB | Genre: Indie Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Cherry Red Records
Long-awaited retrospective by legendary indiepop band EMILY, simply called “A Retrospective”. It comes on two CDs with a 12 page booklet (with detailed linernotes from Daniel Williams) and contains mostly unreleased material plus all tracks from their rare 7″ single “Stumble” on Esurient Communications. The CD version also includes all seven songs from their album “Rub Al Khali” as bonus! Most of the tracks were professionally mastered from the original tapes, still the sound quality may vary on the album.
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Else Ensemble – Johanna Senfter: Chamber Music (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 02:05:42 minutes | 1,22 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © CPO
The German-Israeli Else Ensemble presents new recordings with works by Johanna Senfter! Included here are the “Quartett für Klavier, Violine, Viola und Kniegeige, op. 11”, “Sonate für Klarinette, Bratsche, Horn und Klavier, op. 37”, “Trio für Klarinette, Horn und Klavier, op. 103”, “Quintett für Klarinette und Streichquartett, op. 119”, “Sonate für Klarinette und Klavier, op. 57”, and “Kleines, leichtes Trio für Violine, Violoncello und Klavier, op. 134”.
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David Potvin – Catharsis (2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 47:43 minutes | 760 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Leaf Music
My debut solo album is a showcase of contemporary Canadian piano repertoire that has never been recorded before. The program traverses a wide emotional landscape, from incandescent passion, to serene tranquility. It features pieces by Cris Derksen, Keiko Devaux, and Jean Coulthard.
La Scena Musicale hails Montreal-based pianist David Potvin as a rising star of 2022. As winner of the 45th Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition, he toured across Canada in the fall of 2022 with a diversely curated program of Canadian repertoire and quickly established himself as one of Canada’s most exciting contemporary pianists.
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Dave Sereny – The Opening (1998/2024)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:10:42 minutes | 911 MB | Genre: Jazz Fusion, Jazz Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Slammin Media
Dave Sereny is a Berklee College trained composer, arranger, producer, and session guitarist currently based in Toronto, Ontario.
A touring veteran of multiple jazz festivals, Dave has steadily drawn the admiration of some of his most seasoned and respected peers in the smooth jazz world. This culminated with him becoming a multiple nominee (Best Album and Best New Artist) at The Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards ™.
Dave has had several hit songs on the U.S. Smooth Jazz Charts including 2 Top Ten singles (“Saint Tropez” and “Caribbean Cruise”)
Dave’s highly anticipated new album “Talk To Me” is now available everywhere. The album contains both original material as well as covers showcasing Dave’s guitar prowess alongside with many of his superstar friends including bassist Nathan Watts (Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson) and saxophonist Warren Hill (Chaka Khan, Natalie Cole), among others. A tour is being planned so that the rest of the world can see for themselves what Dave’s high profile jazz friends already know; that he’s a serious talent to be reckoned with!
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