Mattias Schulstad – The Guitar Player (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 53:01 minutes | 1,85 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Mattias Schulstad
Mattias Schulstad releases his second full-length album, The Guitar Player. The album features beloved works for the classical guitar and traditional Swedish songs in new arrangements for the guitar. The album is named Album of the Week by Classic FM.
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Matt Von Roderick – Celestial Heart (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 45:42 minutes | 446 MB | Genre: Contemporary Jazz, Fusion
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BFD
Matt Von Roderick may be the modern jazz crooner-trumpeter we’ve been waiting for. With equal parts innovative jazz virtuosity and heart-centered vocals, trailblazer Von Roderick mines the essence of classic jazz, rock, and electronica on CELESTIAL HEART and hits his mark.
Featuring legendary drummer Jim Keltner (John Lennon, Bob Dylan, Steely Dan), adventurous studio ace Mike Valerio and orchestration wizard Gil Goldstein (Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny), CELESTIAL HEART leads with Von Roderick’s out-of-this-world treatment of Fly Me To The Moon, perhaps even more true to the original song lyrics — a version you didn’t realize you needed until you hear it for the first time.
Utilizing his now signature multiphonics, loops, and spoken word, CELESTIAL HEART cements Von Roderick’s place within the pantheon of the real-deal singing trumpeter. Where some may be content to merely play ‘at’ the jazz tradition and American Songbook, Von Roderick reinvents — creating compelling new worlds within these beloved, timeless structures.
Rounding out the proceedings on CELESTIAL HEART is a nod to Mose Allison with the earthy blues track The Seventh Son featuring veteran bluesmen Johnny Lee Schell and Barry Goldberg, Herbie Hancock’s Cantaloupe Island, three entirely improvised pieces, and a stark, hauntingly beautiful I Fall In Love Too Easily.
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Nicolau de Figueiredo – Scarlatti: Sonatas (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:09:05 minutes | 1,37 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Passacaille
Nicolau de Figueiredo was a student of Kenneth Gilbert, Gustav Leonhardt and Scott Ross, Nicolau worked with leading European ensembles, including Europa Galante, the OAE and Concerto Köln.
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Niccolò Jommelli – Jommelli: La Critica (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:52:16 minutes | 1,13 GB | Genre: Classical, Opera
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © FIN
The impression aroused by the teatro alla moda(Venice 1720) by Benedetto Marcello, the satirical volume that ridiculed the oddities and excesses of the world of opera of those years (from virtuous singers with their mothers, to impresari, from librettists to composers, gradually up to extras and suggestors), found echo in subsequent theoretical works on the subject (we remember those of Algarotti and Muratori) and in the vast production of libretti for intermezzi and opere buffe, which flourished especially in Venice, thanks also to the contribution of Carlo Goldoni (La cantatrice1730,La cantarina1756,La bella veritie1762) and Pietro Chiari (L’amore in musica1760). Putting the characters, the situations and the ampulloousness of the expressive language of the opera seria, it denounced its own incongruity and it was intended to hit the complexity, sometimes redundant, of its mechanisms. This particular strand of comic theater spread, especially in the second half of the eighteenth century, also in various European courts open to the influence of opera italiana.La critica was composed in Stuttgart for Duke Carl Eugen ofr In 1768 he reworked two intermezzi on Martinelli’s libretti, L’accademia di musicaeLa conversazione (Il giuoco del picket), represented in Salvaterra, Spain, in the carnival of 1775. The interlocutors were divided between the two interludes: Siface, Lesbia and Acamante (here soprano) for the first; Placido, Severino and Gioconda (here soprano) for the secondo.Il picket game, first performed under this title in Koblenz in 1772, differs fromconversationonly by some variations in recitatives.
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Stephen Layton, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment – Bach: St John Passion (2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 01:58:06 minutes | 1,89 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Hyperion Records
‘Layton has directed this annual St John Passion for several seasons now. His readings, which are becoming ever more dramatic and daring, have a raw intensity. It was easy to see why these concerts have become one of the highlights in London’s musical calendar’ (The Guardian)
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Natalie Haas and Brittany Haas – HAAS (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 44:50 minutes | 734 MB | Genre: Folk, Celtic
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Padiddle Records
Sisters Natalie (cello) and Brittany Haas (fiddle) began their musical lives together, filling their childhood home with Bach suites and Old-Time tunes alike. It was on their own, however–following divergent paths through disparate musical traditions, countries, and cultures–that they both arrived as virtuosi and composers at the highest levels of contemporary string music. Fans of acoustic music can hardly mention one without referencing the other’s work. With ‘HAAS’, these singular musicians finally record together – in duo form – for the first time. It is a collaboration a lifetime in the making, and a music encompassing travels through time and through the world. From Nashville to Norway, the Celtic Isles to California, Natalie and Brittany have absorbed, adapted, and made their own world of music. The result? ‘HAAS’.
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Stormzy – Heavy Is the Head (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 54:03 minutes | 595 MB | Genre: Grime, Hip-Hop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Atlantic Records UK
Following the release of ‘Gang Signs and Prayer’ (2017), his award-winning, platinum-selling debut album, Stormzy may no longer be stepping between the street and the sermon, but he’s still walking between two worlds: that of the celebrity and of the everyman. His desire to stay grounded is evident; as his career continues to soar, he seems more and more determined to help others reach new heights of their own. Features the singles ‘Crown’, ‘Vossi Bop’ and ‘Wiley Flow’.
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Stephen Hough, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton – Rachmaninov: Complete Works for Piano and Orchestra (2004)
PS3 Rip | 2x SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 144:42 minutes | Scans included (PDF) | 6,39 GB
or FLAC Stereo 2.0 (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Scans included (PDF) | 2,72 GB
The combination of Dallas and Litton offers a conductor who adores Sergei Rachmaninov (he has recorded all the symphonies) and understands the works from a pianist’s perspective, an orchestra with a glorious and old-fashioned string sound of the kind with which the composer would be familiar, a hall to record in which is one of the best in the world, and let’s not forget Stephen Hough who has already won two Gramophone ‘Record of the Year’ accolades for his concerto recordings. As the results here triumphantly show, all our hopes have been fulfilled, and more.
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Stefano Bollani Trio – Black And Tan Fantasy (2002) [Japan 2018]
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 45:51 minutes | Front/Rear Covers | 1.84 GB
or FLAC 2.0 (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/48 kHz | Front/Rear Covers | 569 MB
Stefano Bollani began studying the piano at the age of six and started his professional career at the age of fifteen. After graduating from the Conservatory Luigi Cherubini in Florence in 1993 he began appearing in many of the world’s most important concert venues. Currently he has published 43 albums alone (29 studio) and has collaborated extensively with other artists. Japanese label Venus Records released four albums by the “Stefano Bollani Trio” formed with Ares Tavolazzi on contrabass and Walter Paoli on drums. First of them – Black and Tan Fantasy was released in 2002.
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Steely Dan – Pretzel Logic (1974) [Japanese Limited SHM-SACD 2014]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 33:52 minutes | Scans included | 1,39 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 700 MB
Countdown to Ecstasy wasn’t half the hit that Can’t Buy a Thrill was, and Steely Dan responded by trimming the lengthy instrumental jams that were scattered across Countdown and concentrating on concise songs for Pretzel Logic. While the shorter songs usually indicate a tendency toward pop conventions, that’s not the case with Pretzel Logic. Instead of relying on easy hooks, Walter Becker and Donald Fagen assembled their most complex and cynical set of songs to date. Dense with harmonics, countermelodies, and bop phrasing, Pretzel Logic is vibrant with unpredictable musical juxtapositions and snide, but very funny, wordplay. Listen to how the album’s hit single, “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number,” opens with a syncopated piano line that evolves into a graceful pop melody, or how the title track winds from a blues to a jazzy chorus — Becker and Fagen’s craft has become seamless while remaining idiosyncratic and thrillingly accessible. Since the songs are now paramount, it makes sense that Pretzel Logic is less of a band-oriented album than Countdown to Ecstasy, yet it is the richest album in their catalog, one where the backhanded Dylan tribute “Barrytown” can sit comfortably next to the gorgeous “Any Major Dude Will Tell You.” Steely Dan made more accomplished albums than Pretzel Logic, but they never made a better one.
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Stealers Wheel – Stealers Wheel (1972/2016)
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH) ~ 1.39 GB | FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/88.2 kHz ~ 630 MB | 34:37 min | Artwork
Label: A&M Records / Intervention Records | Tracks: 10 | Rls.date: 1972/2016
Genre: Classic Rock, Folk Rock, Oldies
Stealers Wheel is the debut 1972 album by the Scottish folk rock band Stealers Wheel. It never charted in the UK, as did neither of the first two singles, “Late Again”, or “You Put Something Better Inside Me”. “Stuck in the Middle with You” reached the Top 10 in the UK, US and Canada.
The cover painting was by John Patrick Byrne. The words “Stealers Wheel” are embedded eight times in the design, in addition to the large lettering in the bottom left-hand corner.
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Stanley Turrentine – Up At Minton’s, Volume 1 (1961) [APO Remaster 2011]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 44:54 minutes | Scans included | 1,8 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 851 MB
Stanley Turrentine was just beginning to turn heads in jazz circles in the early ’60s when he made an appearance at Minton’s with guitarist Grant Green, pianist Horace Parlan, bassist George Tucker, and drummer Al Harewood. The group mixes hard bop with funk and soul jazz; Turrentine’s tone, sound, and pacing are good, although he wasn’t yet the master at ballads he would be later in his career. Standards and a couple of blues make up the repertoire, giving listeners a definitive look at the soulful Mr. T. near the beginning of his productive musical life.
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Stan Kenton – Supreme Jazz (2006)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 48:09 minutes | Front/Rear Covers | 2,91 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Front/Rear Covers | 958 MB
Features Stereo and Multichannel Surround Sound | Membran Music # 223270
Stanley Newcomb Kenton was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra garnering many successes across several music genres. Though Kenton was to have several pop hits from the early 1940s into the 1960s, much like earlier band leader Paul Whiteman, he categorized his music as forward looking, or “progressive jazz”. He was also on the cutting edge of jazz education in creating the Stan Kenton Band Clinics starting in the late 1950s.
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Szabolcs Szilagyi & Laszlo Borbely – Bach, Complete Flute Sonatas, Volume I (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 46:18 minutes | 2,06 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Hunnia Records
Bach’s flute sonatas are particularly sensitive, penetrating and soul-stirring music. If I had to use a single word to describe the four sonatas on this disc, surprisingly, I would have to use something far from idyllic. But why should Bach be so idyllic? His perfect structures (far beyond the ‘idyllic’ sound we imagine) remind us of the tragedy of our finitude and imperfection. And perfection never ‘anaesthetises’. With Bach, even the simplest-seeming music (or movement) explores the darkest spheres (along with the lightest, of course) that the human psyche can scarcely imagine. Just listen to the soaring, inducible phrases of the slow movement of the Sonata in C Major, over and over again. Like the stems of a plant spreading towards the light, tirelessly bursting forward, upwards, towards the surface, towards the light. If you listen to it once with deep attention, you will never forget the opening movement of the Sonata in E Minor, with its almost brutal phrasing, and then the fiery even movements that rush in as a counterpoint. But also the shifting moods of the A Major Sonata in the two outer movements, or the ‘heartbeats missing’ in the slow movement. In these Bach prophetically foreshadows the rebellious structures of modernity. And we haven’t even mentioned the second movement in the Sonata in E flat Major, which evokes the Passions…
So these pieces really do speak to us! They contain content that cannot be expressed in words, and beyond that, they ask the ultimate questions of our humanity, and they do it for us. Bach’s language hides for us the evidence of a time before the turmoil of Babel.
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Sunburned Hand of the Man – Workingman’s Dump (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:15:55 minutes | 679 MB | Genre: Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Manhand Digital
After 24 years of releaes on our band’s label we’ve reached 200. This is a megamix highlight reel of selected Sunburned tracks throughout the Manhand catalog and we’ve included 2 previously unreleased tracks from our recent studio sessions. Please enjoy.
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