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Fred Hersch Trio – Everybody’s Song But My Own (2011) [Japan 2015]
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 63:22 minutes | Front/Rear Covers | 2,57 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Front/Rear Covers | 1,42 GB
Fred Hersch is one of the greatest jazz pianists of our generation. Equipped with Bill Evans-esque lyricism, boundless imagination and fierce creativity, he has recorded many beautiful albums for various labels. His career was almost cut short by AIDS, but he came back from a near-death experience and began recording again. From this background comes his surprising first album for Venus Records. Unlike his recent releases, this album consists entirely of standards. Aided by John Herbert on bass and Eric McPherson on drums, Hersch displays his prestine tone, elegant interpretations of the standards, and his improvisational flair which often climaxes towards the end of a tune. An inspirational, strong trio album from the contemporary master of jazz piano.
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Fred Hersch – Personal Favorites (2006)
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 65:02 minutes | Scans included | 2,8 GB
or DSD64 2.0 Stereo (from SACD-ISO to Tracks.dsf) > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | Full Scans included | 2,56 GB
or FLAC 2.0 (carefully converted & encoded to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 1,2 GB
Features Stereo and Quadrophonic Surround Sound | Label: Chesky Records # SACD 324
Fred Hersch is an American jazz pianist and educator. He has performed solo and led his own groups, including the Pocket Orchestra consisting of piano, trumpet, voice, and percussion. He was the first person to play weeklong engagements as a solo pianist at the Village Vanguard in New York City. He has recorded more than 70 of his jazz compositions. Hersch has been nominated for several Grammy Awards. This compilation of celebrated pianist’s best-loved recordings for Chesky culls material from three discs-1991’s Forward Motion, 1993’s Dancing in the Dark and 1994’s The Fred Hersch Trio Plays.
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Hardy Rittner – Frederic Chopin – Complete Etudes (2012)
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 3,23 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 938 MB | Full Artwork | 3% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: MDG “Scene” # 904 1747-6 | Country/Year: Germany 2012
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Piano, Period Instrument
Another wonderful disc from Rittner who quite surpasses himself here.
These works as many will be aware are some of the most popular (to audiences at least, teachers may well hold other views!) studies of the piano and each of the Op. 10 & Op. 25 sets contain popular encores of many a pianist. Not short of competition for the two main sets (the 3 nouvelles Etudes are less popular due to their less melodic compositional style), on a modern Steinway one can choose Chopin: Etudes – Freddy Kempf on SACD or a bewildering number of the greats on RBCD (Backhaus is my personal favourite).
Rittner can hold his head high with all-comers such is his supreme virtuosity and musicianship. So much is heard apparently effortlessly thanks to his choice of piano which is in great voice. One is reminded completely of the phrase “pearls of music” so pellucid is the tone that Rittner draws from this instrument; never, even at the most furious of occasions, is the sound anything near strident. One principle benefit of using a period piano is that the bass line is clear without drowning out the remainder of the textures (even with judicious use of the pedals, it is something that has caused many players of the modern piano to come momentarily clouded).
Tempo choices are pretty much the ideal – barnstorming studies are played like the wind, will-o-the-wisp pieces flutter by and the more profound numbers are given plenty of room to breathe and reveal their depths. Rittner supplies very perceptive notes on both the instrument and interpreting these works and the points he makes are clearly audible in his playing. Rittner is fast becoming the Brautigam of Romantic repertoire!
Fortunately the MDG recording is fully worthy of gracing such playing and has nothing to quibble about whatsoever.
Outstanding. I cannot recommend this disc highly enough.
Copyright © 2012 John Broggio and SA-CD.net
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Arthur Rubinstein, New Symphony Orchestra – Chopin: Piano Concertos (2005)
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 2,60 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 1,24 GB | Artwork | 3% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: RCA Red seal “Living Stereo” # 82876-67902-2 | Country/Year: US 2005, 1958-1961
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic
This is absolutely the best recording of Frederic Chopin’s Piano Concertos! I heard many recordings of these familiar works (for example: Zimmermann, Polish Festival Orchestra, DG), but this recording beats my all old favorites.
1) The recording quality is excellent. Their were made in 1958 and 1961, but still sound is very clear. Unfortunately this isn’t five-channel hybrid recording, there is only three-channel engineering. Music comes only from both middle speakers and front speaker.
2) Rubinstein is brilliant pianist, maybe the greatest of all time! First Concerto sounds very effectively, and peaceful second movement is performed beautifully. Second Concerto is also outstanding, and fast finale is breathtaking!
3) The booklet and SACD are packaged nicely in a strong jewel case.
This is excellent purchase for all classical music lovers! It is very good, that Living Stereo label publishes old masterful recordings on multi-channel SACD! Incredible! ~sa-cd.net
Freddy Kempf, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Andrew Litton – Prokofiev: Piano Concertos (2010)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 80:49 minutes | Scans included | 3,58 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,3 GB
Features Stereo and Multichannel surround sound | BIS Records # BIS-SACD-1646
Whatever one might call it – virtuosity, charisma, panache, or just plain guts – pianist Freddy Kempf certainly has it. Kempf has successfully deployed his gifts in some of the most difficult works in the piano repertoire in a consistently impressive series of discs for BIS. He’s taken on Bach partitas, Beethoven sonatas, Chopin etudes, and Rachmaninov preludes, and he’s brought them to dizzying heights where the air is thin and only the greatest pianists can breathe. But while there’s no doubt Kempf is bringing his best qualities to bear on this disc of Prokofiev’s Second and Third piano concertos and his Second Piano Sonata, it is nowhere nearly as successful as his earlier recordings. Perhaps this is because, for all his blazing virtuosity, Kempf tends to lean toward the light and lyrical in Prokofiev, and this approach doesn’t always fit with the music. It works brilliantly in the body of the Third Concerto’s opening Allegro and in much of the same work’s closing Allegro ma non troppo, where Kempf’s fleet fingers and racing tempos carry all before them. But in the Third’s central theme and variations, and in most of the Second’s opening Allegretto and closing Allegro tempestoso, Kempf sounds oddly underpowered, as if he lacked the strength to convey the steel and iron of the music. That surely cannot be the case for a pianist who has turned in a performance of “The Great Gate of Kiev” from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition that could, if aimed in the right direction, reduce Gibraltar to pebbles. Whatever the cause, this disc is somewhat disappointing, coming from such a gifted player. Andrew Litton and the Bergen Philharmonic are more than adequate, but not much more, as accompanists. BIS’ super audio sound seems to surround and even envelop the listener.
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Freddie Hubbard – The Body & The Soul (1963) [Analogue Productions 2010]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 36:18 minutes | Scans included | 1,53 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 719 MB
The second of trumpeter Freddie Hubbard’s two Impulse albums features the 25-year old in three separate settings. He is heard along with a tenor-saxophonist backed by strings (“Skylark,” “I Got It Bad” and “Chocolate Shake” are all given beautiful treatments), with a 16-piece band and in a septet with Eric Dolphy and Wayne Shorter. This well-rounded and highly recommended showcase shows why Freddie Hubbard was considered the top trumpeter to emerge during the early ’60s.
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Freddie Hubbard – Hub-Tones (1963) [Analogue Productions 2011]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 61:13 minutes | Scans included | 2,48 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans included | 1,14 GB
Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard teams up on record with James Spaulding (who doubles on alto and flute) for the first time on this excellent set, with the assistance of pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Reggie Workman, and drummer Clifford Jarvis. The quintet performs four of the trumpeter’s originals (including “Lament for Booker” and the title cut) plus an advanced version of the standard “You’re My Everything.” John Coltrane’s modal music was starting to influence Hubbard’s conception and his own playing was pushing the modern mainstream ahead without really entering the avant-garde.
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Charles Munch, Boston Symphony Orchestra – Franz Schubert – Symphonies No. 8 & No. 9 (2006)
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 2,59 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 1,20 GB | Artwork | 3% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: RCA Red Seal “Living Stereo” # 82876-66374-2 | Country/Year: Europe 2006, 1955 & 1958
Genre: Classical | Style: Viennese School
Review by Blair Sanderson
The hybrid SACD format is ideal for reissuing RCA Red Seal’s early two- and three-channel stereo recordings, and Charles Münch’s vibrant recordings of Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 8 in B minor, “Unfinished,” and the Symphony No. 9 in C major, “The Great,” especially benefit from this state-of-the-art technology. Recorded in 1955 and 1958, respectively, these performances with the phenomenal Boston Symphony Orchestra sound magnificent with the spacious separation and the close simulation of a real orchestral environment made possible by DSD and multichannel remastering. Beyond the superb audio quality, these recordings are fascinating documents of Münch’s elegant interpretations of Schubert. Known mostly as a conductor of the French Romantic repertoire, Münch was less closely associated with the Austro-Germanic symphonic literature, so his Schubert might seem a little outside the tradition, especially because of his lighter-than-air touch, elegant phrasing, fleet tempos, and utter avoidance of hysteria or bombast. The “Unfinished” is enjoyable for its refined dynamics and delicate sonorities, especially in the woodwinds; while “The Great” practically takes flight on its buoyant rhythms and seems quite propulsive in the Finale. This is the first time these performances have been paired in RCA’s Living Stereo series, and the affordable reissue price puts this terrific matchup well within reach of classical beginners and budget-conscious connoisseurs. ~allmusicguide
Frans Bruggen, Orchestra Of The XVIII Century – Beethoven: The Symphonies (2012) [5x SACD]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 357:31 minutes | Scans + PDF included | 18,2 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Scans + PDF included | 6,02 GB
It was some years after founding the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century in 1981 that Frans Brüggen first turned his attention to the music of Beethoven’s Nine Symphonies and endeavoured to perceive that special orchestral landscape, in order to transform it into musical sound, with the use of period instruments rediscovering historical tonal colours. Now, his quest undimmed, Brüggen has submerged himself once more into the glories of Beethoven’s orchestral music for a new cycle being issued in a sumptuous new hybrid SACD box set by Glossa. Likewise undimmed is the rapport he shares with his orchestra for one of classical music’s greatest challenges of realizing the intimate and the familiar in these symphonies, a challenge achieved here on record by way of concert performances.
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Frankie Goes To Hollywood – Rage Hard: The Sonic Collection (2001)
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 64:34 minutes | Scans included | 4,24 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | 66:23 mins | Scans | 1,29 GB
Features 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 multichannel surround sound
Rage Hard: A Sonic Collection is a greatest hits album by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, released in 2004 by ZTT Records, exclusively to SA-CD. The album takes its name from a song title from the band’s Liverpool album. The track listing is a mixture of singles and album tracks. The band’s seven singles are accounted for here, in their album versions. Also featured are the four cover versions the band committed to album. This SACD pressing reproduced by legendary original Frankie Goes To Hollywood producer Trevor Horn.
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Francis Cabrel – Les Beaux Dégâts (2004)
PS3 Rip | ISO | SACD DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 58:15 minutes | Scans included | 3,67 GB
or FLAC 2.0 Stereo (converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | 57:55 mins | Scans | 1,14 GB
Features 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 multichannel surround sound
The tenth album from the French singer/songwriter whose music is a blend of contemporary folk, blues rock, French pop, smooth jazz, & even classical…
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Freddie Hubbard – The Hub of Hubbard (1970/2016)
DSD64 (.dsf) 1 bit/2,8 MHz MHz | Time – 35:03 minutes | 1,38 GB
or FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/88,2 kHz | Time – 35:03 minutes | 704 MB
Studio Master, Official Digital Download – Source: highresaudio.com | Front Cover | © MPS
In 1970 Freddie Hubbard’s career reached a crossroads. Ten years after the trumpeter had released his debut album “Open Sesame” he could already take stock in an impressive array of achievements: around a dozen albums under his own name for Blue Note and Atlantic, participation in ground-breaking free jazz albums by Coltrane and Ornette Coleman, the development of an original sound somewhere between hard bop, soul, and fusion. From there he broke out and into his popular phase with CTI Records. At the same time this MPS album loomed on the horizon as a milestone. Hubbard recorded the album at the MPS studios in Villingen, Germany during a break in his European tour, thus we get to experience a musician and his world-class quintet spontaneously interacting in an open setting. Those who are familiar with the many dreamy versions of the standard “Without a Song” will be thrilled with this 13-minute escapade spotlighting the band’s unbridled play. Hubbard’s dialogue with saxophonist Eddie Daniels and drummer Louis Hayes’ powerful impulse crown the piece. The energy and enthusiasm increases on “Just One of Those Things”, as the players unleash an incredible chain of hard-bopping staccato lines. Hubbard dedicates the playful “Blues For Duane” to his son; bassist Richard Davis grounds the piece in a light-hearted, earthy feel. Hubbard reveals his radiant melodic prowess as he interprets “The Things We Did Last Summer” in broadly swinging arcs, congenially supported by Roland Hanna’s piano harmonies. Davis has another shining moment as he brings the piece to an end with just the right pensive touch.
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Francesco Fournier Facio – Sound Of Light And Shadow (2013)
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 55:26 minutes | Covers+Digital Booklet | 970 MB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/96 kHz | Basic Covers+Digital Booklet | 1,21 GB
Francesco Fournier Facio was born in Rome. He have studies composition with Riccardo Panfli and has attended masterclasses led by composers Fabio Vacchi and Luca Lombardi. In June 2013 the Accademia Filarmonica Romana commissioned him a new piece for soprano and ensemble to be performed at its Music Festival Il Bosco di Eros, where it was world-premiered by the Imago Sonora Ensemble. In the same year he attended Luis Bacalov’s composition for film course at the Accademia Chigiana di Siena; as well as a composition masterclass at the Université de Montréal taught by Fabio Vacchi and Jean-Jacques Nattiez. Fournier also plays keyboards in two rock bands. Between 2011 and 2013 he wrote 7 nocturnes and 7 preludes, a selection of which is presented in this album.
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Francesco Cafiso Sicilian Quartet – Portrait In Black And White (2008) [Japan 2018]
SACD Rip | SACD ISO | DSD64 2.0 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 66:23 minutes | Front/Rear Covers | 2,66 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Front/Rear Covers | 1,25 GB
As the head of a splendid quartet of Sicilian musicians, Francesco Cafiso presents a work that winds around eight beautiful standards. Cafiso embodies a strong link with the tradition and glorious past of his instrument. In his phrasing there are numerous references to the sacred monsters of jazz history from Charlie Parker to John Coltrane, from Eric Dolphy to Jackie McLean and, at the same time, has the tendency to go beyond the historical-stylistic limits showing great personality and extraordinary ideas. The musicians who accompany him are all extraordinary and interact with great efficiency and precision without ever hindering or excelling, managing to create a perfect balance between dynamism and groove, between delicacy and aggression. To realize this mixture to the limits of perfection, it is enough to pause to listen to ‘Woodin’ You’, ‘Night Mist’ or the sweet ‘Portrait In Black And White’, a song in which the lyricism and the inspiration of the collective reach very high levels. All the pieces of this work are always full of intensity, melodic and with frequent original solutions that make it, although very usable, never predictable.
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Franco Battiato – Last Summer Dance (2003) [2x SACD Set]
PS3 Rip | SACD ISO | DST64 2.0 & 5.1 > 1-bit/2.8224 MHz | 97:27 minutes | Scans included | 6,15 GB
or FLAC(converted with foobar2000 to tracks) 24bit/88,2 kHz | Full Scans included | 2 GB
Francesco “Franco” Battiato is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. He is and has been for decades one of the most popular pop singer-songwriters in Italy. His unique sound, song-crafting and especially his lyrics, often containing philosophical, religious, and culturally exotic references, as well as tackling or painting universal themes about the human condition – unusual subjects for pop songs – earned him a unique spot on Italy’s music scene, and the nickname of “Il Maestro” (“The Master” or “The Teacher”).
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