Always eager to record in new situations, on this CD Lee Konitz is showcased with a string sextet (two violins, violas and cellos), bassist Michael Formanek and drummer Matt Wilson. The cool-toned altoist pays tribute during a dozen songs to both Billie Holiday and (in a more subtle fashion) tenor great Lester Young, two of his early idols. Daniel Schnyder contributed all of the arrangements for the set. Rather than weighing down the proceedings, Schnyder has the strings adding rich harmonies and phrases that seem to anticipate the leader's phrases, and they even swing. Lee Konitz, who added a vibrato to his sound for the project so he could recreate some of Billie Holiday's feeling, handles the ballads and medium-tempo material beautifully. Highlights include "The Man I Love," "I Cried For You," "All Of Me" and "Easy Living." A memorable and heartfelt effort by all concerned.

Winter Time Blues collects some of Lightnin' Slim's later singles for the Excello label, and while it might be hard to believe, these tracks sound positively lush when placed next to his earlier sides. Not that anything here is too fancy, but these songs at least have recorded basslines (the early singles were just Slim on electric guitar and vocals, accompanied by a drummer and a harmonica player, usually Lazy Lester) and the occasional added wash of an organ for texture. Truthfully, part of Slim's appeal is his nerve-bare starkness, and these later tracks show less of that, although the chilling bayou voodoo of "I'm Evil," included here, makes it one of his most powerful songs.

Younger Than Yesterday was somewhat overlooked at the time of its release during an intensely competitive era that found the Byrds on a commercial downslide. Time, however, has shown it to be the most durable of the Byrds' albums, with the exception of Mr. Tambourine Man. David Crosby, Roger McGuinn, and especially Chris Hillman come into their own as songwriters on an eclectic but focused set blending folk-rock, psychedelia, and early country-rock. The sardonic "So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star" was a terrific single; "My Back Pages," also a small hit, was the last of their classic Dylan covers; "Thoughts and Words," the flower-power anthem "Renaissance Fair," "Have You Seen Her Face," and the bluegrass-tinged "Time Between" are all among their best songs. The jazzy "Everybody's Been Burned" may be Crosby's best composition, although his "Mind Gardens" is one of his most excessive.

Edgar Wilmar Froese (1944-2015) was a German artist and electronic music pioneer, best known for founding the electronic music group Tangerine Dream. Edgar was a great musician and a shrewd businessman. Realizing that he and his associates would need money to fund the progress of Tangerine Dream, he took advantage of both of those qualities and launched his solo career while Tangerine Dream was still in their infancy. That solo career has contributed many gems and classics to the e-music community. Ages is one of those classics. This album has all of Froese's virtuosity and something that his listeners rarely hear - a sense of humor. Froese does not show that side of himself to his listeners very often, so it is a treat. Putting that positive energy into play does much for this album; it makes it a classic. This CD will appeal to fans of Paul Ellis, Ian Boddy, Ron Boots, and Mark Dwane. It is an e-music essential.

Colin Davis - The Concertgebouw Legacy [18CDs Box Set] (2024)
MP3 320 Kbps | Run Time: 00:16:12:11 | 2.18 Gb
Genre: Classical | Label: Eloquence Australia

LIMITED EDITION. A meeting of minds in Amsterdam: the complete Philips recordings of Sir Colin Davis and the Concertgebouworkest made in the orchestra's acoustically optimal home and featuring classic accounts of Haydn, Berlioz, Dvorák and Stravinsky. Davis lends these readings rhythmic impetus and unassuming authority; the orchestra and audio engineers respond with sonic warmth and transparency. Colin Davis made his debut with the Concertgebouw in 1966, and conductor and orchestra quickly established a mutual affinity. Interviewed by Niek Nelissen for a new appreciation of their legacy on record, a Concertgebouw violinist recalls his 'typically British' humour in rehearsal.

German pianist Holger Groschopp has emerged as something of a specialist in the voluminous body of transcriptions by Ferruccio Busoni. The most famous of these are treatments of Bach's music, but he also wrote arrangements and reworkings of Mozart, Liszt, and many other composers. This is a new recording of Bach transcriptions, made in 2011. Busoni's transcriptions are often heard singly on recital albums, but there's a lot to be said for hearing them in large groups, even for hearing the two CDs' worth here. It gets into the range of treatments Busoni applied, from massive Mahlerian attempts to encompass the world of the organ on piano, to studies in chromatic harmony, to quiet reverential treatments.

Muzio Scevola ("Mucius Scaevola", HWV 13) is an opera seria in three acts about Gaius Mucius Scaevola. The Italian-language libretto was by Paolo Antonio Rolli, adapted from a text by Silvio Stampiglia. The music for the first act was composed by Filippo Amadei, the second act by Giovanni Bononcini, and the third by George Frideric Handel. Collaborations of groups of composers were common in the 18th century, though this is the only one done in London. Bononcini had written the music for two earlier treatments of this story on his own, works dating from 1695 and 1710. The opera's initial run of performances began at the King's Theatre in London on 15 April 1721. A part of the second act and the third part composed by Händel is documented on the production of new port Classic being here.

The second volume of the Beethoven 'Violin Sonata' cycle, from James Ehnes and Andrew Armstrong, follows the critically acclaimed release of 'Sonatas Nos. 6& 9, 'Kreutzer'. This album contains the three early 'Op. 12, Sonatas' (which Beethoven dedicated to his teacher Antonio Salieri) and ends with the early 'Variations on a Theme From Mozart's Marriage of Figaro'.

Wolfgang Sawallisch - The Warner Classics Edition - Complete Opera Recordings [31CDs Box Set] (2024)
MP3 320 Kbps | Run Time: 01:10:22:35 | 4.60 Gb
Genre: Classical | Label: Warner Classics

This 31CD-box brings together all the operatic recordings that the German conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch (1923-2013) made in the years from 1956 to 1993 for EMI Classics and Electrola (now Warner Classics). Aged 11, Wolfgang Sawallisch (1923-2013) heard a performance of Humperdinck's fairytale opera Hänsel und Gretel in his native Munich and, there and then, decided that he wanted to be the man in the orchestra pit who waved his arms and made things happen. It took him a while - war service as a radio operator and a spell as a prisoner of war delayed the inevitable - but by his late 20s he was conducting opera at Augsburg (starting with Hänsel und Gretel) and he had barely turned 30 when at Aachen he became the youngest Generalmusikdirektor in Germany.

Piano Library - Deutsche Grammophon Edition [22CDs Box Set] (2024)
MP3 320 Kbps | Run Time: 00:19:55:54 | 2.68 Gb
Genre: Classical | Label: Eloquence Australia

Asombrosos debuts y legendarios tesoros de piano en disco: álbumes recientemente remasterizados de 21 pianistas de la era analógica, incluidas muchas transferencias digitales por primera vez. Antes de convertirse en un icono de Decca, Vladimir Ashkenazy apareció en DG en actuaciones grabadas en vivo en el Concurso Chopin de 1955 en Varsovia. Su reedición aquí se complementa con una secuencia de Rachmaninoff con el maestro de Ashkenazy, Lev Oborin.

Paavo Jarvi - The Complete Erato Recordings [31CDs Box Set] (2024)
MP3 320 Kbps | Run Time: 01:12:07:46 | 4.96 Gb | Covers 127.89 MB
Genre: Romantic, Modern, Neo-Classical | Label: Erato

Born in Tallinn in 1962, Paavo Järvi is renowned for his dynamic interpretations and innovative programming. He has held prominent positions with leading orchestras, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, or the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich more recently. Paavo Järvi's approach combines technical precision with expressive depth, making him a favourite among musicians and audiences alike. His numerous recordings have received prestigious awards (including a Grammy Award for the Sibelius Cantatas), solidifying his reputation as one of the foremost conductors of his generation.