Title: Karel Ancerl, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra & Chorus – Leos Janacek: Sinfonietta, Taras Bulba / Igor Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms (2018)
Genre: Classical
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
Title: James Ehnes, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner – Janacek: Orchestral Works, Volume 2 (2015)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
This is the second volume in our series devoted to the orchestral works of Janáček, with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner. The repertoire on this disc includes some of the greatest programmatic pieces by the composer. Unsurprisingly, the first piece featured here is Jealousy – his first declared piece of programme music, originally written to preface the opera Jenůfa but never included in any production of it during his lifetime. Both The Ballad of Blaník and The Fiddler’s Child (also known as a ‘ballad for orchestra’) are characterised by the use of musicals symbols, reflecting the Czech poems on which the pieces are based and also some of the composer’s personal reflections and responses. The one-movement Violin Concerto The Wandering of a Little Soul is a more mysterious piece, with uncertainties surrounding the title, the date of creation, and the goals of its composition. Like the unfinished Danube symphony, the version recorded here has been reconstructed by Miloš Štědroň and Leoš Faltus from Janáček’s sketches. An interpretation of the famous tale by Gogol, Taras Bulba was completed in 1915 and was Janáček’s most substantial orchestral work to date. It is inflected with folk dances, battle and horse-riding music, suffering and love, and brought to a grandiloquent apotheosis, in orchestration of almost cinematic vividness.
Leader Milina Mandozzi does well to show the way through this mysterious, powerful work [The Fiddler’s Child]…These must be difficult works to prepare and indeed to record; both playing and recording are vividly managed. – Gramophone Magazine, July 2015 Gardner’s survey with the Bergen Phil taps into his boundless, brazen invention; that uniquely Janáčekian blend of rustic and caustic…Ehnes is a steely, forthright soloist in the Violin Concerto, and the Bergen players offer clean, mercurial momentum. – The Guardian, 23rd April 2015
Title: Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner – Janacek: Orchestral Works, Volume 1 (2014)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
Edward Gardner conducts the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra in the opening volume in their series devoted to orchestral works by Leoš Janáček. It features three pieces that originate in Janáček’s late period, when his passionate feelings for Kamila Stösslová, thirty-seven years his junior, inspired an extraordinary flowering of his creative genius. The Sinfonietta is one of Janáček’s most successful and popular works, famed for its opening movement, a brazen fanfare scored for a phalanx of brass with timpani. The remaining four movements, full of character, celebrate Janáček’s adopted town of Brno, blending occasional reflection with high-voltage exuberance. Scored unusually for left-hand piano and an ensemble of brass and flute, the Capriccio is remarkable even among Janáček’s distinctive late works. Its overall effect is mercurial and capricious, in the composer’s words: ‘whimsical, all wilfulness and witticisms’. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet employs his formidable technique and interpretative flair in the solo part. The Cunning Little Vixen, Janáček’s opera from 1923, was not universally well received at first. A number of its orchestral interludes, however, were immediately popular and after Janáček’s death in 1928 Václav Talich, a leading Czech conductor, extracted an orchestral suite, re-orchestrated by two young colleagues. Recently Sir Charles Mackerras restored Janáček’s striking original orchestration, the version recorded here.
the players are brilliant and the sound is glorious, very skilfully recorded…the Bavouzet performs dazzling feats of virtuosity with a truly exacting solo part; and the extraordinary, fascinating textures are displayed by both artists and recording engineers. – Gramophone Magazine, December 2014 While both the Sinfonietta and the suite…receive fine performances – and in the case of the Sinfonietta’s later movements, particularly feisty, urgent ones – it’s the account of the wonderfully quirky Capriccio between them with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet as soloist that hogs the limelight. – The Guardian, 16th October 2014
Title: Jamie Cullum – Twentysomething (2004)
Genre: Jazz
Format: MCH SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC
Already a sensation in his native England, 22-year-old piano man Jamie Cullum comes off like a hip amalgamation of Harry Connick, Jr. and Randy Newman on his sophomore effort, Twentysomething.
As with Blue Note’s crossover wunderkind Norah Jones, Cullum works best when he’s not trying too hard to please hardcore jazz aficionados, but it’s not too difficult to imagine his bonus-track version of Pharrell Williams’ “Frontin’” turning some jazz fans onto the Neptunes. Showcasing Cullum’s sardonic wit and lounge-savvy attitude, the album deftly flows from singer/songwriter love songs to jazzy barroom romps and reappropriated modern rock tunes. Cullum has a warm voice with a slight rasp that retains a bit of his Brit accent even though his influences — Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Tom Waits — are resolutely American. Truthfully, Cullum isn’t the most accomplished vocalist and his piano chops are pleasant at best — Oscar Peterson he ain’t. That said, he’s still a kick. What he lacks in technique he makes up for in swagger and smarts as many of his original compositions reveal. On the swinging and wickedly humorous title track — a take on postgraduate slackerdom — Cullum sardonically laments, “After years of expensive education, a car full of books and anticipation, I’m an expert on Shakespeare and that’s a hell of a lot but the world don’t need scholars as much as I thought.” It’s a timely statement in our overeducated, underemployed “dot-bomb” economy and deftly posits Cullum as a jazz singer as much of as for his generation. Also compelling are his choices of cover tunes, as he is able to imprint his own persona on the songs while magnifying what made them brilliant to begin with. To these ends, Jeff Buckley’s “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over” gets a gut-wrenchingly minimalist treatment and Radiohead’s “High and Dry” comes off as the best Bruce Hornsby song you’ve never heard. Conversely, Cullum treats jazz standards as modern pop tunes, reworking them into contemporary styles that are neither cynical nor awkward. In fact, his atmospheric, ’70s AM pop take on “Singin’ in the Rain,” replete with string backgrounds and Cullum’s percolating Rhodes keyboard, is one of the most appealing cuts on the album, lending the Great American Songbook warhorse an air of virginity.
![James Taylor - JT (1977) [Reissue 2002]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2026/04/11/ZRrDWrb.jpg "James Taylor - JT (1977) [Reissue 2002]")
Title: James Taylor – JT (1977) [Reissue 2002]
Genre: Soft Rock, Pop Rock
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
On his last couple of Warner Brothers albums, Gorilla and In the Pocket, James Taylor seemed to be converting himself from the shrinking violet, too-sensitive-to-live “rainy day man” of his early records into a mainstream, easy-listening crooner with a sunny outlook. JT, his debut album for Columbia Records, was something of a defense of this conversion. Returning to the autobiographical, Taylor declared his love for Carly Simon (“There We Are”), but expressed some surprise at his domestic bliss. “Isn’t it amazing a man like me can feel this way?” he sang in the opening song, “Your Smiling Face” (a Top 40 hit). At the same time, domesticity could have its temporary depressions (“Another Grey Morning”). The key track was “Secret O’ Life,” which Taylor revealed as “enjoying the passage of time.” Working with his long-time backup band of Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, and Russell Kunkel, and with Peter Asher back in the producer’s chair, Taylor also enjoyed the playing of music, mixing his patented acoustic guitar-based folk sound with elements of rock, blues, and country. He even made the country charts briefly with “Bartender’s Blues,” a genre exercise complete with steel guitar and references to “honky tonk angels” that he would later re-record with George Jones. The album’s Top Ten hit was Taylor’s winning remake of Jimmy Jones’ “Handy Man,” which replaced the grit of the original with his characteristic warmth. JT was James Taylor’s best album since Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon because it acknowledged the darkness of his earlier work while explaining the deliberate lightness of his current viewpoint, and because it was his most consistent collection in years. Fans responded: JT sold better than any Taylor album since Sweet Baby James.
![James Taylor - JT (1977) [MFSL 2011]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2026/04/11/JNoKswVb427481020a478e6.jpg "James Taylor - JT (1977) [MFSL 2011]")
Title: James Taylor – JT (1977) [MFSL 2011]
Genre: Soft Rock, Pop Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
On his last couple of Warner Brothers albums, Gorilla and In the Pocket, James Taylor seemed to be converting himself from the shrinking violet, too-sensitive-to-live “rainy day man” of his early records into a mainstream, easy-listening crooner with a sunny outlook. JT, his debut album for Columbia Records, was something of a defense of this conversion. Returning to the autobiographical, Taylor declared his love for Carly Simon (“There We Are”), but expressed some surprise at his domestic bliss. “Isn’t it amazing a man like me can feel this way?” he sang in the opening song, “Your Smiling Face” (a Top 40 hit). At the same time, domesticity could have its temporary depressions (“Another Grey Morning”). The key track was “Secret O’ Life,” which Taylor revealed as “enjoying the passage of time.” Working with his long-time backup band of Danny Kortchmar, Leland Sklar, and Russell Kunkel, and with Peter Asher back in the producer’s chair, Taylor also enjoyed the playing of music, mixing his patented acoustic guitar-based folk sound with elements of rock, blues, and country. He even made the country charts briefly with “Bartender’s Blues,” a genre exercise complete with steel guitar and references to “honky tonk angels” that he would later re-record with George Jones. The album’s Top Ten hit was Taylor’s winning remake of Jimmy Jones’ “Handy Man,” which replaced the grit of the original with his characteristic warmth. JT was James Taylor’s best album since Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon because it acknowledged the darkness of his earlier work while explaining the deliberate lightness of his current viewpoint, and because it was his most consistent collection in years. Fans responded: JT sold better than any Taylor album since Sweet Baby James.
![James Taylor - Hourglass (1997) [Reissue 2001]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2026/04/11/GJ0Drwj.jpg "James Taylor - Hourglass (1997) [Reissue 2001]")
Title: James Taylor – Hourglass (1997) [Reissue 2001]
Genre: Acoustic, Soft Rock
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
James Taylor stopped pushing himself into new musical and lyrical territories in the late ’70s, so it doesn’t come as a great surprise that Hourglass, his first studio album in six years, doesn’t offer anything new — it’s a collection of pleasant, melodic, simple songs about love, family, and social activism. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since Taylor has a gift for such material, and on Hourglass, he sounds as good as ever. The music, in many ways, has greater depth than previous records, since it features cameos from such heavy hitters as Stevie Wonder, Yo-Yo Ma, Shawn Colvin, Michael Brecker, Mark O’Connor, and Branford Marsalis. There are a few songs that fall a little flat, failing to make much of an impression one way or the other, but on the whole, Hourglass is a nice addition to his catalog.
![James Taylor - Flag (1979) [MFSL 2011]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2026/04/11/MuyjP.jpg "James Taylor - Flag (1979) [MFSL 2011]")
Title: James Taylor – Flag (1979) [MFSL 2011]
Genre: Soft Rock, Pop Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
James Taylor followed his double-platinum Columbia Records label debut, JT, with this hodgepodge of a record. There are pointless covers of the Beatles’ “Day Tripper” and the Drifters’ “Up on the Roof,” a remake of Taylor’s own “Rainy Day Man,” songs written for the failed Broadway musical Working, and a few inconsequential new Taylor compositions. The usual brain trust (producer Peter Asher), and the usual backup team (Danny “Kootch” Kortchmar, Dan Grolnick, Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel) were on board, but the cruise was a snooze.
![James Taylor - Dad Loves His Work (1981) [Reissue 2003]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2026/04/11/ADfiS23.jpg "James Taylor - Dad Loves His Work (1981) [Reissue 2003]")
Title: James Taylor – Dad Loves His Work (1981) [Reissue 2003]
Genre: Soft Rock, Pop Rock
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
James Taylor bounced back from the spotty Flag with this all-original album led by his collaboration with J.D. Souther on “Her Town Too,” his biggest pop hit since “Handy Man,” and his biggest non-cover hit since his first, “Fire and Rain,” in 1970. Also included were “Hard Times” and “Summer’s Here,” not to mention the unusually impassioned “Stand and Fight.” After simmering this long, there wasn’t much hope Taylor would ever come to a boil, but that track indicated he could at least heat up now and then.
![James Taylor - Dad Loves His Work (1981) [MFSL 2011]](https://imghd.xyz/images/2026/04/11/m7vLdHt.jpg "James Taylor - Dad Loves His Work (1981) [MFSL 2011]")
Title: James Taylor – Dad Loves His Work (1981) [MFSL 2011]
Genre: Pop Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC
James Taylor helped pioneer the singer-songwriter movement of the late 1960s with songs of surprising musical sophistication and lyrics that were both introspective and gently poetic. For decades to follow, Taylor continued to produce music that was personal, accessible and enjoyable. Here, he has matured into a pop craftsman of the first order. On Dad Loves His Work the arc of his talent continues to rise. The radio-friendly “Hard Times” would make Smokey Robinson proud. “Summer’s Here” is jazzy, breezy and as warm as the season it celebrates. “Her Town Too,” co-written with John David Souther, marked another notch high up on the pop charts for J.T.
James Taylor bounced back from the spotty Flag with this all-original album led by his collaboration with J.D. Souther on “Her Town Too,” his biggest pop hit since “Handy Man,” and his biggest non-cover hit since his first, “Fire and Rain,” in 1970. Also included were “Hard Times” and “Summer’s Here,” not to mention the unusually impassioned “Stand and Fight.” After simmering this long, there wasn’t much hope Taylor would ever come to a boil, but that track indicated he could at least heat up now and then.