Blu-ray Audio

Steinar Granmo Nilsen, Kristin Fossheim – Romantic Horn Sonatas (2015) [Blu-ray Audio / BDMV / 10.5 GB / 2L-113]

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Сomposer: Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838), Franz Danzi (1763-1826), Nikolaus von Krufft (1779-1818)
Album title: Early Romantic Horn Sonatas
Performer: Steinar Granmo Nilsen, natural horn; Kristin Fossheim, fortepiano
Genre: Classical
Label: 2L (Lindberg Lyd)
Location: Jar Church, Norway
Release date: August 2015
Recording date: June 2014
Original Quality: Mastering in DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Length: 1:07:40
Vidieo: MPEG-4 AVC 950 kbps / 1920*1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 192 kHz / 10703 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit
Size: 10.5GB

In the early romantic period, struggling with the aftermath of absolutism’s collapse, people had to find new solutions in all realms of communal life. Because old certainties vanished, another vision of society emerged, shaped by artists: poets, painters and musicians. They viewed a higher world order in nature, to be felt by the individual, and expressed in a synthesis of all arts. Especially in music, these ideas were embodied with a new freedom of stylistic decisions. The sonatas for natural horn and fortepiano by Franz Danzi, Ferdinand Ries und Nikolaus von Krufft are virtuosic compositions with stunning dialogues between the horn and piano parts. They explore the full range of timbres, flamboyantly surpassing classical structures in search of new modes of expression. The verve and profusion of colors in the performance of Steinar Granmo Nilsen and Kristin Fossheim incorporate the early romantic idea that music was the most royal of all arts.

Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838) Grande Sonate F-Dur, op. 34, 1811
Franz Danzi (1763-1826) Sonate Es-Dur op. 28, 1804
Nikolaus von Krufft (1779-1818) Sonata E-Dur, 1812

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Blu-ray Audio

TARTINI secondo natura (2015) [Blu-ray Audio / BDMV / 11.46 GB / 2L-112]

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Сomposer: Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770)
Album title: TARTINI secondo natura
Performer: Sigurd Imsen, baroque violin (#1-6) and Hardanger fiddle (#7-9); Tormod Dalen, baroque cello; Hans Knut Sveen, cembalo
Genre: Classical
Label: 2L (Lindberg Lyd)
Location: Jar Church, Norway
Release date: December 2015
Recording date: June 2014
Original Quality: Mastering in DXD (352.8kHz/24bit)
Quality: Blu-ray Audio
Length: 0:51:17
Video: MPEG-4 AVC 950 kbps / 1080i / 29,970 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio#1: DTS-HD MA 5.1 / 192 kHz / 11850 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Audio#2: LPCM 2.0 / 192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit
Size: 11.46 GB

Amongst a plethora of musical styles and genres extant during the mid-18th century, the music of Giuseppe Tartini (1692-1770) finds a special place. Despite a quintessential expressive style of performance and embellishment, he was to become and remain influential across the known musical world, and his legacy was essential to violin playing for at least the next century. Tartini’s obscure writings about Nature and music reveal a close relationship to widespread ideas of a time that was to become known as The Age of Reason. However, these came with a twist: his 135 violin concertos and 200 sonatas, of which many are rarely performed today, still appear enigmatic – impalpable and mysterious. The sonorous Hardanger fiddle, an ideal instrument for imitating the traditional Italian bagpipes, appears in this recording as a tribute to the composer’s frequent use of traditional folk music motifs.

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Blu-ray Audio

Norwegian Radio Orchestra – Magne Amdahl: Astrognosia & Æsop (2014) [Blu-ray Audio / BDMV / 13.739 GB / 2L-111]

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Title: Norwegian Radio Orchestra: Astrognosia & Æsop
Released: 2014
Genre: Classical
Conductor: Ingar Bergby
Artist: Dennis Storhøi (narrator), Norwegian Radio Orchestra
Released: Norway | 2L
Duration: 00:51:23
Size: 13.73 GB

Technical Specs
Blu-ray
BD-25 Single-Layer Disc
Video Resolution/Codec
1080i/AVC MPEG-4
Aspect Ratio(s)
TBA
Audio Formats
DTS-HD MA 7.1 (96 kHz / 8392 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS-HD MA 5.1 (192 kHz / 10184 kbps / 24-bit)
LPCM 2.0 (192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles/Captions
None
Supplements
None

The stars and the sky at night have always fascinated people and kindled wonder, faith and superstition. In ASTROGNOSIA we are in the world of astrology with its interpretation of the year’s twelve signs of the zodiac, each with its own characteristics. The work is held together by the changing phases of the moon on its journey through the heavens, and it is played here by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra, conducted by Ingar Heine Bergby. AESOP’S FABLES is written for narrator and orchestra – the narrator here being Dennis Storhøi – and is based on Herman Wildenvey’s translation of the fables. It is inspired by Wildenvey’s playful re-telling of the stories in dazzlingly rhythmic verse.

Magne Amdahl (born 1942) received his first piano tuition in 1950 at Oslo Piano School, and he completed his piano studies at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels under Vladimir Ashkenazy. Concurrently, Amdahl studied the trombone, conducting and composition. In 1971 he was appointed musical director at Oslo Nye Teater, a post he held for 30 years, only interrupted by a few seasons as Kapellmeister at the National Theatre. He regularly composed music for productions at these theatres. All in all, Amdahl has composed music for over 60 theatre productions in addition to almost 70 works for chamber ensembles or full orchestra, together with music for advertisements and films, and a large number of folk songs. In rehearsals at Oslo Nye Teater Amdahl often collaborated with Dennis Storhøi.

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Blu-ray Audio

Tove Ramlo-Ystad – SPES: Cantus & Frode Fjellheim (2014) [Blu-ray Audio / BDMV / 15.29 GB / 2L-110]

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Title: SPES
Released: 2014
Genre: Classical, Choral
Conductor: Tove Ramlo-Ystad
Artist: Frode Fjellheim (joik and synthesizers), Snorre Bjerck (percussion), Cantus

Released: Norway | 2L
Duration: 00:56:27
Size: 15.29 GB

Technical Specs
Blu-ray
BD-25 Single-Layer Disc
Video Resolution/Codec
1080i/AVC MPEG-4
Aspect Ratio(s)
TBA
Audio Formats
Auro-3D 9.1 (96 kHz / 6846 kbps / 24-bit)
DTS-HD MA 5.1 (192 kHz / 11708 kbps / 24-bit)
LPCM 2.0 (192 kHz / 9216 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles/Captions
None
Supplements
None

What happens when traditional Sami music meets mainstream western sacred music? This is the question Cantus meets head-on in Spes. Under the direction of its conductor Tove Ramlo-Ystad, and in collaboration with composer and musician Frode Fjellheim, the choir explores a new and little-known musical world, a world with a wide range of emotions: sorrow, joy and vulnerability. Through these songs, sounds and musical forms – some familiar, others scarcely known – Cantus challenges both itself and its audience with a repertoire which, while being striking in its variety, is united in one thing: its expression of hope in the music by Frode Fjellheim, Mia Makaroff, Eriks Esenvalds, Eva Ugalde, Ko Matsushita, Knut Nystedt, Franz Xaver Biebl and Kim André Arnesen.

In 2013 Cantus was asked to sing Fjellheim’s Vuelie as the musical opening to Disney’s new animation film Frozen. This blend of Sami elements, whose roots go deep into an aboriginal people’s culture, with music from the Mass and other church music that we are more familiar with has proved popular with audiences all over the world. In the spirit of hope, Cantus has recorded a revised edition of Vuelie for this album.

Immersive Sound is a completely new conception of the musical experience. Recorded music is no longer a matter of a fixed one-dimensional setting, but rather of a three-dimensional enveloping situation. Stereo can be described as a flat canvas and Surround Sound as a field, but Immersive Sound is a sculpture that you can literally move around and relate to spatially; surrounded by music you can move about in the aural space and choose angles, vantage points and positions. The 9.1 Auro-3D on this Pure Audio Blu-ray features sound reproduction that is more realistic than anything you’ve heard before. It delivers a new standard in immersion, fully enveloping the listener in a cocoon of life-like audio.

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SACD

Babyface – The Day (1996) [Reissue 2001] [SACD / Epic – ES 66089]

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Babyface - The Day (1996) [Reissue 2001]

Title: Babyface – The Day (1996) [Reissue 2001]
Genre: R&B
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds is pop’s best melodic writer since the heyday of Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney. On The Day, Babyface makes that connection explicit by cowriting “How Come, How Long” with Wonder, who also contributes a duet vocal, a harmonica solo, and longtime bassist Nathan East to the session. Even more impressive is the fact that the eight songs Babyface wrote for The Day without his hero’s help also boast yearning melodies and ear-opening chord changes that are absolutely Wonder-ful.

The Day was the first album Babyface released after being elevated into a virtually guaranteed hitmaker in the mid-’90s through his work with Whitney Houston, Boyz II Men, Madonna, and Mariah Carey, among many others. The album confirms his skill for subtle, inventive songwriting and accessible, polished yet soulful production. Babyface can straddle the line between hip-hop and traditional soul better than nearly any other artist, as evidenced by the hits he has orchestrated for other artists. On his own, he is still compelling — his voice is as smooth as silk, and nearly as seductive — but it doesn’t quite have the force of personality as his greatest productions. Nevertheless, The Day qualifies as state-of-the-art mid-’90s soul, featuring a handful of terrific songs, and a lot of extremely pleasurable filler. [The 2001 reissue adds historical liner notes and three bonus tracks: remixes of “Everytime I Close My Eyes,” “This Is For the Lover in You,” and “Everytime I Feel the Groove,” the last of which was previously unreleased and not found on the original album in any form].

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SACD

Babatunde Olatunji – Love Drum Talk (1997) [Reissue 2004] [SACD / Chesky Records – SACD275]

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Babatunde Olatunji - Love Drum Talk (1997) [Reissue 2004]

Title: Babatunde Olatunji – Love Drum Talk (1997) [Reissue 2004]
Genre: Jazz, Afrobeat
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

The Nigerian-born drum master leads an ebullient ensemble of guitarists, singers and percussionists through a series of spirited meditations on the nature of love. Lust, kinship, sensuality, courtship and spirituality are the themes Olatunji uses to fuel his joyous infectious playing. Highlights include “Mother, Give Me Love”, “Don’t Know Why My Love”, “Spell Mónisola” and more.

The drums were a daily backdrop to life in Babatunde Olatunji’s birthplace, the fishing village of Ajido, some forty miles outside Lagos. He arrived in America in 1950 and traveled on a segregated “Jim Crow” train to study at Morehouse College. “I started the whole music thing to protect my sanity,” he explains. Stunned by the ignorance of his fellow students, who assumed all Africans lived among lions in the jungle, Olatunji began inviting them to drum and sing in his rooms and discovered his life’s mission as Africa’s musical ambassador. Babatunde Olatunji’s words are sung in his tribal language, Yoruba, and the drums that surround him – his ashiko, the big, curvaceous mother drum, the smaller, cylindrical djembe, the djun-djun and the talking drum – transmit the message as eloquently as the lyrics. Each track invokes another face of love and tells stories of Olatunji’s own life. On “Spell Mónisola”, Olatunji sings of his American-born granddaughter going to study at her grandmother’s school in Ibadan, Nigeria, as he articulates the young girl’s name in drumbeats. The travails of romantic love are addressed on “Saré Tete Wa”, yearning as it begs, “Lover, please come running back to me”. Fear of commitment permeates Long Distance Lover, and a parallel anguish fuels the doomed passion of “Don’t Know Why My Love”. Upbeat dance floor lust grooves through “What’s Your Number, Mama?”, in which a dancer’s devious routine to acquire a love object’s phone number vies with his mental calculations of her measurements. A more abstract love, the intimate conspiracy between dancer and drummer, inspires “Bebí Alolo” and “Love Drum Talk”.

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SACD

Babatunde Olatunji – Drums Of Passion (1960) [Reissue 2002] [SACD / Columbia / Legacy – CS 66011]

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BozBabatunde Olatunji – Drums Of Passion (1960) [Reissue 2002]

Title: Babatunde Olatunji – Drums Of Passion (1960) [Reissue 2002]
Genre: African
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Drums of Passion is an album released by Nigerian percussionist Babatunde Olatunji in 1960. Unquestionably, it was the first recording to popularize African music in the west, becoming immensely successful and selling over five million copies. In 2002, it was released as a single layer stereo and 5.1 SACD by Columbia Records. In 2004 the album was added to the National Recording Registry.

Having come to USA. from his native Nigeria to study medicine, percussionist Babatunde Olatunji eventually became 1 of the 1st African music stars in the States. He also soon counted jazz heavyweights like John Coltrane (“Tunji”) & Dizzy Gillespie among his admirers (Gillespie had, a decade earlier, also courted many Cuban music stars via his trailblazing Latin jazz recordings). And, in spite of it being viewed by some as a symbol of African chic, Drums of Passion is still a substantial record thanks to Olatunji’s complex & raw drumming. Along with a cadre of backup singers & 2 other percussionists, Olatunji works through 8 traditional drum & chorus cuts originally used to celebrate a variety of things in Nigeria: “Akiwowo” & “Shango” are chants to a train conductor & the God of Thunder, respectively, while “Baba Jinde” is a celebration of the dance of flirtation & “Odun De! Odun De!” serves as a New Year’s greeting. The choruses do sound a bit overwrought & even too slick at times (partly due to the fact that most of the singers are not African), but thankfully the drumming is never less than engaging. The many curious world music fans who are likely to check this album out should also be sure to look into even better African drumming by native groups like the Drummers of Burundi & the percussion outfits featured on various field recordings. (The 2002 CD reissue on Columbia/Legacy adds the track “Menu Di Ye Jewe (Who Is This?)”, which was recorded at 1 of the 1959 sessions for the album, but was previously unissued in USA).

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SACD

Boz Scaggs – Boz Scaggs (1969) [Audio Fidelity 2013] [SACD / Audio Fidelity – AFZ 168]

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Boz Scaggs - Boz Scaggs (1969) [Audio Fidelity 2013]

Title: Boz Scaggs – Boz Scaggs (1969) [Audio Fidelity 2013]
Genre: Rock
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Departing from the Steve Miller Band after a two-album stint, Boz Scaggs found himself on his own but not without support. Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, his friend, helped him sign with Atlantic Records and the label had him set up shop in Muscle Shoals, recording his debut album with that legendary set of studio musicians, known for their down-and-dirty backing work for Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett, among many other Southern soul legends. The Muscle Shoals rhythm section, occasionally augmented by guitarist Duane Allman, gives this music genuine grit, but this isn’t necessarily a straight-up blue-eyed soul record, even if the opening “I’m Easy” and “I’ll Be Long Gone” are certainly as deeply soulful as anything cut at Muscle Shoals. Even at this early stage Scaggs wasn’t content to stay in one place, and he crafted a kind of Americana fantasia here, also dabbling in country and blues along with the soul and R&B that grounds this record. If the country shuffle “Now You’re Gone” sounds just slightly a shade bit too vaudeville for its own good, it only stands out because the rest of the record is pitch-perfect, from the Jimmie Rodgers cover “Waiting for a Train” and the folky “Look What I Got!” to the extended 11-minute blues workout “Loan Me a Dime,” which functions as much as a showcase for a blazing Duane Allman as it does for Boz. But even with that show-stealing turn, and even with the Muscle Shoals musicians giving this album its muscle and part of its soul, this album is still thoroughly a showcase for Boz Scaggs’ musical vision, which even at this stage is wide and deep. It would grow smoother and more assured over the years, but the slight bit of raggedness suits the funky, down-home performances and helps make this not only a great debut, but also an enduring blue-eyed soul masterpiece.

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SACD

Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra – Ravel: Orchestral Works (1974) [Reissue 2004] [SACD / PentaTone – PTC 5186 204]

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Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra - Ravel: Orchestral Works (1974) [Reissue 2004]

Title: Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra – Ravel: Orchestral Works (1974) [Reissue 2004]
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Every orchestra has a characteristic sound & personality that identifies them through the ages, & in the case of the Boston Symphony Orchestra it is their contoured string & wind elegance, panache & suavity that marks them out as the premier Francophone American orchestra. With Seiji Ozawa at the helm, a conductor much identified with French repertoire, these Quad recordings of Maurice Ravel, accomplished during his long tenure as music director, are afforded the sonic treatment they deserve & are now able to receive given the latest SACD technology employed by Pentatone enabling the release of the full spectrum of sound captured by a previous eras sound engineers.

For classical connoisseurs, multichannel recording is state-of-the-art reproduction, and they regularly seek out the finest recordings in the super audio format. Among those discs are some important discoveries from the past, including rare quadraphonic recordings from the 1970s that are being remastered for the new technology. Seiji Ozawa and the Boston Symphony Orchestra made these quadraphonic recordings of orchestral works by Maurice Ravel in 1974, and they were remastered in 2014 by PentaTone as part of an ongoing project to preserve these early experiments in multichannel sound. Ozawa had a magical touch with Ravel, and his performances with the BSO of Le tombeau de Couperin, Menuet antique, Ma mère l’oye, Valses nobles et sentimentales, and Une barque sur l’océan are among the most transparent interpretations of the period. What quadraphonic recording added were exceptional depth, crisp details, and ideal separation of the parts, so the brilliant solo and sectional writing in Ravel’s scores stood out with the clarity and presence of chamber music. This hybrid SACD can be played on SACD players and conventional CD equipment with stereo playback, but even with that limitation, the spatial dimensions of the orchestra come across with astonishing verisimilitude. Highly recommended as a sonic showcase of the highest quality.

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