傻女 苏妙玲 Miaoling Su

This album contains a collection of works from the Seicento, most of them well known and recorded several times, although it also includes a composition (Cazzati’s La Verità sprezzata) that is little or not very often heard. It is a repertoire to which we have usually devoted ourselves. That is why we wanted to propose our own way of doing it, in all honesty and avoiding fashions and artifice, without pretentiousness, respecting only the rhetorical —and dramatic— discourse implicit in the texts and their setting to music, fleeing from affectation —but not from affetti— and unquestioned customs, taking advantage of the information provided by musicological research, making use of our intuition and experience, and also remembering the teaching we have received from our old masters. Inspired by Ripa’s allegory and by the idea of truth as άλήθεια or unveiling of the self that is hidden by the veil of appearance, we have endowed our performance with a certain natural simplicity, a deliberate nakedness, especially in moments of particular emotional intensity.

The Korean pianist Su Yeon Kim achieved international acclaim when she won the first prize at the Concours musical international de Montréal 2021 and the second prize at the International Mozart Competition 2020 in Salzburg. For her debut album on the Steinway & Sons label Su Yeon Kim displays her passion and gift for performing the music of Mozart with some of his most beloved piano works as well as a few rarities.

New York City can be like a jungle. With a menagerie of people intermingling in seemingly never ceasing action, the City has ecosystems within ecosystems. Vibraphonist/composer Yuhan Su has been inspired by her chaotic new home and her experiences with the individuals she has met there. Her new recording, City Animals, captures her enthusiasm for the craziness of the City and the adventures she has had since her arrival. Originally from Taiwan, Su came to the States in 2008 to further her music studies at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where she expanded her classical percussion knowledge to the world of jazz and improvisation. In 2012, Su moved to New York; she fell in love with the City and immediately immersed herself in the wilds of the jazz scene.

Al di Meola, who in his early days sometimes sacrificed feeling for speed (he always had remarkable technique), grew and developed through the years. His final of three Manhattan releases is his finest, a sextet outing with keyboardist Kei Akagi, electric bassist Anthony Jackson, acoustic bassist Harvie Swartz, drummer Tommy Brechtlein, and his longtime percussionist, Mino Cinelu. Having grown out of his fusion roots, di Meola's interest in world music and folk music from other countries is displayed throughout this colorful set, particularly on such numbers as "Beijing Demons," "Song to the Pharoah Kings," and the exciting "Rhapsody of Fire."

Jordi Savall & Montserrat Figueras - Tarquinio Merula - Su La Cetra Amorosa, Arie E Capricci (2008) {Alia Vox AVSA 9862 rec 1992}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 282 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 131 Mb
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© 1992, 2008 Alia Vox | AVSA 9862
Classical / Baroque / Chamber Music / Vocal Music

This album, originally recorded in 1992, was remastered in 2008 and issued as part of the Heritage series of Jordi Savall's Alia Vox label in a nifty combination of reissue and improvement. The album certainly qualifies as one of the greatest hits of Savall (whose role here is as gambist, with a small ensemble of northern European players ) and his wife, soprano Montserrat Figueras, who is the star of the show. Figueras' vocals are as usual a central attraction, with their incredible combination of suppleness, accuracy over a wide range, expression, and Iberian gutsiness. But the program here, though somewhat removed from the Iberian core of the Figueras/Savall repertory, is equally compelling.

Ex-Talking Head David Byrne and actor/composer Ryuichi Sakamoto (who co-starred in the film) each get a side of this beautiful score to Bernardo Bertolucci's Academy Award-winning film, and each took home Oscars and Grammys for their efforts.

Carl Theodor of the Palatinate. Richter joined this renowned ensemble in 1747, serving as a composer, violinist, and bassist. His works combine Baroque stylistic features with elements of the style galant, and he numbered among the masters of the Mannheim school who made very important contributions to the beginnings of the early classical symphony. While Johann Stamitz, Ignaz Holzbauer, and Anton Fils, drawing on ideas of Italian provenance, shaped the new musical language of what came to be known as the Mannheim school, Richter’s own comparatively conservative view of music was an obstacle to his advancement. His collection of Six Symphonies op. 2 dedicated to Prince Elector Carl Theodor was printed by the publisher Johann Julius Hummel in Amsterdam in 1759. All six symphonies have three movements, and in these works Richter generally adhered to the model established by the opera sinfonia.

Al Di Meola - Cielo e Terra / Soaring Through A Dream / Tirami Su (2009) {2CD Set, BGO Records BGOCD879 rec 1985-1987}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 817 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 345 Mb
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© 1985-87, 2009 BGO Records / Capitol | BGOCD879
Jazz / Fusion / Smooth Jazz / Guitar

The U.K.'s BGO Records reissues three Al di Meola mid-'80s albums on a pair of CDs. First is the nearly smooth jazz Soaring Through a Dream released originally on EMI's Manhattan imprint in 1985 – this album was an attempt by the great guitarist to score a hit single or two on the then-newly formed smooth jazz radio format.