Bach Imagine (2014)

IMAGINE is the first Warner Classics release from the dynamic young French harpsichordist Jean Rondeau, who sees it as “an exploration of all the possibilities that lie in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and in the harpsichord”. Praised by radio station France Musique for his “maturity, fabulous touch and originality,” the multi-talented Rondeau feels that, as a young musician today, he has “an incredible opportunity to break out of the concert hall and meet the world”.

Jordi Savall - Antonio Vivaldi, J.S. Bach - Magnificat & Concerti (2014) {CD with DVD5 PAL Alia Vox AVSA9909D}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 424 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 174 Mb
DVD5 -> 3.86 Gb | All Regions | PAL 16:9 | LPCM, 2 ch | ~ 65 min | ISO Image
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 470 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2014 Alia Vox | AVSA9909D
Classical / Choral / Concerto / Baroque

JS Bach and Vivaldi s' Magnificat's: desert island repertoire to illustrate the splendour of the orchestra Le Concert des Nations and choir of La Capella Reial de Catalunya. Jordi Savall offers a vivid and striking performance of these two masterpieces, recorded live at the Royal Chapel in Versailles in 2013. Each of them is introduced by a concerto by the same composer in the same tonality. The superlative performance of Pierre Hantaï in the Concerto BWV1052 is another jewel to the crown of this album. The bonus DVD features both Magnificats and Bach s Concerto.

This release of Bach's well-explored violin concertos (plus a couple of arranged keyboard concertos) by Italian violinist Giuliano Carmignola delivers truth in advertising on its back cover: the violinist, playing a 1739 Guidantus and leading the historical-instrument ensemble Concerto Köln, "seems to cast fresh light on these much-loved masterpieces by imbuing them with all the joyfulness of his Venetian sound."

Gustav Leonhardt's account of [the symphonies] is the one to have if you want them on period instruments. They are lively and alert, and distinguished by fine musical intelligence… It is difficult to imagine a better partnership to provide authentic versions of these three fine works.

Voici un ouvrage capital qui regroupe quelque 400 textes d'époque émanant du compositeur, de ses contemporains et de divers témoins du XVIIIe siècle. Point ici de clichés ni d'anecdotes inventées de toute pièce, de celles qui contribuent à perpétuer une imagerie où la grandeur austère et froide de l'illustre cantor le dispute à la simplicité et à la sévérité d'un pater familias attentif aux siens. …

RCO - Anthology of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Vol 3, 1960-1970 (2005) {14CD Box Set RCO 05001, Limited Edition}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 4.67 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 2.40 Gb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 230 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1960-70, 2005 Radio Netherlands Music / RCO LIve | RCO 05001
Classical / Orchestral

Despite rumors some months ago that the RCOA series might be discontinued (fortunately unfounded), here we have Volume III, a 14-CD set that contains much of interest, but surely—for this collector—doesn't live up to its potential. For me, ideally that would concist of some of the outstanding performances of great symphonic music played by this magnificent orchestra, recorded in the extraordinary acoustics of the Concertgebouw with the usual Radio Nederland sonic expertise. During the decade represented in this set (1960-1970) the Concertgebouw Orchestra's programming often emphasized contemporary music and that surely is reflected in this album. We have well over five hours of music by Martin, Varèse, Berg, Webern, Henze, Lutoslawski, Nono and Dallapiccola as well as Dutch composers Ketting, Escher, and Vermeulen, and Polish composer Grazyna Bacewicz's Music for Strings, Trumpets and Percussion, an 18-minute three-movement work of imagination and vivid scoring.

Ever since Michael Tilson Thomas and Ralph Grierson made the first recording of Stravinsky’s four-hand reduction of The Rite of Spring in 1967 for EMI, a good number of piano duetists have taken up the work’s challenges on disc. This latest offering features Fazil Say, who shares the spotlight with himself via studio multitracking. Say essentially sticks to what Stravinsky wrote, while fleshing out the piano textures with effective octave doublings, registral changes, and an occasional added bass note in the Danse Sacrale.