Europe Concert Berlin

When Renata Tebaldi sang Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello at London’s Covent Garden in 1950, it was her first operatic performance outside Italy. It was also the role in which she made her last appearance on the opera stage, at the Metropolitan Opera New York in 1973. Between these two performances she made close to a hundred stage appearances as Desdemona, not to mention two studio recordings with Alberto Erede and Herbert von Karajan. It was Arturo Toscanini who coined for her the moniker “voce d’angelo” (voice of an angel). She made her highly acclaimed debut as Desdemona at the Metropolitan Opera in 1955 and from that moment on made New York the focus of her life.

Drummer Joe Dodge left the Dave Brubeck quartet in 1956 to spend more time with his wife and children. He was replaced by Joe Morello. Bassist Norman Bates also left the group the following year for the comforts of home and family. Brubeck chose Eugene Wright to take his place on bass. With Morello and Wright in the fold, the "Classic Quartet" was born. Although Brubeck and Desmond played with several musicians over the years, this group of Brubeck, Desmond, Wright and Morello would become the most famous of Brubeck's bands. The US State Department hired them for this "goodwill" tour of Europe including dates in England, Scotland, Germany, Denmark,Belgium, Holland, Turkey, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq. This long unavailable concert appears here in its entirety for the first time ever - including two previously unissued tracks 'The Duke' and 'One Moment Worth Years'.

Richard Wagner - Lohengrin
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin / Rundfunkchor Berlin / Marek Janowski
3xCD | EAC+LOG+CUE | FLAC: 843 MB | Full Artwork: 512 MB | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Pentatone # PTC 5186 403 | Country/Year: Netherlands 2012
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Opera

"PentaTone have definitely established a winning formula for success with the ten Wagner operas they are currently recording in association with Deutschlandradio Kultur in Berlin. (…) The presentation of this set is excellent. Thankfully, it includes a well translated German/ English libretto (unlike the travesty supplied with the Bychkov version), a thought provoking essay on the opera by Steffen Georgi and full artist biographies. Though my own allegiance to the Bychkov version among recent recordings remains steadfast this Janowski account is unlikely to disappoint. It will surely be welcomed by avid Wagnerites and makes one eager for the next issue in what is proving to be a superlative series." ~sa-cd.net

Deluxe three disc (two CDs + DVD) edition of this live release from the Van Der Graaf Generator leader containing the Berlin 1992 concert on two CDs plus a DVD featuring the very same performance…

Fink & The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra - Live in Concert (2013) {Ninja Tune ZENCD201}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 322 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 138 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 255 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2013 Ninja Tune | ZENCD201
Classical / Alternative / Acoustic / Symphonic Rock / Modern Classical

Back in 2012 Fink played a very very special one-off show. It was in Amsterdam, and they were accompanied by The (full) Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The product was an undiluted triumph – a perfect marriage between Fink’s subtle and melodic songwriting and the power of a full orchestra. The subsequent live album, entitled Fink Meets The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra will be available on 14th October 2013.

The two guitar icons Larry Coryell and Philip Catherine have a long history and a close musical affinity, despite their different influences on this and the other side of the Atlantic. Recorded on January 27, 2017 as part of the "Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic" series, "The Last Call" is the last recording of Larry Coryell, who passed away four weeks later on February 19, 2017. And an echo of a very special relationship between two very great guitarists, full of creative compatibility, enthusiasm and deep mutual understanding.

Eric Dolphy - The Complete Uppsala Concert (1961) {2CD Set, Jazz Door ‎JD 1253/54 rel 1993}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (image)+CUE+LOG -> 527 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 221 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 6 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1961, 1993 Jazz Door ‎| JD 1253/54
Jazz / Post-Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz

One of my pet theories is that one of the kickstarts for creative indigenous jazz in Europe was the tours undertaken there by Eric Dolphy as a leader (late summer 1961, summer 1964) and with John Coltrane (winter 1961) and Charles Mingus (summer 1964). The passage through the region of such an iconoclastic figure as Dolphy, particularly at these two hypercreative moments for him, must have had some effect on the local musicians who heard or, in some cases, played with him. Those tours were documented and are back in the forefront with a two-disc reissue of a Swedish concert from September 1961.