Raw Double Entry

Paul Bollenback - Double Vision
SACD ISO Stereo: 2,13 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 992 MB | Full Artwork
Label/Cat#: Challenge Records # SACHR75030 | Country/Year: Netherlands 2000 | 5% Recovery Info
Genre: Jazz | Style: Guitar Jazz

Another U.S. jazz group that had to go to a European jazz label to get released on disc. Hadn't heard of Bollenback, but organist Joey DeFrancesco is a top name in U.S. jazz today. A studio in Maryland was used & the original analog tapes were mixed & mastered to DSD in Amsterdam. Bollenback plays in a strongly swinging single string electric style which mates perfectly with the electric sound of DeFrancesco's B3. Bollenback's guitar is recorded up quite close & the B3 bass end has as strong impact.

No doubt many of you are wondering whether I should be recording Bach’s complete sonatas and partitas at the age of only 21. Perhaps I should have waited a bit longer? Well, patience has seldom been my strong point, and after all I have already waited a number of years for an opportunity to record these works. During the first six years of study with my teacher Ana Chumachenco, I studied the sonatas and partitas thoroughly, and first performed both cycles in their entirety in the Bach year 2000, during the course of two evenings at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival.
Julia Fischer

Jean Sibelius - Kullervo
Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra / Leif Segerstam / Isokoski / Hakala
SACD ISO: 3,78 GB (Stereo + MCH DSD) | FLAC @ 24bit/88.2kHz: 1,30 GB | Full Artwork | 5% Rec. Info
Label/Cat#: Ondine # ODE 1122-5 | Country/Year: Finland 2008
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic

…There is no doubt in my mind that this Kullervo from Segerstam and his team is exceptionally fine and in the first rank of the ever-growing list of recordings. Spano's deeply thought and excellently performed account would also merit a first ranking. But I find Segerstam to have produced the most psychologically realistic Kullervo performance, thanks to the depth of characterisation uncovered by Hakala and Isokoski in the seemingly unpromising and dificult texts of the Kalevala verses. Segerstam comes close to Berglund's powerful first recording from 1970, which allowed many of us to encounter this unforgettable work. The state-of-the art fidelity of Ondine's engineering is a great advantage in itself. While quintessentially Finnish, Ondine's production nevertheless fulfils Sibelius' intent to make this music universal in appeal. Warmly recommended.

Anton Bruckner - Symphony No. 8 in C minor (1890) / Symphony No. 9 in D Minor
Wiener Philharmoniker / Carl Schuricht (conductor)
2xSACD ISO (Stereo): 5,11 GB | 2x24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 2,26 GB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: EMI Classics "Signature Series" # 50999 9 55984 2 0 | Country/Year: UK 2012, 1961 & 1963
Genre: Classical | Style: Romantic, Orchestral

"…Now, I will speak briefly about this SACD, because I cannot say anything more than this: it is a miracle. The way EMI remastered these old takes from 1961 and 1963 is astonishing. I am not saying that this SACD will sound as perfect as a new production, but… what levels of mastery had those technicians in the past that used to edit the tape sometimes cutting it with razor blades.
Not to tell the clarity that Schuricht gives to the music. He is probably an old fashioned conductor for nowadays standards, as we can say about Furtwängler, Klemperer or Jochum, for example. But those good old days gave us lots of great musicians that are now a source of inspiration for the new stars…" ~SA-CD.net

Tim "Ripper" Owens, who had previously sung in a Judas Priest tribute band called British Steel, was hired in 1996 as Judas Priest's new singer. This line up released two albums, Jugulator and Demolition, as well as two live double-albums – '98 Live Meltdown and Live in London…