Sacd 2020

Out of Thin Air is PS Audio's Octave Records' premier launch recording. This is a beautiful collection of music composed and performed by world-renowned pianist, Don Grusin. We've spared no effort to create what we consider to be one of the finest piano recordings we've ever heard. We are excited to share this recording, featuring masterful solo piano playing by Don, as an ultimate reference for letting you hear how a piano can come alive in your room.

Massimo Faraò, who is from Italy, first visited the United States in 1983 when he played with Red Holloway. In Europe he has since worked with many top performers including Tony Scott, Jesse Davis, Franco Ambrosetti, Nat Adderley, Jack DeJohnette and a notable tour in 2007 with organist Joey DeFrancesco. Even with all of that, it is as the leader of his own trio that he really shines. Farao's passionate style and stoic romanticism are very attractive along with the rich harmonies he creates. For this release his trio accompanied with Academia Arrigoni's Strings Orchestra, conducted by Bill Cunliffe.

Abraxas remains the consummate Latin rock album. The confident sound of Santana stretching out and carving out a distinctive new genre, the 1970 set is daubed with psychedelic accents and Afro-Latin grooves. This reissue becomes available as a multi-channel quad SACD Hybrid edition for the first time by Sony Japan. Converted from the original 1974 Quadraphonic master to DSD, plus the stereo mix mastered from the latest remastering.

Santana's self-titled 1969 debut album is released as a multi-channel quad SACD Hybrid edition for the first time by Sony Japan. Converted from the original 1974 Quadraphonic master to DSD, plus the stereo mix mastered from the latest remastering.

Produced and recorded by legend Glyn Johns, Joan Armatrading is the breakout record that saw Joan assume full command of her extraordinary talents and leap to the forefront of rock's great female stars. A soulful, soaring voice and a powerful and evocative songwriter. Intervention Records is absolutely thrilled to introduce another classic record, mastered Direct-to-DSD from analog tape by Kevin Gray at CoHEARent Audio from the best source available - phenomenal sounding 1/2" safety copy of the original stereo master tape. This is an audiophile demo disc all the way, with depth, realism and a breathing dimensionality.

This is an intriguing programme. The title refers to the Austrian call to dance Alles Walzer, a nod to the standard waltz repertoire, whilst the second part, einmal anders (once in a different way) reflects the more radical approaches to waltz rhythm employed by Ligeti and Bartók. One might add Ravel to this category too, though perhaps his choreographic poem La Valse, played here in the composer's own transcription, stands more on the border between these two camps. I have heard the work described as a requiem for a waltz rather than a celebration; ghosts of the rhythm flit back and forth, seldom lingering, and these shifting sands rhythm and harmony place it some distance from the waltzes of Schubert and Strauss.

Matthew Sweet's essential 1991 power-pop tour-de-force gets its high-res due on Intervention's Expanded Edition release. In addition to including the original CD release's 15 tracks, this hybrid CD/SACD includes three demo tracks not included on the original release- "Good Friend," "Superdeformed" and "Teenage Female."

Karl Richter was regarded as one of the great Bach conductors of the twentieth century, noted for solid regularity in rhythms and a serious approach to the music, though he was not given to following the changing pronouncements of musicologists concerning historical accuracy in performance. He organized the Munich Bach Choir in 1951, and in 1953 added to it the Munich Bach Orchestra. His performances naturally centered on Bach and under Richter his musicians and singers became one of the most renowned organizations specializing in the music of the great German master and his era. This recording of the Six Brandenburg Concertos have been recorded in 1967.