Delicious From March 2015

Magic Sam Blues Band - Black Magic (1969) {2015 Delmark Deluxe Edition DE 620}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 423 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 159 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 54 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1969, 2015 Delmark Records | DE 620
Blues / Rhythm & Blues / Soul / Chicago Blues / Electric Blues

Recorded on October 23 and November 6, 1968 Black Magic was released only days before Magic Sam's untimely passing on December 1, 1969. He was only 32! The album went on to win a W.C. Handy Award in the classic blues album category. This Digipak Deluxe Edition contains more than an hour of west side Chicago blues at its finest, re-mastered from the original analog tapes. The 16-page booklet contains never before seen photos at the recording session, additional color photos from the Ann Arbor Music Festival, the original liner note from the LP and a new note by producer Bob Koester.

Reynaldo Hahn - Works for piano solo (2012) {4CD+DVD Box Set, Concerto Box 2015}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 778 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 669 Mb
DVD5 -> 2.67 Gb | All Regions | NTSC 16:9 | LinearPCM, 2 ch | ~ 57 min | ISO Image
Subs: Francais, Italiano, English
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 130 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2012 Concerto | Box 2015
Classical / Romantic / Belle Époque / Mélodie / Piano Solo

This album is a feast for the ears–4 CDs of little-played, virtually unknown solo piano music by Reynaldo Hahn, born in Venezuela but a resident of France from the age of 4, and therefore sounding more like French romantics like Debussy than Argentine composers like Piazolla–there's nary a tango in sight. What we have here are dozens of brief (many as short as 1 minute), delicious melodies expertly played by the hyper-talented Cristina Araiagno. There's also a bonus DVD about the making of the CD with more info on the composer and the pianist. Just when you thought you'd heard the entire piano repertoire, here comes a delightful surprise.

The first performances of Les Femmes Vengées (The Avenged Women) in 1775 restored the fortunes of Francois-André Danican Philidor, which had been wavering since the great success of Tom Jones a decade earlier. His opéra-comique, which foreshadows the plot of Mozarts Così fan tutte (Mozart had been in Paris during the first performances of Philidors work), offers delicious opportunities for mock-indignation and repartee in its arias and ensembles. This recording presents the complete music. Opera Lafayette and Ryan Browns recording of Philidors Sancho Pança [8.660274] was hailed as a witty, authentic interpretation by the American Record Guide.

In 1942 The Musical Times reported a ‘grave loss’ referring to Walter Leigh’s tragically early death, killed in action whilst serving in a tank regiment near Tobruk, just before his thirty-seventh birthday. Though during his lifetime he was more than once compared to Sir Arthur Sullivan, from a contemporary standpoint an equally pertinent analogy could be drawn with a composer from a later generation, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett. Both men approached film music and ‘light music’ with the same seriousness of purpose and invested it with the same impeccable craftsmanship they brought to their concert pieces.

This album's color cover photo is an action shot, showing Magic Sam in the process of choking and bending his strings, a good hike up the fretboard. It isn't clear exactly what he is playing from the picture, although that certainly didn't stop dozens of pimply hippie guitar players from trying to figure it out. In the meantime, the record goes on and the first soloist out of the gate is Eddie Shaw, playing tenor sax. He is blowing over the top of an R&B riff that, although not out of the syntax of Chicago blues, would also have been quite fitting on a Wilson Pickett record. It is unfortunate that Magic Sam's recording career came to such an abrupt end, as he was one of the best artists working in the musical area between the urban blues tradition and newly developing soul music forms. This fusion was on the minds of many blues artists during the late '60s, and not just because it was aesthetically conceivable…

This album's color cover photo is an action shot, showing Magic Sam in the process of choking and bending his strings, a good hike up the fretboard. It isn't clear exactly what he is playing from the picture, although that certainly didn't stop dozens of pimply hippie guitar players from trying to figure it out. In the meantime, the record goes on and the first soloist out of the gate is Eddie Shaw, playing tenor sax. He is blowing over the top of an R&B riff that, although not out of the syntax of Chicago blues, would also have been quite fitting on a Wilson Pickett record. It is unfortunate that Magic Sam's recording career came to such an abrupt end, as he was one of the best artists working in the musical area between the urban blues tradition and newly developing soul music forms. This fusion was on the minds of many blues artists during the late '60s, and not just because it was aesthetically conceivable…

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.