LATEST ADDITIONS

C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Feb 26, 2015
96kHz/24-bit FLAC, Harmonia Mundi HMC 902183. 84 (supplied by www. eclassical. com) Early, middle and late period sonatas are prefaced by the three sets of variations on this release, complementary to the violin sonatas with Faust/Melnikov [HFN Yearbook 2010, ‘Album Choice’].
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Feb 26, 2015
Political ill-will meant that the planned Vienna Philharmonic premiere of the Brahms-influenced Dvo?ák Sixth was deferred for three years and it was first played by a Prague orchestra in 1881. The VPO’s only recording came in 2000 under Myung-Whun Chung – superb, like the BPO/Kubelík (both DG), and I don’t think this Lucerne Orchestra version offers any real challenge. In seeking out every tiny detail, their young American chief conductor, I think, loses a forward momentum – even in the furiant scherzo. Only in the finale does everything come together splendidly.
J. Bamford (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Feb 26, 2015
Rarely does the evergreen Tom Petty disappoint his fans, his 13th album with The Heartbreakers proving to be no exception – except that it was three long years in the making. Perhaps because of this it feels over-produced and lacks any feeling of ‘performance’, despite the album being the band’s most rollicking and hard-rockin’ collection of tracks in a very long time. Power chords and jangling guitars combine with tremendous harmony vocals reminiscent of Petty’s outings when an angry young man in the ’70s. Of course we’ve heard it all before, but Petty’s song-writing remains as sharp and incisive as ever.
J. Bamford (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Feb 26, 2015
96kHz/24-bit WAV, ALAC, FLAC*, Absolute/Megaphonic megad007 (supplied by www. naimlabel. com) As our Lab Report warns, there’s nothing ‘hi-res’ about the sound of Imogen Heap’s latest assemblage of sonic sculptures. Nevertheless she’s as inventive and eclectic as ever in her musical explorations in which she has cut ’n’ pasted a patchwork of myriad samples and ‘sound seeds’ (field recordings of mundane sounds sent in by her fans).
J. Bamford (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Feb 25, 2015
96kHz/24-bit WAV, ALAC, FLAC*, Naim CD195 (supplied by www. naimlabel. com) Burn is the 2013 debut album from the winners of a MOBO award last year. Sons Of Kemet are a London-based band famed for rattling the rafters with boisterous and eclectic jazz-with-a-twist.
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Feb 25, 2015
The Moscow composer-pianist Alexander Scriabin wrote his first five piano sonatas between 1893 and 1907; the other five date from 1911-13 (Nos 5-10 are in single-movt form). They show a development from a Chopin-influenced style – eg, ‘Funèbre’ in Sonata 1 – to one where ‘the tonic became distantly perspectived… existing only in the imagination’. Some have associated texts or sub-texts. Also Moscow trained, Anna Malikova made her recordings in a German studio in Feb/March of 2012, ’13 and ’14, playing a Shigeru Kawai pianoforte – then a newly launched model.
J. Bamford (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Feb 25, 2015
There’s little musical innovation to savour in this collection of piano compositions from Canadian pianist Pascal Mailloux, whose career has been writing music for films, TV shows and commercials, and collaborating with Montreal-born singer Marjolène Morin (aka Marjo) over the years. Still, he does conjure up some delightful melodies, and the performances by his accompanists are polished throughout. I’ve found myself returning to ‘Morning Mist’ for its intriguing chord progression and Dave Gilmour-esque slide guitar break. And ‘October Sky’ is another infectious track.
J. Bamford (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Feb 25, 2015
Based in Hamburg, the award-winning Tingvall Trio is a cosmopolitan combo led by Swedish composer/pianist Martin Tingvall, alongside Cuban bass player Omar Rodriguez Calvo and multi-disciplined drummer Jürgen Spiegel, from Bremen. This is the band’s sixth album in eight years, its eclectic jazz style highlighting the trio’s crossover appeal due to an amalgamation of rock, pop and classical influences. Tingvall’s compositions are infectiously melodic, sometimes a little pompous, formulaic even – but regularly downright fun. The trio sounds like it’s enjoying itself and the sound quality is excellent, the drum kit and piano particularly dynamic and vivid.
J. Bamford (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Feb 01, 2015
96kHz/24-bit WAV, ALAC, FLAC, Naim Jazz Records Naim CD206 (supplied by www. naimlabel. com) Former Brand New Heavies keyboardist Neil Cowley – a child prodigy playing Shostakovich piano concertos at the age of ten – can arguably lay claim to being one of the world’s most heard pianists in current times, having accompanied Adele on both her 19 and 21 albums. This fifth release from the trio with drummer Evan Jenkins and bassist Rex Horan (who replaced Richard Sadler after 2010’s Naim album Radio Silence) sees Cowley once again crossing myriad musical boundaries.
J. Bamford (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Feb 01, 2015
When Tony Bennett – famously reinvented since becoming managed by one of his sons in the 1980s – released Duets II in 2011 it became his first ever album to debut at No1 on America’s Billboard charts. With Cheek To Cheek the octogenarian crooner has scored another No1. And make that strike three for Lady Gaga. This might appear an incongruous pairing.

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