Hi-Res Downloads

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A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Dec 03, 2015
48kHz/24-bit WAV/FLAC/ALAC*, naimcd215 (supplied by www. naimlabel. com) Any compilation album from a label’s roster of artists is always going to be as much a grab-bag as an introduction to what’s on offer, and that’s certainly true of this package – despite the title, very far from the Naim Label’s first such selection. As editor PM notes in his brief lab report below, that also makes for a variety of sources for the recordings, from CD to true 48kHz/24-bit, but more striking is the jolts of musical style, as Neil Cowley’s cinematic, percussive piano trio jazz gives way to Sabina’s Left Bank oddness, and then the soulful sound of label stalwarts Phantom Limb or the calculated grunge of Huey And The New Yorkers.
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Dec 03, 2015
As the highly variable sound quality makes clear, this album is a sort of travelogue/travel blog by Polish saxophonist Piotrowski. The essence of the album is inspired by the various musicians Piotrowski has met on his travels while building his One World Orchestra project and ‘leaving their messages on tape’. Trouble is, the whole ‘world music’ thing has rather been done to a turn by now, and what were once startling sounds from unfamiliar parts of the world are now well-known. Frankly, I’m not sure the whole new age ‘sax and ethnic’ concept sounds anything more than rather tired these days.
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Oct 08, 2015
Do you need to understand what’s being sung in order to enjoy a vocal performance? Clearly not, if the evidence of this set by German-Iranian vocalist Cymin Samawatie and her quartet is to be believed: listening to Phoenix I may have been missing some of the subtler nuances of the lyrics – well, all of them, actually – but treating the voice as an instrument proves quite rewarding when it’s as affecting as Samawatie’s. That’s particularly so in the first of two tracks from which the album takes its name, where she duets with Martin Stegner’s viola in especially striking manner. In fact, throughout this set the combination of Samawatie’s vocals and the mixture of jazz shapings and unfamiliar rhythms is highly involving, helped by the way this recording makes the slightest touch of stick on cymbal crystal clear and reveals instruments in sharp relief. AE Sound Quality: 83% Hi-Fi News Lab Report This 96kHz recording is accompanied by a significant level of spuriae (30-38kHz) also seen on ECM’s Jacob Young Forever Young [reviewed here].
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Oct 08, 2015
Now here’s a download to divide the jazz purists. On this album Sheppard’s Trio Libero set-up of bassist Michel Benita and Sebastian Rochford is joined by Elvind Aarest on ‘guitar and electronics’, suffusing much of the music here with underlying drones and washes of sound, in a kind of ‘jazz meets ambient’ mixture. It’s a tribute to both the (typically ECM) quality of the recording and the ability of all the musicians that this doesn’t just become a mush of sound, although those more used to hearing their traditional jazz combos crisp and clean may find the amalgam somewhat less than satisfying. That’s especially so on a track like ‘Aoidh, Na Dean Cadal Idir’, where the electronic layers often threaten to rise up and overwhelm the acoustic instruments, but to these ears the combination is both intriguing and highly effective.
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Oct 08, 2015
Many young soloists have made their debut recordings in one or other of these works. Arabella Steinbacher – whom we associate more with 20th century concertos – says she’s never previously felt the need to record either until she began working with Charles Dutoit (there’s a 2009 Tchaikovsky video from Tokyo on YouTube). The problem is that she tends to slow the music to show off her beautifully cultivated sounds with the 1716 Stradivarius, although Dutoit could hardly be more accommodating. So I much prefer his 1983 Decca CD coupling with Kyung-Wha Chung, whose playing is utterly selfless (and the Mendelssohn finale has an elfin lightness).
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Oct 08, 2015
Hey, guess what? This sounds just as you’d expect from James Taylor – warm, charming, folksy in instrumentation, vocals and lyrics, and above all wistfully, reassuringly – well, James Taylor. As he sings on ‘You And I Again’, ‘I can’t escape this feeling/That we’ve been this way together, you and I’, anyone expecting something revolutionary will be sorely disappointed. But then this mix of fine performances and closely-observed recordings is the perfect milieu for what is both Taylor’s first new work for well over a decade and an unashamedly nostalgic look back over his life. Yes, he still has the ability to challenge, as he does on ‘Far Afghanistan’, but even this is hardly breaking new ground.
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Oct 08, 2015
Unusually, perhaps even a ‘first’, DG offers this at 192kHz/24-bit resolution. Kremer’s new programme – two really lightweight pieces and more substantial fare by Philip Glass and Giya Kancheli – was last month’s Album Choice CD [HFN Oct ’15] and, we thought, worth revisiting at this higher resolution. The eight-movement Glass Violin Concerto No 2 is a kind of response to Vivaldi’s ‘Four Seasons’ (although ‘Movement III’ is more suggestive of the Brahms). There’s some astonishingly wonderful music in it and the higher-resolution option certainly makes the reiterations of, for example, ‘Song No 1’ seem more purposeful.
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Sep 01, 2015
96kHz/24-bit FLAC, BIS BIS-2100 (supplied by www. eclassical. com) As a violinist on the Denon label, Jean-Jacques Kantorow’s CDs were invariably well received in HFN/RR. Then he took up conducting and has amassed a considerable discography with his Finnish orchestra.
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Sep 01, 2015
Knopfler’s eighth solo album mixes rock, Celtic and country influences, and more than a measure of introspection, providing a ‘spot the reference’ game for the casual observer and fans alike. There’s more than a hint of Local Hero here and there – well, quite a lot actually – and his homage to Beryl Bainbridge is pure ‘Sultans Of Swing’, unlikely though that sounds. Inspired by his time touring with Bob Dylan – notably in ‘Silver Eagle’ – this is Knopfler as storyteller, from Bainbridge to poet Basil Bunting, whom he met when he was a copy boy on the Newcastle Evening Chronicle. Trouble is, Knopfler’s writing, scoring, and performance are so distinctive that it can sound like there’s not much new here, even though the sound quality of the stripped-down recording is gorgeous.
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Sep 01, 2015
This new Schola Cantorum Basiliensis production offers eight of the Venetian composer Antonio Caldara’s early trio sonatas – four each from his Op. 1 and Op. 2 – together with a final chaconne (probably an homage to Corelli). These works appeared in 1693 and 1699; thereafter Caldara became best known for his vocal compositions.
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Sep 01, 2015
If perchance you woke up this morning and thought to yourself ‘Y’know what? The one thing really missing from my music collection is a jazz bass solo cover of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”’, then here’s just the album for you. If not, then you’ll be pleased to know that track is one of very few misfires on this set by bassman Ben Williams – well, along with the over-rapped and insubstantial ‘Toy Soldiers’ immediately after it. Otherwise this is a tightly-recorded, fine-sounding package. It’s a bass-player’s album, which means the instrument is prominent in the clean, crisp mix, but fortunately Williams is a very fine, very expressive player, as is the band with which he’s surrounded himself here, whether on the harder-hitting cuts or the more lyrical tracks.
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Sep 01, 2015
The third album from 23-year-old British blues guitarist Jones opens with a bang, as the band slams into ‘What’s It Gonna Be’, and from there on in the pace doesn’t let up until the closer ‘Stop Moving The House’, taking in along the way a duet with Sandi Thom on the more reflective ‘Don’t Look Back’, and Jones’ labelmate Dana Fuchs deploying her considerable pipes on a cover of ‘Can’t Get Enough Of Your Love’. As a vocalist Jones is an excellent guitarist, and while this album isn’t the last word in subtlety, being more about slam, drive and soaring guitar solos, while the occasional downbeat track sounds rather too AOR, it does its job effectively enough. The rhythm section has real weight and drive, while Jones’ guitar powers out of the mix just as you might hope it would. But somehow I still can’t help hearing the opening of ‘Evil’ and thinking ‘Devil Gate Drive’… AE Sound Quality: 80% Hi-Fi News Lab Report Keen though I am to promote this album’s charitable association, the content itself is evidently compromised.
C. Breunig (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Aug 01, 2015
96kHz/24-bit FLAC, BIS-2124 (supplied by www. eclassical. com) The Fifth Symphony has fared well on records, right back to the 1946 Koussevitsky/RCA and particularly with American orchestras. Prokofiev’s 1915 Diaghilev ballet commission for Ala et Lolli, a mythological Scythian concoction, met with rejection: the composer ‘did not understand a thing about dance’, said Balanchine.
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Aug 01, 2015
94kHz/24-bit WAV, Linn Records AKD531 (supplied by www. linnrecords. com) This session came about by public demand – in between touring with her bands, Emily Barker was also playing solo acoustic shows of songs old and new, and kept being asked whether these versions of her catalogue were available to buy. As a result, she went into London’s Toerag Studios, known for its use of vintage equipment, along with producer Liam Watson, and recorded this live-to-tape, no edits set, accompanied only by her guitar and harmonica.
A. Everard (Music); P. Miller (Lab)  |  Aug 01, 2015
Cassandra Wilson will need no introduction to most audiophiles as the singer is a demonstration-room favourite, and it’s not hard to hear why in this latest album – Wilson’s homage to Billie Holiday. Wilson’s voice is close-focused and centre-stage, and the instrumentation captured with every detail intact, from the sparse backing to ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’ to the cinematic orchestra on ‘Strange Fruit’. The roster of musicians is also pretty impressive: production is by Nick Launay, T Bone Burnett adds guitar, and Van Dyke Parks wrote the string arrangements. And yet there’s something oddly one-note here as too many of these standards sound slow and mournful, while the Bond-esque orchestra on ‘Strange Fruit’ is at odds with the subject matter.

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