Tag: Various Artists

Title: Various Artists – Jazz At The Pawnshop (1976/2006) [30 Anniversary Edition]
Genre: Jazz
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Jazz at the Pawnshop, a legendary 1976 live recording from Stockholm’s Pawnshop club, captures Arne Domnérus (alto saxophone and clarinet), Bengt Hallberg (piano), Lars Erstrand (vibraphone), Georg Riedel (bass), and Egil Johansen (drums) delivering vibrant swing standards reminiscent of Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton. Recorded by Gert Palmcrantz using revolutionary techniques, this three-disc SACD, released for the album’s 30th anniversary, compiles the complete sessions with full documentation and photos, presenting the music in pristine digital audio. Domnérus, praised by Charlie Parker, leads alongside Hallberg, who impressed Stan Getz with his effortless key shifts, and Sweden’s finest rhythm section, performing beloved tracks like “In a Mellow Tone,” “Mood Indigo,” “High Life,” and “Take Five.” This definitive release of a critically acclaimed audiophile classic offers a once-in-a-lifetime musical experience.

hraudio | discogs

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Title: Various Artists – A Chorus Line – Original Broadway Cast Recording (1975) [Reissue 2003]
Genre: Jazz
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Michael Bennett’s 1975 valentine to “gypsies”, the dancers who are often treated as so much mobile scenery in Broadway musicals, is sometimes considered to have broken new ground with its frank portraits of talented but frustrated performers. The score by Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban is a favorite of “theater people” everywhere, but was designed to showcase the abilities of dancers rather than singers. Consequently, only the ballad “What I Did for Love” has had a life outside of the show’s context. This reissue of the original Broadway cast recording of A Chorus Line contained the previously unreleased “Montage, Pt. 1: Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love”, plus extensive liner notes featuring memorabilia, cast listings, and previously unpublished photos.

hraudio | allmusic | discogs

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Title: Various Artists – 2L The Nordic Sound – Audiophile Reference Recordings (2009)
Genre: Classical
Format: MCH SACD ISO

2L’s 2-disc set includes materials over which audiophiles could sit & argue for hours, if not longer. Each disc contains the same 19 musical selections taken from their growing, broad selection of recordings ranging from Mozart & Vivaldi to Schoenberg, Carter & beyond. The goal, presumably, is to make an argument for the superiority of surround sound not just for movies, but for music as well. Disc 1 is a hybrid SACD with 3 separate audio tracks: DSD Stereo, DSD 5.1 channel surround, & standard redbook. The 2nd disc is a Blu-ray disc again presenting 3 audio formats: 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio, 5.1 channel 24bit Linear PCM, & 2ch 24bit Linear PCM. Two discs, 19 tracks, & 6 different audio formats to choose from; what’s an audiophile to do? There can be little question that 3 surround options, whether on Blu-ray or SACD, offer a far more pleasing listening experience; the level of detail & realism offered in these formats vastly exceeds the 2ch tracks. But even between the surround options, there are differences. There are some tracks, such as the excerpts from Britten’s “Simple” Symphony & Bartуk’s Sonata for Solo Violin, where the SACD surround track offers a much cleaner, more detailed accounting. However, the sense of truly being in the centre of a live performance of Islandmoen’s Requiem or Haydn’s Op. 76/5, String Quartet that is achieved on the Blu-ray with DTS-HD cannot be improved upon. The decision, then, comes down to the preference of individual listeners. Maybe even more than that, however, is the practicality of using Blu-ray as an audio-only format. Sure, there’s a sharp-looking menu that listeners can use to navigate the disc, but that still seems like a bit of a waste of Blu-ray’s vast storage capacity. DVD-A was a format that was even less popular/accepted than SACD, so it will be interesting to see if Blu-ray Audio catches on.

2l.no | allmusic | discogs

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Title: Various Artists – Opus 3: A selection from Test-records 1, 2 & 3 (2008)
Genre: Jazz, Blues, Classical, Folk, World, & Country
Format: MCH SACD ISO

Classic Opus 3 from 1977 – 1984 In 1995, this album was released as an ordinary CD. (CD 19500) On this totally re-mastered version for SACD – directly from the original analogue tapes – we have added two ”Bonus tracks”: One with our nowadays famous artist, Eric Bibb from his debut album on Opus 3 in 1977, ”Rainbow People” – an album that in the past only been available on LP. (Soon, it will be re-mastered and released on SACD!)

 discogs

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Title: Various Artists – Opus 3 – Test CD 4: Acoustic Music In Authentic Enviroments (2001)
Genre: Jazz, Blues, Classical, Folk, World, Country
Format: SACD ISO

CD 4 is an extended version of Test Record 4 on vinyl. Contents now include 6 completely new tracks & a few replacements, & the total time is more than 76 minutes. In this the 4th test record, the 3 basic concepts of: Depth of Image, Timbre & Dynamics have been linked together as a basis for evaluation of HiFi equipment. Test CD 4, like its predecessors, contains a generously varied selection of acoustic music from the Opus 3 catalogue, with advisers concerning special points to listen for on each track. Again like its predecessors, the new test record makes an enjoyable music sampler, all the more so as it includes no fewer than 17 tracks from 17 different Opus 3 titles, most of them recent releases.

discogs

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