JOHANN QUANTZ : Flute Concertos (Rachel Brown · The Brandenburg Consort · Roy Goodman) (1997) Two Version | FLAC (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

Quantz owes his current neglect in the concert hall and recording catalogue to a somewhat perverse fact of history: he was by far the most highly paid musician of his day (earning seven times as much as C P E Bach, for example) and yet his patronage from Frederick the Great—he was truly an 'exclusive artist'—meant that none of his works was published, all remaining in the monarch's private collection.

Today his prolific output (there are some 300 flute concertos alone) is gradually being resurrected, these delightful works being recognized for their true worth. Quantz's own virtuosic skills on the flute, coupled with several drastic innovations he made to flute design and construction, make for works which push the Baroque instrument to the very limits of feasibility. Hyperion

Johann Quantz (1697-1773)
1-3    Concerto In A Major No. 256    17:25
4-7    Concerto In B Minor No. 5    14:16
8-10     Concerto In C Minor No. 216    16:29    
11-13 Concerto In G Major No. 29    11:58
14-16 Concerto In G Minor No. 290    15:36
Credits
Flute, Soloist – Rachel Brown
Directed By [From The Fortepiano And Harpsichord] – Roy Goodman
Orchestra – The Brandenburg Consort
Illustration [Front Illustration] – Cornelis Troost

E. A. POE — Generazioni (Storia Di Sempre) (1974-2013) RM | SHM-CD | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

"Edgar Allan Poe or E A Poe was formed in 1972 by Giorgio Foti (Chico) vocals and keyboards, Beppe Ronco (Ronbe) guitar and mandolin, Lello Foti (14 at the time) drummer, and Marco Maggi (Avvocato) bass. I (Marco) met Giorgio in high school where we spent a few years together. One day, I went to his house and then to a practice place where we played some music. The bass player had just left the band so I jammed with them, messing around with the bass. I remember that day - playing while Giorgio yelled at me the notes to be played. Beppe insisted that I join the band playing the bass, although I never did before as I was really a guitar player. In no time, I fell in love with that instrument.

While playing gigs as a cover band trying to make some needed money for instruments, our main focus and pleasure was to play our own music. We played for free many years in the Milano interland at all kinds of festivals, indoor or outdoor, for the joy of playing our music and the excitement that came with it. In 1974, I had the fortune or misfortune to be introduced to Gigi Fiume Menegazzi, a producer, who agreed to sign us and record our album. At the beginning of September 1974, we showed up at Trevisan Recording in Milano with zero experience in a recording studio and only three days time to complete our album.

The first surprise was that we had to record separately first the drum and the bass only! The problem was that we never counted the measures; we always played together. That was really weird and we were not ready for it, but we managed it very well. We had no time to waste! Right after beginning, the engineer told me, on the headphones, to use a pick because the bass was not clear enough. I had never used a pick playing the bass before. As a consequence, I had to cut in half the speed of the bass line in "Prologo." Lello and I managed to lay down the basics of every song without other inconvenience. That was good. After that, we started to add all the other instruments and at the end, the voice - just Giorgio. "La Ballata del Cane Felice" features Lello at the bass, and after dropping the mandolin off a chair and breaking it, we had to use a twelve string guitar tuned as a mandolin in the main part of the song because the mandolin was unusable and barely made it for the solo. Still now, I do not know how Beppe was able to do so. The three days went by really fast, and at the end, we had to be content with what we did. Of course there were quite a few things that we would have liked to fix or redo. Another funny part during the mixing was when everybody was telling the engineer different things like "up the guitar now," "down the keyboard" or whatever until he kicked us out of the room!

After that, our manager convinced us to give away the copyright of our music in exchange for big promotions and concerts that never happened. We were young and trusting. We decided not to put our names on the album cover because we did not want to be a commercial band and just wanted the music to speak for us. The album cover was Lello's idea. He found an old Mina 45 cover where there was a picture of a monkey. He took a picture of it and used the negative for the final cut. The name of the band came out of a dictionary when we were looking for a name. Somebody opened a page and we read the name Edgar Allan Poe. We just liked the way it sounded, and we probably did not even know that much about the author.

In the next few years, we recorded our own arrangement of the "Jaws" soundtrack, which was distributed for free at the opening night in Milano. We arranged a song for a singer Luca Simonelli from an old tune "Portami Tante Rose," and Giorgio (the lead of the band) wrote side B with us. When we recorded "Jaws," Roberto Bertazzi was playing guitar due to Beppe being in the army. After Beppe came back, we were contacted by Sony who was interested in us, but the timing did not work. Giorgio had to leave for the army. When he came back, disco music was on the rise, and that was it. In 1983, I moved to the United States, and that was the end." -Marco Maggi (bassist, Edgar Allan Poe)
Tracklist :
1. Prologo 4:46
Written-By – Gidam, Motta
2. Considerazioni 5:27
Written-By – Galiani, Gidam
3. Per un'Anima 2:34
Written-By – Carfin, Fratini, Licrate
4. Alla Ricerca Di Una Dimensione 4:19
Written-By – Carfin, Zauli, Lombardi
5. Ad un Vecchio 6:52
Written-By – Gidam, Motta
6. La Ballata del Cane Infelice 4:51
Written-By – Zauli, Gidam, Motta
7. Generazioni 5:25
Written-By – Gidam, Motta
Line-up / Musicians
- Giorgio Foti - Keyboards, Vocals
- Beppe Ronco - Guitar, Mandolin
- Lello Foti - Drums
+ Marco Maggi - Bass

REUBEN WILSON — Set Us Free (1971-2008) RM | Blue Note Rare Groove Series | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Set Us Free, Reuben Wilson's final album for Blue Note, was issued in 1971. Since that time it has become an immortal and much sought classic by beatheads for a single track: "We're in Love." DJ Premier sampled it liberally -- for its Hammond B-3 vamps, backing vocals, and decorative percussion -- for use on rapper Nas' smash "Memory Lane." Hip-hop fans suddenly had to hear more, and as a result not only is Wilson active again on the circuit, but there has also been terrific interest in his catalog. Not only did Blue Note's Michael Cuscuna reissue this all but forgotten nugget for the label's killer Rare Groove series (before August 2008 it had never been available on CD in America), but Chicago's Dusty Groove re-released 1975's funky Cadet burner Got to Get Your Own during the same month. Set Us Free stands almost completely outside the space inhabited by the rest of Wilson's Blue Note titles. Produced by the late George Butler, it's a wildly textured and seamless aural meld of gritty B-3 jams, smooth yet psychedelic soul, rock, pop, and funk. Wilson and Butler employed a killer band for this date that included reedman Jerome Richardson, bassist Richard Davis, guitarist David Spinozza (who also plays some electric sitar on the date), drummer Jimmy Johnson, conguero Ray Armando, percussionist Specs Powell, and Gene Bianco on harp; the entire proceeding was arranged by the great Wade Marcus.

Vocal arranger Jimmy Briggs was brought in to write charts for a female backing chorus on a funky Latinized blues version of "Mr. Big Stuff," the lush psych-soul babymaker "We're in Love," and Marvin Gaye's "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (The Ecology)." This isn't to say that there aren't slamming organ jams on the set; Marcus' "Right on with This Mess" makes that abundantly clear. That said, even on these back-to-basics numbers, Wilson's B-3 may be up front and slamming, but Richardson's sweet soprano saxophone (which, to be fair, wails in its solo), the warm guitar lines, and the congas add depth and dimension -- even while Johnson's drums are breaking all over the place. The title track, written by Eddie Harris, is smooth instrumental soul at its best -- Richardson's soprano and the hand drums are up front with Davis' slowly rolling bassline and the hand drums. But it cuts loose in places, with Wilson adding textural flourishes in his solo rather than soaring above the mix. The closest thing to the hard bopping blues Wilson's other recording showcased are sections of the closer, "Tom's Thumb," but even here, with its harp adornment, augmented major sevenths by Spinozza, and the shuffling one-two one-two of Johnson, this comes off as exotic -- especially with the wonderful percussion section laying in the cut as he breaks often and true. Wilson is the only one letting it rip. Yet somehow, this ambitious, lushly orchestrated album not only sounds current, but still ahead of its time. Highly recommended.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1 Set Us Free 5:08
Written-By – Eddie Harris
2 We're In Love 3:27
Written-By – P. Barsella, R. Wilson
3 Sho-Nuff Mellow 4:32
Written-By – Reuben Wilson
4 Mr. Big Stuff 4:37
Written-By – C. Washington, J. Broussard, R. Williams
5 Right On With This Mess 4:38
Written-By – W. Marcus Bey
6 Mercy, Mercy, Me (The Ecology) 3:39
Written-By – Marvin Gaye
7 Tom's Thumb 5:30
Written-By – Reuben Wilson
Credits :
Arranged By – Wade Marcus
Arranged By [Vocals] – Jimmy Briggs (tracks: 2, 4, 6)
Bass – Richard Davis
Congas – Ray Armando
Drums – Jimmy Johnson
Guitar, Sitar – David Spinozza
Harp – Gene Bianco
Organ – Reuben Wilson
Percussion – Gordon (Spec) Powell
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Jerome Richardson
Vocals [Essence] – Mildred Brown (tracks: 2, 4, 6), Naomi Thomas (tracks: 2, 4, 6), Rosalyn Brown (tracks: 2, 4, 6)

PÄRT — Piano Music · Ralph van Raat · NRCP · JoAnn Falletta (2011) FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Dutch pianist Ralph van Raat's collection of Arvo Pärt's piano music spans nearly 50 years of his career, from student pieces written in 1958 to a work from 2006. This would not be the right album for listeners looking primarily for Pärt's legendary austere simplicity, but it would be ideal for anyone already familiar with the composer looking for exposure to the broad stylistic and expressive range of which he is capable. The two Sonatinas, Op. 1, are often reminiscent of Prokofiev's vivacity and lyricism, and are witty, engaging pieces. The 1959 Partita, Op. 2, while employing serial procedures, is still largely tonal and nowhere near as daunting as the cutting-edge avant-garde of the period. Für Alina, from 1976, was one of Pärt's breakthrough pieces, in which he wholeheartedly embraced the principles of simplicity, quiet, and the significance of the silences between notes; this work marks the beginnings of the revolutionary sound for which Pärt is best known. Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka, in six very brief movements, written the following year, inhabits the same contemplative, uncluttered, unhurried soundworld. Much of it, in fact, consists of a single melodic line. The most recent piece on the album, the entirely tonal, gently arppegiated Für Anna Maria, from 2006 has a sweetness that sounds almost new age. Lamentate: Homage to Anish Kapoor and his sculpture "Marsyas," (2002), at 35 minutes, is essentially a piano concerto and stands in stark contrast to the other works both in scope and tone. The sculpture is phenomenally large, ten stories high and nearly 500 feet long, and Pärt's work is appropriately monumental. It's not particularly grand in traditional terms, but its long silences and dramatic timbres still convey a sense of vastness. Van Raat, a champion of new music, plays with sensitivity and appropriate simplicity in the later works and has no trouble making the virtuosic sonatinas sparkle. JoAnn Falletta expertly leads Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic in the spare acompanhamento in Lamentate. Naxos' sound is clean, present, and realistic. Stephen Eddins

Arvo Pärt’s piano works range from his first public statement as a composer, the Zwei Sonatinen, to his latest, the life affirming miniature Für Anna Maria. Moving away from his 1960s atonal language, Pärt found an essence of truth in music embodied in the simple lines of Für Alina. Lamentate is a vast monument which the composer has described as a lament ‘not for the dead, but for the living’. Multi award-winning pianist Ralph van Raat has been praised for his ‘sensitive and technically refined’ playing of Hans Otte’s Book of Sounds (8.572444) (MusicWeb International). naxos
Arvo Pärt (b. 1935)
1-2    Zwei Sonatinen fur Klavier, Op.1, Nr.1 (1958-9) 6:29
3-5    Zwei Sonatinen fur Klavier, Op.1, Nr.2 (1958-9) 5:42
6-9    Partita, Op. 2 (1958) 7:07
10-17    Variationen zur Gesundung von Arinuschka (1977) 6:39
18-27    Lamentate: Homage to Anish Kapoor and his Scultpure 'Marsyas',
for piano and orchestra (2002) 35:29
Credits :
Conductor – JoAnn Falletta (tracks: 18 to 27)
Orchestra – Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic (tracks: 18 to 27)
Piano – Ralph van Raat

EARTH AND FIRE — Song Of The Marching Children (1971-2009) RM | APE (image+.cue), lossless

A beautifully produced album that mixes progressive elements with pop and orchestral rock anchored by great arrangements and a strong female lead vocal . Playful but dark and psychedelic but grounded! It is a concept album - with mellotrons and the powerful vocals of Jenny Kaagman! Every song are almost faultless and memorable. Oparin Oleg
Tracklist :
1 Carnival Of The Animals 2:14
2 Ebbtide 3:07
3 Storm And Thunder 6:25
4 In The Mountains 3:03
5 Song Of The Marching Children 18:25
– BONUS TRACKS –
6    Invitation    3:51
7    Song Of The Marching Children (Single Version)    4:10
8    Storm And Thunder (Single Version)    4:51
9    Lost Forever    2:49
10    Memories    3:22
11    From The End 'til The Beginning    4:56
Credits :
Bass Guitar – Hans Ziech
Drums, Percussion, Vocals – T. v.d. Kleij
Guitar [Lead], Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Performer [Oscillator] – Chris Koerts
Lead Vocals – Jerney Kaagman
Organ, Piano, Mellotron, Synthesizer, Flute, Vocals – Gerard Koerts