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This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 191. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Unlimited Love. Warner Records – 093624874720 – 093624880653 (2022), (2x33 1/3 rpm). Genre: alternative rock, funk rock. First things first, even though this is the band's twelfth studio album, this is only the third 'Chili Peppers LP in my collection—the other two... Read More »

Few musical cycles are as compelling as is Rachel Podger's and Gary Cooper's cycle of the complete sonatas for violin and piano by Mozart on Channel Classics. With the plethora of new recordings, we sometimes lose sight of great recordings from the recent past. I thought it would be useful to revisit these and perhaps... Read More »

Can you like a work of music without understanding it? Indeed, yes. I don't claim to yet understand what Maya Fridman and Maarten van Veen have created in Nuït, their new release from TRPTK. But I do like it, and I plan to continue listening to come to grips with it. It is a wonderful... Read More »

Eric Clapton, Unplugged (Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab) This latest limited edition Mofi UltraDisc One-Step box set was cut by Krieg Wunderlich and pressed at RTI. You get your two 180 gram 45 RPM LPs on Supervinyl with all the usual packaging and perks, but I had to wonder if this pressing was really going to... Read More »

Tierkreis by Bruce Friedman, Jeff Schwartz, and Jim McAuley Tierkreis is a collection of 12 short compositions written by Karlheinz Stockhausen, each originally created to be played on a music box. In 2008, Bruce Friedman, a trumpet player based in Southern California, organized a concert of Stockhausen work, part of a global celebration of his... Read More »

Classical ensemble Calefax Reed Quintet yields once again to the temptation for extemporaneous performance in this collaboration with improvising trumpeter and composer Eric Vloeimans—to extraordinarily satisfying results. On The Spot, Eric Vloeimans, Calefax Reed Quintet. Buzz | Northstar Recording 2014 (DXD) HERE I'm not sure what I expected when I started playing this album, but... Read More »

Chamber songs and duets. Corina Feldkamp, soprano; Anna Tonna, mezzo-soprano; Isabel Dobarro, pianist. Cezanne CZ 090. TT: 52.21 Caña española. El corazón triste. Canción española. Seguidillas de los oficialitos. Fandango. Mi numen parlero. Mazourka de Blagoïska. Stanzas for music. Amor con sue promesse. Occhi miei. Come fan' le ragazze. Saluto. Dimmelo caro ben. Le moissonneur. Scène de... Read More »

With delicate precision, Susana Gómez Vázquez illuminates these piano pieces with a scintillating beauty, each carefully shaped and presented like jewels on velvet cushions. Both the performances and the recorded sound quality, in Pure DSD256, are a treasure. Ad Illam - Music of Chopin, Piazzolla, Ginastera for Piano, Susana Gómez Vázquez. Eudora Records 2021 (Pure... Read More »

How does the analog become digital? In 2019, Roland Dietl reported about the current version of the Audiophile Optimizer and shortly after about the combination of the new optimizer with Windows Server. The playback of audio files benefited greatly from this operating system variant. Does the operating system also influence the sound of the files... Read More »

Here is an excursion through the Spanish inflected music of southern Europe with a few side ventures to Brazil. It’s a feast for the ears and the heart, with music of Isaac Albéniz, Manuel de Falla, Paule Maurice, Jean Françaix, Heitor Villa‑Lobos, Maurice Ravel, Darius Milhaud, and Kurt Weill. All musicians influenced by the rhythms... Read More »

Boyd Meets Girl is comprised of Australian classical guitarist Rupert Boyd and American cellist Laura Metcalf, a couple living in Brooklyn, NYC. This album comes out of the period of Covid-19 pandemic lockdown; and this is where being a married couple pays huge dividends for us as listeners. Able to play together every day, Boyd... Read More »

Violinist Tosca Opdam is joined by pianist Alexander Ullman to create some delightful chamber music in their new album, Soundscapes, all beautifully and sensitively performed. Included is the world premier recording of a work dedicated to Ms. Opdam by Dutch composer Robin de Raaff. The album is an engaging program of a bit of the... Read More »

I've written before about legendary Decca recording engineer Kenneth Wilkinson and the extensive collection of his recordings available from High Definition Tape Transfers. Since my original introductory article (HERE), HDTT has released more Wilkinson engineered recordings that are very much worthy of comment. And, I've found a few in the catalog that I'd missed before.... Read More »

Rembrandt Frerichs is a remarkably eclectic and innovative jazz and world musician, synthesizing rhythms and sounds from many cultures. In this thoroughly engaging premier recording of his piano concertos, he collaborates with five string players from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and his long-time partner in The Rembrandt Trio, percussionist Vinsent Planjer. The result is a... Read More »

Stevie Ray Vaughan And Double Trouble, Couldn't Stand The Weather. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, UD1S 2-007,  UltraDisc One-Step, Original Master Recording, 2 x  12" 45 RPM SuperVinyl 180g LPs, Numbered Limited Edition, Remastered, Deluxe Edition Box Set, 2021 First up...the 2021 Mobile Fidelity Ultra Disc 1 Step remaster (UD1S 2-007) as two, 12-inch 45 RPM LPs... Read More »

Kenny Dorham, Matador (Impex Records) Another masterpiece from Impex Records, Matador is a real sleeper. Originally released in 1953 on the United Artist label and now back in print for the first time in nearly 50 years, this title by Kenny Dorham deserves an early nomination for the reissue of the year! Pressed at RTI... Read More »

One can only hope that this release marks the beginning of a full cycle of recordings of the Beethoven Sonatas for Violin and Piano from Rachel Podger and Christopher Glynn. If this initial album is any indication of what might be in store, such a cycle would be a wonderful gift. Beethoven Sonatas for Violin... Read More »

This is an ongoing project by Claude Lemaire of Soundevaluations 186. Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, Masterpieces by Ellington. Columbia Masterworks – ML 4418 Mono (1951), Analogue Productions – APJ 4418-45, 200g (2017), 180g (2021), (2x45 rpm). Genre: jazz, swing, orchestral big band. The title says it all, these are masterpieces by a master of music. I... Read More »

A piano trio is perhaps my favorite performing ensemble. And when the performances are as finely crafted as these from the Delta Piano Trio, bliss is near at hand. Add music by Swiss composer Frank Martin, and a recording engineered by Bert van der Wolf, and my expectations are very high. And those expectations are... Read More »