Quadraphonic sound, or 4.0 surround sound, utilizes four audio channels connected to four speakers positioned at the corners of a listening space. The multi-tracked audio is mixed dimensional, immersing the listener in an expansive soundscape. Quadio is a Blu-ray with 192/24 resolution Quadraphonic and Hi-Res Stereo mixes transferred from the original half-inch four-channel masters.

Portrait in Jazz was Bill Evans' third album as a leader, following New Jazz Conceptions (1956) and Everybody Digs Bill Evans (1958). It was also Evans' first album as a leader with the talented bassist Scott LaFaro. Their superb interaction is evident from the very first track, and Evans was certainly aware of this. The collaboration between Evans and LaFaro would reach it's peak with their recordings made in June 1961 at the Village Vanguard in New York City. LaFaro died shortly afterward in a car accident (July 6, 1961), at the age of 25.

Sunday at the Village Vanguard is a live album by jazz pianist and composer Bill Evans and his Trio consisting of Evans, bassist Scott LaFaro, and drummer Paul Motian. Released in 1961, the album is routinely ranked as one of the best live jazz recordings of all time.

Portrait in Jazz marks a pivotal shift in jazz history, introducing a revolutionary "democratic" trio format where the piano, bass, and drums act as equal partners in a continuous musical conversation. Recorded in late 1959, the album features the legendary synergy of Bill Evans, Scott LaFaro, and Paul Motian, blending standards with original compositions through their signature "simultaneous improvisation".

With his powerful voice and unmistakable stage presence, Anthony Clark Evans presents a dazzling panorama of the great 19th-century baritone repertoire on this recording. The program ranges from the passionate drama of Italian verismo to the elegance of French opera and the exalted sound world of Richard Wagner. Evans opens with Leoncavallo's famous Prologue from Pagliacci, a programmatic manifesto of verismo, and continues with Giordano's searing denunciation "Nemico della patria" from Andrea Ch�nier and Puccini's dark scene from Il Tabarro. Donizetti and Offenbach provide melodic refinement and brilliant color from the Italian and French traditions, while Thomas's drinking song from Hamlet adds charm and lightness. Particular highlights are the Wagner arias - the intimate "Song to the Evening Star" from Tannh�user and the great scene of the Dutchman - where Evans's voice reveals both lyrical depth and dramatic radiance. The program concludes with central Verdi roles, from Rigoletto to Il Trovatore and Luisa Miller, showcasing the full range of Italian bel canto drama.

At the BBC - The Complete 1965 London Sets is the first official release of the historic Jazz 625 show at the BBC Television Theatre, Shepherd's Bush, on 19th March 1965 by the Bill Evans Trio. Transferred from the original tape reels at the BBC and restored and mastered by Matthew Lutthans at The Mastering Lab. Includes an extensive insert with rare photographs from the show and liner notes by acclaimed jazz critic and author Marc Myers.

THERE COMES A TIME GIL EVANS

Classical Music

Recorded in: London Coliseum live; 6, 13 & 27 August 1977 Producer(s) John Mordler Sound Engineer(s) Robert Gooch Stuart Eltham

Few operas benefit as much as does Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro from being sung in the language of the audience. Even in this age of super-titles, there is no substitute for the direct communication from singers to audience in this brilliantly conceived social comedy. Thus, this new recording may well be one of the most important releases in Chandos’s admirable “Opera in English” project...this is a very well paced, lovingly shaped performance that binds into a persuasive whole. Chandos’s recording is, as is usually the case, on the reverberant side, but not unpleasantly so. An excellent essay accompanies the set, along with a complete English printed text. Henry Fogel, FANFARE

The Walhall Eternity label is for the first time releasing in it's entirety the legendary 1959 Covent Garden Ring cycle of Richard Wagner conducted by Franz Konwitschny, performances that feature the finest Wagnerian voices of the 1950's, including Wolfgang Windgassen, Hans Hotter, Astrid Varnay, Ramon Vinay, Amy Shuard (student of Eva Turner and Covent Garden regular), Gottlob Frick and more. Franz Konwitschny's gripping interpretations lie comfortably between those of F�rtw�ngler's commanding heights supremacy and Solti's fire and spontaneity. Re-mastered 24bit/96kHz.

Richard Hickox directs a star-studded cast in this fantastic new recording of two early operettas by Arthur Sullivan. 'Cox and Box' was first performed in 1866, when the composer was just twenty-four. It shared the bill with another operetta by writer W. S. Gilbert, and it is highly likely that this was how Arthur Sullivan and william Gilbert met. 'Trial by Jury', written as a commission for Richard D'Oyly Carte, was their second collaboration, and it was this project that Gilbert and Sullivan discovered their joint creative voice. New and exciting, it took British musical theatre by storm. Premiere recording of the original orchestration of 'Cox and Box' which Arthur Sullivan approved for use at the Savoy performance in 1894.

This 32-disc box set collection brings together 12 classic live Royal Opera performances – Tosca, Otello, Cosi fan Tutte, Madama Butterfly, Meistersinger, Don Giovanni and half a dozen more - spanning a period of over forty years, from 1955-97. The set includes many of the world’s greatest operatic performers of the era: Jon Vickers, Joan Sutherland, Janet Baker, Victoria de los Angeles, Cesare Siepi, Sena Jurinac, Boris Christoff, Tito Gobbi, Kiri Te Kanawa, Zinka Milanov and Franco Corelli, amongst others.

David Popper was one of the most important cellists of the 19th century and is remembered for the etudes of his High School of Cello Playing. Popper premiered chamber works by Brahms and championed Schumann's Cello Concerto, and his own four concertos span an illustrious 50-year career. Each shares a lyrical Romantic spirit: the playful First Concerto, an enjoyable prelude to the more dramatic and virtuosic Second, and the single-movement Third, a masterpiece in melodic compactness. The Fourth Concerto was dedicated to 'my great colleague' Alfredo Piatti and is recorded here in it's version with piano.

Simply unmissable for any fans of this opera, Anglophone or not, Mackerras balances the songful and the sinister with absolute sureness. There is not a weak link in the cast, with Rebecca Evans in particular showing how her voice has bloomed in recent years. Jane Henschel is a frighteningly credible witch: she could be your smiling next-door neighbour.

-- Gramophone [9/2007]


This new Opera-in-English set of Engelbert Humperdinck's wonderful Hansel and Gretel goes straight to the top of the list of recorded performances, along with the Schwarzkopf/Karajan. Charles Mackerras leads a most beautiful reading, fully aware of Humperdinck's debt to and love for Wagner but with a warmth that makes the glorious orchestrations and easy, lovely, folksy melodies flow naturally and gracefully. This is not to say that there isn't excitement--the "Witch's Ride" is thrillingly lumpy and aggressive. Mackerras offers a terrific piece of storytelling in music, and the big burst when the Witch is pushed into the oven is a fine cataclysm, handsomely captured by Chandos' engineers.

David Pountney's translation is always comfortable and mostly understandable, and the cast is blessed with natural actors. Jennifer Larmore at times has been faulted for her hard-edged tone; here, as Hansel--sure of himself, boyish, and charming--she's just right. Rebecca Evans sounds nothing like Larmore and portrays a Gretel both spunky and spooked out. If the children's Evening Prayer ever has been sung more beautifully I certainly don't remember it; absolute obedience to dynamics and an ideal blend of voices make it a few moments of sheer bliss. Jane Henschel's Witch is the tour de force this role had better be, and while she may not be the absolute best on CD (that honor goes to Christa Ludwig on an old RCA recording, a set marred only by Anna Moffo's weird Hansel), she's a master of altering her tone, from cajoling to menacing to utter loathing.

I prefer a lighter-toned Sandman, but Diana Montague cannot be faulted vocally or for her gentle singing, and Sarah Tynan's Dew Fairy is lovely. Rosalind Plowright's Mother is strong (she might have made a good Witch) and Robert Hayward sings the Father's music brightly (Mackerras leads his entrance "Tra-la-la-las" nice and quickly). Orchestra and chorus are superb. This set is a pleasure--the ideal Hansel in English, and perhaps in any language.

--Robert Levine, ClassicsToday.com

Classical Music

“The manner of Bill Evans is no volatile substance: it is ventilated, ethereal. It is not vapid, but exquisite. Not precious, but refined. Cerebral? No! Meditative. Evanescent? On the con trary: what is insinuated by it leaves a lasting imprint on our awareness.” Alain GERBER

This 2 DVD set is a unique and intimate live performance by a chamber ensemble of actors, singers, and instrumentalists, portraying the deep and ultimately tragic love between the composer Robert Schumann (Sting/Simon Keelyside) and his pianist wife Clara.

Double 180gm vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket. Newly discovered live performance by the Bill Evans Trio, featuring Eddie Gomez - bass and Eliot Zigmund - drums. The previously unreleased concert took place on June 20, 1975, at Oil Can Harry's, Vancouver, BC. Captured for radio host Gary Barclay, it was aired on his popular CHQM jazz show. For nearly half a century, the tapes lay forgotten - until now. Thanks to audio restoration by Plangent Processes and mastering by Paul Blakemore, it sounds just as fresh today as it did in 1975.

Digitally remastered edition of this 1961 album from the Jazz pianist. Sunday at the Village Vanguard was recorded live on June 25, 1961 at the Village Vanguard in New York City over five recorded sessions (two matinee and three soiree). It is well remembered as the final performance by the Evans trio of the time, which included bassist Scott LaFaro and drummer Paul Motian. LaFaro was killed in a car accident ten days after the recording.

Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing in gatefold jacket. From Bill Evans' first-ever performance at a concert hall in New York City comes. At Town Hall, Volume One. Featuring the sensitive accompaniment of Chuck Israels on bass and Arnold Wise on drums. Included is a 13-minute solo suite dedicated to the memory of Bill's father who had only recently passed at the time of the recording. Verve Acoustic Sounds Series features transfers from analog tapes.

A fine example of Jones at his most succinct and incisive, the Twelfth Symphony (1985) was commissioned by the Civil and Public Services Association as a farewell gift to their retiring General Secretary, Ken Thomas The Twelfth Symphony was first performed by the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra and conductor Erich Bergel at a gala concert at St David's Hall, Cardiff on 26 September 1985. The score bears a superscription consisting of a brief quotation from Pushkin, which reads 'Yet one last tale, And my chronicle is ended'. Daniel Jones's Symphony in memory of John Fussell (Symphony No.13) (1992) was first performed by the BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestra and conductor Richard Hickox at the Brangwyn Hall, Swansea on 17 October 1992 at that year's Swansea Festival. The work is a personal tribute to a friend of the composer, who was Swansea's Director of Music and City Organist from 1970 until 1990, the year of his death. The cantata Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life (1987) was written in memory of John Aeron-Thomas, whose widow Margaret commissioned the work. A devout Christian, John Aeron-Thomas had been a founder-member of the Swansea Festival, who commissioned Jones's First Symphony. among other works. The text is taken from poetry by George Herbert (1593-1633), which details his sacred journey.

Classical Music

Le retour à la vie - this extraordinary work, half-literary, half-musical reflected much of the thoughts and ideas also found in his letters of the time, using music that was largely written earlier in Paris. The genesis of the work was yet another love-affair gone wrong. The six musical numbers of Lélio are wholly diverse in subject and treatment, yet a sense of order is imposed by the literary format. It is a unique assemblage, there is nothing else quite like it in all musical history. Roméo et Juliette is counted third among Berlioz’s 4 symphonies. Another uniquely constructed work, it moves away from the purely symphonic towards the realm of opera. But Berlioz keeps the formal structure of a symphony firmly in his mind: the three principal instrumental sections – Fete chez Capulet, Scene d’amour, and La reine Mab – making a first movement, slow movement and scherzo encircled by elaborate vocal sections to begin and end.

Solti's "Falstaff" still shines brilliantly as a masterpiece! Solti's overwhelming interpretation is vividly revived here with the beauty of the Decca sound of the time. Although Verdi’s "Falstaff" has an important place as the last opera of the 1950s, there are not many recordings of it compared to the popular work "La Traviata". Among them, the 1963 recording board by Solti who still shines brightly (released under the name of "RCA Italian Opera Orchestra & Chorus" at that time). Solti, a great conductor born in Hungary, recorded "Falstaff" in the 1990s, but the singers of the 1963 recording remain unmatched and their overwhelming interpretation is the original version. Also, the wonderful sound by Decca at that time vividly conveys Solti's accurate interpretation.

2017 archive release. Another Time: The Hilversum Concert is a rare, never-before-issued recording of the legendary Bill Evans trio featuring Eddie Gomez on bass and Jack DeJohnette on drums captured live at the Netherlands Radio Union Studios on June 22, 1968. For the audiophile, this is possibly the best sounding live recording of Bill Evans found to date, captured with the state of the art equipment of the NRU. This deluxe CD features rare photos, essays, plus interviews with Eddie Gomez, Jack DeJohnette and more.

Digipak. Evans in England is a newly-discovered recording of the Bill Evans Trio featuring bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Marty Morell captured live at the legendary Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London, England in December of 1969. The deluxe set includes an elaborate booklet with rare photos, essays, and interviews. This is the fourth official Resonance release of previously un-issued Bill Evans recordings and captures Evans in a peak period of creativity at the helm of what would become his longest lasting trio.

Winner in the International Thelonius Monk Competition in 1999 presents his 4th recording as a leader for Criss Cross, with a band made up of creative improvisers like Nasheet Walt's, Reid Anderson, Duane Eubanks, Ralph Brown & Sam Newsome.

With.. It Was Beauty, pianist Orrin Evans presents his seventh Criss Cross leader date, returning to the label for the first time since 2005. The title tells the story: On a reflective, immensely satisfying ten-piece program comprising mainly originals, the 36-year-old Evans-joined by bass titan Eric Revis and master drummer Donald Edwards, both partners of long standing-plays with old soul focus, presenting a deeply personal vision that privileges notions of dynamic contrast, immediately identifiable tonal identity, meaty harmonies, tension and release, and three-way conversation.

Orrin Evans' sixth date as a leader for Criss Cross reunites the award-winning pianist and composer with his mentor and longtime colleague, saxophonist Ralph Bowen. The quartet session introduces five exciting new original compositions by the leader and reexamines three songs from his first two releases for the label. Tenor saxophonist J.D. Allen is added to the group on Evans' stirring of Horace Silvers' "Song for My Father." in the rhythm section bassist Mike Boone or Eric Revis, and drummer Rodney Green or Byron Landham.