Chasing The Dragon III: Audiophile Recordings - Various Artists on CD

To celebrate 10 years as one of the world's leading independent audiophile record labels, Chasing The Dragon release an album of 10 new tracks from their albums which include:

Vivaldi in London
Described by Robert Harley of Stereophile magazine as the finest recording of a chamber orchestra that he has ever heard (of course, Robert may have only ever heard one recording!), this is our companion album to Vivaldi in Venice. We have used a minimum number of valve microphones to capture the sheer energy of the musicians.

A Day in the Life
The sublime jazz trumpeter Quentin Collins not only has put together a great collection of musicians for this album, he has also specially written three of the tracks for A Day in the Life. Jason Rebello on piano has played many times with Sting, and Gary Husband on drums played with Chick Corea. This track is called "Paxos / Antipaxos" and will set your feet tapping!

Bach Cello Suites
We worked with cellist Justin Pearson throughout Covid to produce a 5 LP album of Bach's Cello Suites. Recorded with only two valve microphones we have used the acoustics of Temple Church to capture the soul of Justin's instrument. Recording in a church enables us not to add any electronic reverberation keeping the performance as natural as possible.

Scheherazade
Probably one of the most loved orchestral pieces in the classical repertoire. Over the years there have been many recordings produced. However, we feel that the performance of the National Symphony Orchestra led by Katerina Nazarova is outstanding. The violin she uses is a Guarneri Del Gesu, currently valued at 7 million pounds!

Espana
We have used this track, "Habanera" from Bizet's Carmen, many times at HiFi shows. People outside the room have thought that a real opera singer was inside! The young Rosie Middleton at 22 years old gives an amazing performance. Conducted by Debbie Wiseman, recorded at Air Studios with the National Symphony Orchestra.

Beethoven Piano Sonatas
NASA kindly took this photograph for us on their Apollo 17 mission! We have used the part of the last movement of Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, performed by the pianist John Lenehan, who has created a really stirring recording. The piano is referred to as the "king" of instruments. Hopefully this track should demonstrate why.

Binaural Baroque
The recording of this album was captured with our Neumann binaural head. Listening on headphones should put you in front of the musicians, performing the last movement of Vivaldi's Guitar Concerto. Even on normal loudspeakers, you should still hear a wonderful performance of this great upbeat piece.

Forgotten Dreams
Eleanor McEvoy should need no introduction! Working with Eleanor on this album was a really great experience. She has written most of the tracks and we have chosen here "The Meeting of the Waters," which reflects Eleanor's wonderful talent. Accompanied on the piano by Damon Butcher of The Beautiful South fame, it is a simple but moving piece.

Mendelssohn's Octet
Upon completing the recording of Mendelssohn's Octet, we had a little time left over and we decided to record a little "champagne piece" called "Two Guitars" by Ivan Vasiliev. Again only using 2 AKG C12 valve microphones you should almost see the musicians spread between your loudspeakers. The exuberant violinist Jack Liebeck really goes to town!

A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald
Upon releasing our Big Band Spectacular album, I was invited on to BBC Radio 2's Clare Teal show to share the great experience of working with the Syd Lawrence Orchestra. Clare, as a great jazz vocalist, was a perfect choice to perform our tribute to Ella Fitzgerald. The power and dynamics of "Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead" makes for a great finale!

Features

• Audiophile Demonstration CD
• Produced by Mike & Francoise Valentine