The 30th Season
Latest Recording Release from ABS:
Bach's Orchestral Suites
CD
American Bach Soloists are pleased to announce the release of their new recording of Bach's Four Orchestral Suites under the inspired direction of Jeffrey Thomas, recognized worldwide as one of the foremost conductors of the music of Bach and the Baroque.

“unsurpassable as a Bach interpreter” - Fanfare

Historians have noted that Bach’s music is intensely infused with the spirit of dance, whether expressing joy, felicity, sorrow, or devotion. The musical forms of dance were some of the most essential and permeating components of music from the Baroque era. Those clearly defined elements determined tempos, moods or affects, and the structural architectures of the vast majority of Baroque musical works, both with texts and purely instrumental.

Bach’s suites not only celebrate the dance, but also the phenomenal technical abilities of his musicians. Bach titled them Ouvertures referring to the grand opening movements that are followed by suites of dances, all requiring the most virtuoso instrumentalists.

This new audiophile recording utilized the most high-quality standards in all phases of development including recording sessions, editing, and mastering for media delivery. It is available through all streaming services, for purchase in compact disc format, and via download from nearly all digital audio vendors including iTunes.

We are especially glad to offer this recording through Apple's highest quality iTunes format: "Mastered for iTunes."
What does "Mastered for iTunes" mean?
“Mastered for iTunes” or as it’s known by the abbreviation “MFiT,” is a collection of albums and songs in the iTunes store that have gone through a quality control process to maximize the sonic caliber of the audio material. 

By the time CDs had newly arrived in the marketplace, Sony had already established (in 1979) the industry-standard digital resolution—meaning the number of “samples” or slices of sound that are recorded—of 44,100 per second. Yes, that’s a lot! Imagine dividing every second of music into 44,100 moments. And the sonic qualities of each of those 44.1K samples were described using 16-bit integers, capable of representing more than 64,000 combinations of pitch, volume, and tonal characteristics. For a while, audiophiles were thrilled! 

But as portable devices (iPods, smartphones, etc.) became more and more popular, the large files created by that resolution were far too big for devices with relatively little storage memory. So, lower resolution formats were developed including MP3. Those files are much smaller and more easily stored on portable devices, but the tradeoff is that the sound quality is significantly diminished, much to the chagrin of those who enjoy listening to music on good equipment and in quiet environments (versus wireless earbuds on a crowded and noisy subway or train car). 

Recently, Apple announced support for audio files that restore CD quality and, in all cases, are based on significantly higher recording resolution. The new standard is—get ready!—more than 96,000 samples per second expressed in 24-bit integers which can describe more than 16,000,000 unique sets of characteristics. Recordings that are made in that way, and authenticated by Apple’s team of audio control specialists, are then processed for streaming or download delivery through the iTunes store. Will you notice a difference on that noisy train? Probably not. Will you notice a difference in a quiet listening environment? Definitely! 

ABS is proud to be included in Apple’s “Mastered for iTunes” (or “MFiT”) catalogue beginning with our two most recent releases: Handel’s Messiah and Bach’s Orchestral Suites.
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