Fairytales

by Radka Toneff / Steve Dobrogosz

'Fairytales', Radka Toneff and Steve Dobrogosz's 1982 masterpiece, is Norway's best-selling jazz album, and was also voted Norway's best album of all time in a poll of Norwegian musicians in 2011. Radka Toneff and Steve Dobrogosz's perfectly attuned duo collaboration has served as an inspiration to both musicians and listeners for three decades and has captured a special place in the musical hearts of thousands of people. The remarkable sound quality of this album, recorded using one of the earliest digital tape recorders, has been recovered and captured using MQA technology. MQA has recreated the sound of the duo's breath-taking original performance for this special master edition. This fresh, re-mastered version of the album is based on the original 16 bit/ 50,35 kHz master tape from 1982, and for the first time the album is made available as a Hybrid SACD. The process of upgrading the already superb sound quality of the recording is bringing the listener even closer to the music as it was played and sung at the Grieg Hall in February 1982, when the unique chapter of 'Fairytales' was written into Norwegian music history. 'Fairytales' had a solemn epilogue when Radka died under tragic circumstances a few weeks after the album was released. In retrospect, though, it is not the memory of the loss of an incomparable singer, but rather the content of what Radka accomplished together with her American duo partner that keeps 'Fairytales' alive. "It's not just the sound itself, but it's also about how Radka sings, about the sensitivity in her voice," Steve Dobrogosz has said. The pianist describes Radka as a superb, forthright and genuine interpreter who was "at her best" with 'Fairytales'.