Christian Willisohn - Hold On (2005) SACD

Christian Willisohn, pianist and singer from Munich, goes back to the roots of the blues, taking his listeners on a trip from the basics to the myriad facets of the music.

In the midst of Scotland’s West Highlands, hidden between the Atlantic and the green hills, there is a very special kind of concert hall. Art-loving people have transformed a former farmhouse into a meeting place for musicians, dancers, painters and poets. A Scottish secret? Well, not enough of a secret, for ingenious bluesman Christian Willisohn came to know of that place via a friend.

Without much planning Christian set up his dream team of staff and equipment. On the road and over the sea, five NAUTILUS 801 speakers, a whole range of CLASSE amps together with a SADIE DSD8 (1-bit) recording device made their way from Stockfisch-Records to the Scottish Isles.

Here, the unique acoustic environment let impressive recordings find their way onto “tape”. It was just THE very thing for a 5.1 surround-sound recording on a Direct-Cut-SACD: On this SACD purists will find a stereo and a 5.1 layer in DSD quality.

The surprising thing on this Hybrid-SACD is the CD version. Christian Willisohn has invited six fellow musicians to the studio who add drums, bass, guitar, saxophone and cor anglais to his original recording from Scotland.