Audiophile Sampler Vol. 2

TRISTON MASTERS

Audiophile Sampler Vol. 2

Nine selections, two contrasting sides, and an invitation to discover

A thoughtful sampler can do more than demonstrate an audio system. It can introduce a performer, reconnect us with a musical tradition, or encourage us to seek out a complete album.

Audiophile Sampler Vol. 2 brings together classical performances, blues, jazz, songwriting and Armenian music. Produced by Jürg Schopper for the 2026 Hong Kong audio exhibition, it draws on his collection and recordings licensed from Armenian Radio Archive and Swiss broadcaster SRF. 

Side A — Strings, character and orchestral energy

The programme opens with Liana Isakadze, the Georgian violinist, performing Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Mazurka on Polish Folk Themes. It is a fitting introduction to a side centred on the expressive possibilities of strings—from individual phrasing to the collective movement of an orchestra. 

Daniil Shafran follows with Rodion Shchedrin’s Imitation of Albéniz, credited on the sleeve in an arrangement by Armen Gevorgyan. Shafran was a distinguished Soviet cellist; here, the composer’s name and the arranger’s contribution deserve recognition alongside the soloist. 

The scale then expands with Carlos Païta conducting the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in Mikhail Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture. The sleeve identifies this selection as a final rehearsal at London’s Kingsway Hall—an intriguing choice that invites interest in the working life behind a concert performance.

Leonid Kogan closes the side with Tchaikovsky’s Memories of a Dear Place. The brief selection returns the programme to the violin and offers a contrasting conclusion to Glinka’s orchestral momentum.

Side B — Blues, groove, songs and Armenian tradition

Champion Jack Dupree opens with Whiskey Head Woman. The New Orleans blues pianist’s career connects this compilation to a markedly different musical language: voice, piano and the direct expression of the blues. 

Next comes Tommy Schneider & Friends with The Hidden Port. Kolibri’s credits identify Schneider on Hammond organ and flute, alongside guitarist Adrian Stern and saxophonist Philippe Chrétien—a useful introduction to the musicians behind the group’s name. 

Tobias Degen’s On My Own brings songwriting into the sequence, followed by Might of Coincidence’s Lonesome Now. Triston places the latter group’s Spectrum of Life material within the Swiss psychedelic-folk scene, with recordings dating from 1970–71 and engineering credited to Stephan Sulke. 

The closing selection, Night Time, credits Djivan Gasparyan, Armen Hovhannisyan and Vache Hovsepyan. Gasparyan’s international reputation rests particularly on the duduk, the Armenian double-reed instrument made from apricot wood. This final track broadens the collection’s cultural reach beyond its classical and popular divisions. 

The craft behind the record

The supplied sleeve credits Jürg Schopper with production and master-tape preparation, Simon Kummer of Vinylaudio with cutting on a Studer A80 vinyl-lathe system, and MEK Vinyl in Gossau, Switzerland, with pressing.

The edition is presented on 180g vinyl, limited to 200 copies, under catalogue number TMR-SE 0027. The sleeve identifies Dupree’s selection as the sole mono recording; the other tracks are stereo.

What makes this programme interesting is the contrast between its musical worlds. Violin, cello, orchestra, blues piano, Hammond organ, songs and Armenian tradition each offer a different reason to pay attention.

Which selection would you play first? And has an audiophile sampler ever introduced you to an artist whose complete albums became favourites?

#TristonMasterRecordings #AudiophileSampler #VinylRecords #AnalogueRecording #ClassicalMusic #Blues #Jazz #ArmenianMusic #TheSoundOfTape #OpenReelToReel