Author: Bill Dodd
Bill is Senior Music Reviewer at NativeDSD. He lives in the Portland, Oregon area. He is an avid photographer too! Along with his early interest in broadcasting and high fidelity audio, he was exposed to classical music in small doses from age 5, was given piano lessons from age 9— Starting with Bach and including Gershwin. Successful morning personality in San Francisco at age 22. (true). Sang in choirs in high school and college. Although the broadcasting experience was all in popular music, his personal listening has been mostly classical his whole life—along with others including Benny Goodman, Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Joni Mitchell, The Who, and Led Zeppelin.
Hungarian and proud of it!
I got hooked on Miklos Rozsa’s music as a high school kid, when I saw Ben Hur in a newly-remodeled theater in it’s first “roadshow” run. The Sound system in that theater was excellent, and I was blown away. I played the soundtrack album so often I imagine I was driving my parents crazy! I […]
Don’t Miss These! Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra debuts its own label with these two releases. I was thoroughly impressed by each one, and I want to be sure that they get the attention they deserve. First, Australian soprano Siobhan Stagg and the MSO’s chief conductor, Jaime Martin in song suites by Debussy and Strauss. Ariettes Oublidees, the Debussy songs […]
Telemann’s Barbaric Beauty by Holland Baroque with Milos Valent
Available now for 25% Off! If you’re not a big fan of Baroque Music, I’ve got the perfect “discovery” for you… Barbaric Beauty! At least, this is how Telemann described the pieces he wrote after discovering the music played along the Polish-Hungarian border. “If you were to write down all that was played there, after […]
One For The Piano Lover’s Collection
Available now for 25% off! If you love great piano works and superb musicianship, check out the various albums by the young Dutch pianist, Hannes Minnaar. This one, his debut album, features Rachmaninoff’s Sonata No.1, and Ravel’s Sonatine and Miroirs. You might be surprised to find these in one program, but Rachmaninoff and Ravel were very […]
Amazingly BIG sound from five people
The Pacific Quintet, players from all over the world, make a joyful noise, presenting music from their home countries of Japan, Honduras, South Korea, Germany and Ukraine/Turkey. No, it doesn’t sound like world music as much as it seems like…just music. In fact, as a salute to Leonard Bernstein the last three pieces are arrangements […]
One Remarkable Recital!
Two very talented musicians and five composers in one remarkable recital! Anna Fedorova, piano, and Dana Zemtsov, viola, are magical together. If you watch the video on this album’s listing you will hear them describe a kind of “deja vu” they feel whenever they are in France. These pieces by five different composers create a similar […]
The Himalaya Sessions are Transportive
These two albums belong together. They create a transportive mood and time that are truly remarkable. Open up the booklet for each to get some idea of what the poet, writer, pianist, storyteller has to say. But don’t make the mistake that you need to follow everything. Let me try to describe the experience of lining up the […]
Here, everything feels “right”
I want to thank Semyon Bychkov and the Czech Philharmonic for the wonderful couple of hours I just spent listening to this Pentatone double album release featuring Dvorak’s 7th, 8th, and 9th (New World) symphonies. It’s easy to have some strong favorites in this music– Some great conductors have done them very well– Kubelik, Fischer, Colin […]