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.
Some Surprises
While looking (and listening) for prospective nominations for the Album of the Year Nominations of 2021 list, I was pleased to rediscover some wonderful releases. These are not “also-rans”! They are top quality recordings of superb musicianship– easily recommendable on their own. So… Schumann is not a name one associates with Organ music, but these […]
Albums of the Year 2021 – Nominations (Part 1 of 3)
It is once again time for NativeDSD to celebrate the year in Direct Stream Digital (DSD) music. With almost 80 music labels contributing to our listeners music enjoyment there is much to celebrate and enjoy. During 2021, the NativeDSD family of music labels released hundreds of DSD albums in a wide variety of musical […]
The Best DSD. Does Bill Dodd Agree with Gramophone Magazine?
Gramophone says they’re among the very best! Founded almost 100 years ago (1923), Gramophone is one of the world’s most important music publications. Over the past few weeks Gramophone has posted on social media lists of the top recordings of works by various composers. It should come as no surprise that we can find many […]
Growing Into Gershwin
Use coupon: GERSHWIN for 20% OFF the DSD Albums below!Ends: September 30, 2021 Once upon a time, about 27 years after Gershwin first introduced his Three Preludes for Solo Piano, my piano teacher gave me Prelude No. 2 to learn. My hands were a bit small for one of the chords, so I had to cheat […]
The Unexpected
I admit it –just like most people I tend to stay in my comfort zone. But one of the joys of wandering through the Native DSD library is that I can find unexpected pleasure in a new viewpoint in performance, or a new arrangement for a different instrument, or even new and unfamiliar works. In […]
40 Classical DSD Recommendations (Dodd’s DSD Discoveries)
Ah, the opportunities! With so many albums to choose from! Here I share a few ideas, these are some of the classical works, interpretations and recordings that I admire most. How about a complete Beethoven Symphony cycle from Jan Willem de Vriend on Challenge Classics? Everybody has some favorite Beethoven conductors, but I can’t imagine […]
Dodd’s DSD Discoveries: The PENTATONE Edition
Bill Dodd has been listening to the entire Pentatone DSD catalog for many years. And extensively over the past 6 weeks for the purpose of this blog. These 17 albums below are the result of that; the tip of the iceberg, the crème de la crème, the cherry on top, the must-haves. Enjoy the read […]
Brighter!
Dodd’s DSD Discoveries #36 It’s been a while since I’ve wandered through the catalog looking for discoveries. I decided to look for some that would help to brighten things a bit. Here are some that do that! And they keep me emotionally involved as I listen… Dana Zemtsov and Cathelijne Noorland are amazing in […]
Interview with the musicians of “Reflections”
NativeDSD Reviewer Bill Dodd interviewed Sarah Kapustin & Roeland Jagers about their brand new DSD Album “Reflections” for violin and viola. Out now on Navis Classics. Why is the album entitled “Reflections”? R: We were playing with the idea of a musical conversation, featuring the recurring theme of canons and imitation throughout the album. The […]
Music from The Red Priest
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was an incredibly prolific composer who was known throughout Europe during his lifetime. He was an ordained as a priest and was known as “The Red Priest” because he had flaming red hair. He stopped saying Mass within two years of his ordination. Vivaldi taught for many years at orphanages in his […]
Hidden DSD Treasures
It suddenly dawned on me a few days ago that Native DSD’s available albums have increased dramatically in number well over 1800 now. If you’re like me, you might forget to check earlier releases for hidden treasure. Or, you might have developed a different opinion about a given work or performance. So I decided to spend […]
Modern? Contemporary? What does it mean?
What does “Modern” mean? What does “Contemporary” mean? In the world of Classical Music, composers and their works generally have to wait 50 years or more before acceptance occurs. All of the great masters “shocked” listeners with their works initially. Many of the works whose first recordings I bought as a young person are now […]