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.
Channel Classics Discoveries
This is my 21st post, and I’m really happy that I’ve been able to help people get know about some great music! This time I’ve decided to do something a little different. Many of you know the Channel Classics label for unsurpassed recording quality. That’s a given with all of their releases. The label is […]
Displaced DSD Discoveries
This month I was listening to a couple of composers whose work seems to exist outside of their time and place. Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) seems startlingly ahead of his time. While he never reached the heights of Haydn, Mozart, or Beethoven, his work seems now to have signaled a seismic shift in music comparable […]
Mahler, Magic and More
Have you heard about it yet? Have you read about it? Ivan Fischer’s new release of Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 is garnering raves from everywhere. This is one of the high points of his superb on-going survey of Mahler symphonies. Yes, there are LOTS of fine recordings of this symphony, but this is one you […]
Stepping off the Merry-go-round
Last year I praised the album of works by “Herbert Howells” performed by Gloriae Dei Cantores which I find myself returning to quite often. This time I’d like to spotlight another set by this wonderful ensemble: “The Chants of the Holy Spirit”. The set opens and concludes with the sound of the bells at the […]
Discovering Wonderful Performances
It’s always a pleasure to discover wonderful performances. But it’s really wonderful to discover unfamiliar composers. Tabea Zimmermann (violin) and Kirill Gerstein (piano) come together in an exquisitely recorded, beautifully played set of Sonatas by Brahms, Vieuxtemps, and a wonderful surprise: Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979). Clarke was born in England, but lived mostly in the US. […]
The Art of the Flute
Bach’s Art of the Fugue! I love this music no matter what instruments are involved. Check out Lynx, a quartet of Japanese flute players, traveling to a church in Germany to record Bach’s The Art Of The Fugue (BWV 1080)! What a delightful discovery this is! The album is called Fuga Lynx. I was totally […]
Living The Music
I love Debussy. I think he was a giant among composers. And I suspect that some or all of the Preludes, Books 1 and 2, are probably part of your own library. Some pianists capture the dreamy, impressionistic qualities. Others play them in a neo-classical manner, letting the notes speak for themselves. I love having […]
Transcriptions, reductions, and orchestrations
Transcriptions, reductions, and orchestrations can be quite enjoyable. Stokowski got a lot of mileage out of orchestrating Bach organ pieces. Ravel orchestrated many of his own works for piano, not to mention his famous orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures At An Exhibition. This next DSD Discovery is Gustav Mahler’s arrangement for full string orchestra of Franz […]
Cello Discoveries in DSD
To me there is no musical instrument that captures the range of human emotion as well as the cello. Here are three works for the cello featuring the outstanding young Nicolas Altstaedt, backed by Berlin’s other world-class orchestra, the Deutches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by the up and coming Michal Nesterowicz. Included are Cello Concertos by […]
Dangerous DSD Discoveries
Here’s one I’m very excited about: an album featuring music by a composer I’d never heard of, performed by an ensemble I’d never heard of. The Amsterdam Bridge Ensemble absolutely carries me away with the music of Dutch composer Hendrik Andriessen (1892-1981). Jacobien Rozemond – Violin, Doris Hochscheid – Cello, and Frans van Ruth – Piano […]