Music Reviews Archives - NativeDSD Music https://www.nativedsd.com/category/dsd-reviews/ Highest DSD Resolution Audio Downloads (up to DSD 1024) Thu, 23 Jan 2025 13:52:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://media.nativedsd.com/storage/nativedsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/13144547/cropped-favicon-32x32.png Music Reviews Archives - NativeDSD Music https://www.nativedsd.com/category/dsd-reviews/ 32 32 175205050 Another Holiday Music Essential https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/another-holiday-music-essential/ https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/another-holiday-music-essential/#respond Thu, 23 Jan 2025 13:52:23 +0000 https://www.nativedsd.com/?p=289198 Written by Robert Baird for Stereophile – January 2025 Jazz Record Reviews Donald Vega, pianoClovis Nicolas, bassPete Van Nostrand, drums It’s easy to hear why […]

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Written by Robert Baird for Stereophile – January 2025 Jazz Record Reviews

Donald Vega, piano
Clovis Nicolas, bass
Pete Van Nostrand, drums

It’s easy to hear why performers of all stripes are drawn to Christmas music: The tunes are irresistible. The challenge lies in how every known Christmas tune has been played live and recorded umpteen times. Yet hope springs eternal and every artist who dives in thinks they can bring something new to these hoary chestnuts. Here in an easy, likable set, pianist and Juilliard faculty member Donald Vega adds fertile ideas to holiday favorites.

In “Joy to the World,” Clovis Nicolas lays down the rhythm and Donald Vega effectively ornaments around the groove. “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing” starts out perky but settles into a steady, bluesy rhythm with Vega again dancing around the beat, adding tasty asides. A fast-paced “Deck the Halls” is an upbeat delight. And an expansive reading of “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” is where Vega stretches interpretively, with fast runs up and down the keyboard, his nimble solos landing just right.

Not everything works. A moody take on “Greensleeves” adds nothing to a tune whose possibilities were exhausted long ago. Although well-played, “Auld Lang Syne” is another number whose alternatives have all been heard before. Finally, at least one adventurous choice of Christmas repertoire would have added needed edge and interest. Recorded in DXD, the sound of these whole, uninterrupted takes is emotive, peerless. Piano is captured as forceful, ringing, and clear throughout, the bass and drums exist on a spacious plane with wide dynamics. Vega saves the best for last with his slow reading of “Silent Night,” where playing lines that rock back and forth, simulating snow falling, he squeezes every drop of emotion from this beautiful Christmas standard. Another essential for the holiday music playlist.

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Hungarian and proud of it! https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/dodds-discoveries/hungarian-and-proud-of-it/ https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/dodds-discoveries/hungarian-and-proud-of-it/#respond Thu, 23 Jan 2025 10:49:31 +0000 https://www.nativedsd.com/?p=289187 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” […]

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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 still have that old MGM LP. Rozsa’s later music for various films intrigued me, but none so much as Ben Hur, Quo Vadis, and some of his Film Noir work from the 1940s.

Rozsa, had written into his various contracts that he would have time off every year for concert composing. His Violin Concerto (1953) is one of the results. It was written specifically for Jascha Heifetz, who always set sparks flying when he played it. This recording by the LSO’s leader, Roman Simovic and conducted by Sir Simon Rattle is superb. Simovic may not set fire to the violin, but his is a deeper, more meaningful performance.

Simovic is also excellent in Bartok’s Violin Concerto #2, with the LSO conducted by Kevin John Edusei.

But the real commonality in these two works is each composer’s love of Hungarian folk music. Each work has bits and pieces of a Hungarian folk song I know I’ve heard. A direct quote? No, but… Rozsa also has a bit of that same song in his Theme, Variations, and Finale from 1933.

But the much more important point is that these two composers from the 20th Century show their love for the folk music of their native country in these very vivid and beautiful works. I have multiple recordings of each, but these would be my top recommendations.

The recording is excellent.

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Don’t Miss These! Melbourne Symphony Orchestra https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/dodds-discoveries/dont-miss-these-melbourne-symphony-orchestra/ https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/dodds-discoveries/dont-miss-these-melbourne-symphony-orchestra/#respond Fri, 10 Jan 2025 07:00:00 +0000 https://www.nativedsd.com/?p=287149 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 […]

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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 (1887), were orchestrated beautifully by Australian violinist/composer Brett Dean in 2015.

I love Siobhan Stagg’s performance. Her voice is clear, youthfully magical, and with perfect vibrato. The orchestra is well balanced with her.

The Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss (1948), like his other late works, are full of a quieter emotion than his earlier works– but they are full indeed. Siobhan Stagg is no stranger to Strauss, and she is excellent.

Next: Jaime Martin and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra begin a series of Dvorak symphonies with his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies. There are three other recordings of the Sixth on Native DSD, but this is the first 5th. It is said that Dvoak’s work made a giant leap forward with the Sixth, and I think you’ll hear that on this release. Nonetheless, the Fifth is far more than an added filler. It’s delightful if not weighty. This Sixth is unsurpassed. Jaime Martin is more flexible than some, with both tempo and dynamics. It’s subtle, but it’s there. I love this one!

So– Great performances by all concerned, and excellent recordings. I look forward to more from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s own label. I really hope you’ll check these out.

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David Briggs Pulls All the Stops https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/david-briggs-pulls-all-the-stops/ https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/david-briggs-pulls-all-the-stops/#respond Mon, 09 Dec 2024 11:19:30 +0000 https://www.nativedsd.com/?p=282827 In Admiration of one of France’s Most Famous Organists, David Briggs Pulls all the Stops. Notre Dame de Paris … This latest release of Jake […]

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In Admiration of one of France’s Most Famous Organists, David Briggs Pulls all the Stops.

Notre Dame de Paris …

This latest release of Jake Purches’ is special on more than one count. Base 2 Music, being a respected organ music label, has released something that not only marks the centenary of one of France’s most famous organists, Pierre Cochereau, but also ties, by coincidence, in with the reopening of the restored Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, gravely destroyed by fire in 2019, of which Cochereau was its titular. 

… and Anglo-French Friendship Restored.

But there is more. In the wake of British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer’s recent visit to the French President, Emanuel Macron, celebrating 120 years of ‘Entente Cordiale’, it may even be taken as a post-Brexit signal of renewed Anglo-French friendship. An English label featuring French organ music. In this particular case, in recognition of Cochereau’s and his illustrious Christmas Eve improvisations in the Notre Dame Cathedral. 

Sacred Rock around the Pipes

In his remarks in the accompanying booklet, David Briggs writes about a concert in Notre Dame: “It was like some extraordinary sacred rock concert, with the improviser seemingly assuming a semi-mythical status.” And that is exactly what this album is all about. Paying respect to Pierre Cochereau’s nationality, it opens with two differently styled improvisations of the French national Anthem ‘La Marseillaise’. The first, pulling all the stops of the JW Walker Organ of Exeter College, Oxford University, Oxford, England, is taken from the funeral service of President Charles de Gaulle, and the second, more modest and emotional in tone, was improvised by Cochereau at a ‘Mass for Peace’ in the French capital’s monumental Cathedral. 

Whilst JW Walker & Sons in England may not have the same stature as Cavaillé-Coll in France, their pipe organs are nonetheless impressive instruments, capable of a wide range of settings and sounds. The one in Exeter College is an intermediate ‘instrument after the French Romantic style’ taking into account the size of the chapel, with two manuals and sophisticated stop and combination actions. Pipe organ lovers who want to know more about the organ history of Exeter College will find much to read in Andrew Allan’s notes and in ‘A Festschrift in honour of the twentieth anniversary of the Walker Organ in the Chapel of Exeter College, Oxford’ to be found HERE.

The Name of the Game is Briggs

As there is no dedicated biography in the booklet, I may add, for the benefit of those who may be less familiar with this phenomenal organ player, some brief notes about the soloist. Although currently Artist-in-Residence at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City (having held the same position at the Cathedral Church of St. James in Toronto), David Briggs is by birth as British as an Englishman can be. Born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England, he started his career as an Assistant Organist at Hereford Cathedral, moving on to Truro and Gloucester Cathedrals in the capacity of Organist and Master of the Choristers, before becoming a freelance concert organist and composer. 

“Recognized as one of the world’s most renowned improvisers” he surprises audiences during his busy concert schedule with transcriptions of such major symphonic works as Mahler’s Second Symphony and brilliant improvisations like, for example, last month’s ‘Silent Movie Improvisation Concert’ in the Herz Jesu Kirche, Graz, Austria. 

He has recorded over 40 CDs, though this new one is the only one in Surround High-Resolution, befitting his mastery to the fullest extent in its naturally sounding habitat. 

In this new album, all but one of the transcriptions of the original Pierre Cachereau’s improvising diagrams are Brigg’s, Those who like to listen to an organ at its mightiest will enjoy the pomp of track 1 and the paraphrase of the French traditional song (and used by Georges Bizet in l’Arlésienne) ‘La Marche des Rois’, or ‘La Marche des Rois mages’ on track 9, whereas ‘hurried’ souls will appreciate the tranquillity in the Berceuse ‘à la mémoire de Louis Vierne’, track2, where Briggs dwells on the beauty of the instrument, and the peaceful mood in ‘flûtes’ track 4. Storm can be harvested in Track 8 ‘Scherzo Symphonique’. 

In short, this is a kaleidoscope of sounds, moods and reflections dished up by someone who knows better than most how to stir up our emotional minds.

It Needs an Organ-Loving Engineer to Make It Sound as Good as It Is.

This release is indeed a perfect sampler of what an amazing organist-improviser can do on an equally amazing organ and recorded by a master engineering specialist in this field: Jacob (Jake) Purches, assisted by Christoph Martin Frommen for the mastering of the physical end product. 

Whether or not JW Walker sounds like a “French organ with an English accent” (dixit Olivier Latry, titular de Notre-Dame de Paris) or the other way around, as I see it: An English organ with a distinct majestic French sound, the inevitable bond between the two countries it represents remains the same, and those listeners who are not nationals of any of these two will surely enjoy it as much as I for what it is: A memorable concert by one of the world’s great organists.  

Blangy-le-Château, Normandy, France.

Copyright © 2024 Adrian Quanjer and HRAudio.net

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Telemann’s Barbaric Beauty by Holland Baroque with Milos Valent https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/telemanns-barbaric-beauty-by-holland-baroque-with-milos-valent/ https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/telemanns-barbaric-beauty-by-holland-baroque-with-milos-valent/#respond Thu, 28 Nov 2024 14:22:32 +0000 https://www.nativedsd.com/?p=280226 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, […]

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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 a week you would have enough ideas for the rest of your life.”

And it turns out that these pieces clearly inspired him in works later on.

What I find particularly interesting is the lively nature of some of these pieces. For example, listen to the second track, Les Janissaires. This is exciting, get up and dance music!

From an Audiophile Audition review:

The music-making here seems to me inspired, fully engaged, beautifully adaptable to a language that doesn’t come naturally to classically trained musicians. I confess it took me more than one listening to realize that Telemann’s music is much more than a cultured imitation of what he had heard in Eastern Europe. But then this is a disc you’ll want to listen to, and learn from, repeatedly. 

I agree!

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One For The Piano Lover’s Collection https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/one-for-every-piano-lovers-collection/ Thu, 21 Nov 2024 14:45:16 +0000 https://www.nativedsd.com/?p=278953 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 […]

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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 much contemporaries, born within two years of each other. All of the works were composed in the first decade of the 20th century.

Rachmanioff’s first Sonata is his first large scale work for solo piano, and was not often performed. Many said it was too long and too difficult. Hannes Minnaar shows what a remarkable work it really is.

Ravel’s Miroirs shows Ravel really breaking away from classicism, and developing his own “sound”.

Great music, strong performances, beautifully recorded,– this is one that should be in any piano lover’s collection.

Oh— I just learned this: No wonder Rachmaninoff had such big hands (even my father, who saw him in concert, said so)! The man was 6 feet, 6 inches tall! (Ravel was only 5 feet, 2 inches) (Useless information, I know.)

More from Hannes Minnaar…

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278953
Amazingly BIG sound from five people https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/amazingly-big-sound-from-five-people/ https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/amazingly-big-sound-from-five-people/#respond Thu, 14 Nov 2024 15:01:43 +0000 https://www.nativedsd.com/?p=277997 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 […]

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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 of songs from West Side Story!  

Listen to the first of a medley of Japanese folk Songs, Hanaichimonme (track 12).  It starts out like an Irish Jig, and then develops a Bum pa da da rhythm that reminds me of some good ol’ Italian songs.  It’s great!

But I am a sucker for those West Side Story tunes—  Maria (track 22) is a sheer delight.

Surprising music from five excellent players!

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‘Espansiva’ is Fascinating Listening https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/espansiva-is-fascinating-listening/ https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/espansiva-is-fascinating-listening/#respond Tue, 12 Nov 2024 13:02:29 +0000 https://www.nativedsd.com/?p=277678 OUR Recordings specialise in Danish music and performers, usually recorded in very high-definition sound, and here we have Denmark’s greatest composer’s own arrangements of three […]

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OUR Recordings specialise in Danish music and performers, usually recorded in very high-definition sound, and here we have Denmark’s greatest composer’s own arrangements of three of his works played by Danes. Those used to being able to access multiple recordings of the works might ask why he bothered; forgetting that back then it was usually to introduce them to people who might never hear them in concert and promoters. 

If you don’t read the programme notes first you might be confused why all of the works are played on two pianos, when Nielsen wrote the Symphony for four hands and one instrument. The performers [Kristoffer Hyldig & Rikke Sandberg] explain that this gave them the chance to use a sonorous Fazioli for the lower part, a Steinway for the upper and make more independent use of the pedals.  

After all of that what matters is how it sounds. First the Saul & David pieces are more sonorous, because they were arranged for two pianos, but irrespective of the piece they almost sound like different works. In the Symphony the transparency exposes inner parts, Nielsen’s unique harmonies, chromaticism, occasional echoes of Grieg and Sibelius and what Robert Simpson called ‘the outward growth of the mind’s scope and the expansion of life that comes from it’. Yes the opening might lack the arresting, jarring power of the original and the reduction cannot adequately recreate the Andante pastorales marvellous refrain for soprano and baritone, but this makes for fascinating listening. 

The performances are very fine, but you can’t help but feel that great pianists such as Argerich and Pletnev who sometimes play together would have brought more tension, drive, power and expressive largesse to bear.

OUR Recordings very kindly provided an LP and DXD master, the former cut from the latter and I downloaded the DSD512 version from NativeDSD. The DXD is excellent and nicely recreates the thankfully short reverberation time of the hall and the intruments’ different timbres within a wide dynamic range. As ever though the DSD is even more natural sounding; the LP very much more so. 


Originally written for Classical Source

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One Remarkable Recital! https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/one-remarkable-recital/ https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/one-remarkable-recital/#respond Thu, 07 Nov 2024 08:59:55 +0000 https://www.nativedsd.com/?p=276949 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 […]

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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 feeling for them. No, this not a “French” album, but is a program in which these “silhouettes” come together as a single experience. 

If you listen to the samples, or simply hear some of the music on the video, I think you will be carried away by the commitment and superb musicianship of these two relatively young artists.

I especially like the works by Clarke and Enescu, but the whole album is excellent.

More from Anna Fedorova and Dana Zemtsov…

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The Himalaya Sessions are Transportive https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/dodds-discoveries/transportive-and-accessible-piano-albums/ https://www.nativedsd.com/dsd-reviews/dodds-discoveries/transportive-and-accessible-piano-albums/#respond Thu, 31 Oct 2024 10:46:36 +0000 https://www.nativedsd.com/?p=275854 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 […]

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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 two, and simply pushing “play.”

You’ll recognize most of the pieces. But you may notice that Halstead has in his own way of presenting them– nothing wildly different or bizarre, but each with his definite touch. But this is not a concert, or a recital. It is an immersion in a sound world that will take you a million miles away, using absolutely familiar and accessible music: Chopin, Liszt, Debussy, Satie, Medelssohn, and even Aaron Copland. 

Go ahead, listen to the samples, but the real joy comes from listening to the complete sets. It’s the total cumulative experience that makes these a true “discovery!”

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