Welcome to ‘Dodd’s Discoveries’, a review series from NativeDSD Senior Music Reviewer Bill Dodd. This series focuses on Bill’s latest selections, with new reviews regularly. And the best part… the albums featured in the most current review will be available at a reduced price! Click the button below to see all of Dodd’s Discoveries and to find the current album(s) on sale.
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Pianist Lost: Excesses and Excuses – The Himalaya Sessions, Vol. I€20,99 – €28,49 -
Pianist Lost: Sunken Cathedrals – The Himalaya Sessions, Vol. II€20,99 – €28,49
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!”
