Percussion is in many ways the most difficult type of instrument for an audio system to get right. The initial transients must be cleanly reproduced, without smearing, and the electronics must have enough headroom to deliver clean power without dynamic compression. Equally important, the ‘bloom’ and decay of instruments like bass drums and cymbals need to breathe and taper off naturally. The Art of Hi-Fi Volume 3: Percussion is designed to give your system a real workout – and showcase it to its fullest potential.
– Paul McGowan

The Art of HiFi: Percussion is Volume 3 in Octave’s new audiophile-centric series of Pure DSD 256 recordings. This edition is designed to meet the challenge of properly capturing and reproducing percussion and will put any great system to the test. With a well-curated collection of music and an expertly designed range of dynamics, this album is sure to be an instant favorite in your music collection. Recorded at Octave Studios in Pure DSD 256 Stereo by Paul McGowan, Terri McGowan and Jessica Carson with mastering by Gus Skinas.

The Art of HiFi: Percussion features a memorable mix of music and world-class musicians. Christian Teele is best known for his work on internationally syndicated radio show E-Town. His two original compositions, Emergence and The Depth are standouts. Michael Wooten and Billy Hoke are both world-touring drummers and have been great friends for decades. Their Drum Battle is an incredibly dynamic track that they created at Octave Studios in an afternoon of collaboration. From Nico Owen‘s Selva that creates a realistic jungle soundscape, Banda Guilha’s two latin samba tracks, Timpani Shorts by Mike Tetreault to an excellent demonstration of jazz drumming and even an example of percussive guitar by Alfredo Muro, Percussion takes us on a unique musical journey that is both fun to listen to and challenging for your system.

Christian Teele (Track 1, 10)
Banda Guiha (Track 2, 11)
Braxton Kahn Trio (Track 3)
Nico Owen, Daniel Lopez, Aaron Reedy (Track 4)
Nico Owen, William Trask, Mario Moreno (Track 5)
Michael Wooten & Billy Hoke (Track 6)
Jessica Carson (Track 7)
Mike Tetreault (Track 8)
Alfredo Muro (Track 9)

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Ocean Floor showcases Ayanna Witter-Johnson’s special partnership with the LSO Percussion Ensemble and pianist and composer Gwilym Simcock.  Her choice of rhythms and harmony and use of percussion all have symbolic meaning in relation to the songs’ deep inspiration. Combining alternative R&B with Classical, and with influences from Soul, Hip Hop and Reggae, Ayanna Witter-Johnson is the definition of an eclectic soul.

LSO Live says “Today’s the day! We’re thrilled to present the newest release from LSO Live, ‘Ocean Floor’. This collaborative album from singer, songwriter, pianist and cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson and the LSO Percussion Ensemble was recorded live at LSO St Luke’s as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival, and explores stories relating to Ayanna’s ancestral heritage, culture and identity.”

Ayanna Witter-Johnson tells us “I want [the audience] to feel the wonder and the celebration of music from across the African diaspora. It’s so rich, it’s so influential, and it’s so lovely to hear such nuanced rhythms all in one place.”

Through her work with the LSO, she forged a friendship with LSO Principal Percussionist, Neil Percy, which became the starting point for the recording. Witter-Johnson says “His enthusiasm for my music moves me to tears and was the catalyst behind our first collaboration and subsequent commission, Forever. The organic development of this project is something I will treasure forever, because above all, I have felt the fullest support in expressing myself exactly as I am, and that goes beyond words.”

In 1781, the Zong – a British slave ship – left Ghana with twice the number it was designed to carry, bound for Jamaica. The ship’s owners claimed that drinking water was running low, and ordered the crew to throw more than 130 living enslaved people overboard.

Over 200 years later, Jamaica has become a place of significance for Ayanna Witter-Johnson. As a young child, she often spent her six-week summer holiday visiting extended family there, taking trips to a favorite beach on the south coast. It was here that she witnessed a terrible fatal accident at one end of the beach, yet at the other end, a baptism and celebration was taking place. Witter-Johnson explores this spectrum of events, separated by two centuries yet tied together by their central themes of ancestry, family and the ocean, noting that even amidst the darkness of death, there is still room for joy.

Ocean Floor is Exclusively Available in Stereo and 5.1 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256, DSD 128 and DSD 64 plus Stereo DSD 512 at NativeDSD thanks to our signature Higher Rates Program.

Ayanna Witter-Johnson – Vocals, Cello, Percussion & Composer
Gwilym Simcock – Piano & Composer

LSO Percussion Ensemble
Neil Percy
Sam Walton
David Jackson
Jacob Brown

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This percussion ensemble is of existing and former students of Dr. Robert Hohner, who has been Director of Music at Central Michigan University for 15 years.

Robert Hohner Percussion Ensemble

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The five works presented here – including three world premiere recordings – span the most important period of the composer’s artistic development, from Music for percussion + viola Opus 18 of 1956 to his cathartic Periphrasis Opus 156, (first version, 1977) and all feature the full array of percussion instruments found in 20th century music; skin, metal and wood, everything from small bells to a gong one metre in diameter are employed, to bring Borup-Jørgensen’s exquisitely crafted universe of sounds to life.

Standing at the center of this universe is Gert Mortensen, percussion professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, one of the world’s leading scholars and performers of music for percussion. Mortensen has performed throughout Europe, Africa, North and South America and Asia combining elements of avant garde performance art and ethno-musicology to create a compelling concert experience. Mortensen’s artistry is perfectly matched by ensemble partners representing some of Denmark’s greatest musicians, including the incomparable Michala Petri (recorder), Tim Frederiksen (viola), The Percurama Percussion Ensemble, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra Brass Quintet and his regular duo partner, Prof. Qiao Jia Jia (Duo Crossfire). Producer, the Danish “wizzard of sound” Preben Iwan.

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The practice of arranging orchestral works for smaller ensembles is as old as music history itself. From the baroque composers in the 1600’s who wrote not for a speci c set of instruments but for roles or functions, through composers as Mozart and Beethoven who used chamber arrangements of their bigger works as ways to promote and tour with their own music, to the almost forensic approach of Schönberg and his students in Vienna at the beginning of the XX century when they, within their selected group, dissected some major symphonic works which were very in uential and relevant at the time.

On this Album the Natalia Ensemble is paying a homage to the genius of Gustav Mahler by approaching his colossal 5th symphony in an original arrangement for 17 players and performed without a conductor. This novel version of Mahler’s 5th gives a new perspective on the piece, it is both much clearer and transparent, showing every little detail that Mahler hid in the piece as if looked through a magnifying glass, but at the same time, the chamber music nature of this arrangement and of Natalia Ensemble gives this performance a unique force, energy and depth which are the essence of the works of Mahler.

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