The trio of female singers is accompanied by harp, fiddle, bells, and wind instruments. Together they touchingly evoke all the tenderness, hope, and joy of medieval Christmas songs.

The roots of this recording go back to 1974-75, when the Boston Camerata and its director (now Director Emeritus) Joel Cohen performed in concert and then recorded a new production entitled A Medieval Christmas. That vinyl LP quickly became a best seller, confirming Camerata’s status as a leading ensemble in the early music world.

In the years following, the program remained in Camerata’s repertoire. The ensemble toured extensively in North America and Europe, including one particular appearance at a festival in the Languedoc. There, Camerata’s present director, Anne Azéma, then a student and aspiring professional, first succumbed as an audience member to the charm of the repertoire, and in particular of the Aquitanian polyphonic pieces! Later, as a Camerata singer, she performed this program many times. Over the course of the years, it has been re-imagined, augmented, and re-evaluated.

On this album we bring you an updated version of A Medieval Christmas. Quite different in many ways from the 1970s production. But, with its pluri-disciplinarity and diversity of sources, it is still close to the original in its underlying spirit.

Three female voices and two instrumentalists, each with many years of experience performing medieval music, all at the peak of their art, place themselves at the service of these works. This five-person group has recently presented in concert the current, revised program on the East and West coasts of the United-States, and in Canada.

Merry Christmas from The Boston Camerata, Anne Azéma, harmonia mundi and NativeDSD!

The Boston Camerata
Anne Azéma – Voice, Hurdy-Gurdy, Bells, Direction
Camila Parias – Voice
Deborah Rentz-Moore – Voice
Christa Patton – Harp, Winds
Shira Kammen – Vielle, Rebec, Harp

The post A Medieval Christmas: Hodie Christus Natus Est (Today Christ Is Born) appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

In this new DSD Bundle from NativeDSD and Harmonia Mundi, Vadym Kholodenko plays the Fazioli Piano in Stereo and 5 Channel DSD. 

Vadym Kholodenko is a Ukrainian pianist, and winner of the gold medal at the Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, who captured the attention of jury, audience, and critics alike for “mesmerizing and exhilarating” performances that brought the crowd to their feet, “[cheering] him like a rock star”

Both albums are unique in that they were recorded at the concert hall designed by Fazioli to highlight the beauty of their pianos. Enjoy music performed by one of today’s top young classical pianists in a unique and special setting.

NativeDSD Bundles are a mini collection of DSD albums created by the NativeDSD team that brings the works of a special artist, music label or musical genre to your personal library. Better yet, when you buy both albums in a bundle, NativeDSD gives you a special 25% Off discounted price on the full bundle. Expanding your musical horizons and collection while saving money at the same time. Each bundle is a DSD music opportunity and adventure we urge you to explore.

Vadym Kholodenko – Pianist

The post Vadym Kholodenko Plays the Fazioli Piano in DSD [DSD Bundle] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

The artists on these albums include Vesko Eschkenazy (Violinist), Ludmil Angelov (Pianist) & Friends from Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Hyperion Knight (Pianist), Jon Nakamatsu (Pianist) with Jeff Tyzik conducting the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and The Gents (Male Vocal Ensemble) with Johannette Zomer (Soprano), Beni Csillag (Conductor) and the Haags Saxophone Quartet.

We invite you to purchase and download the Gershwin in DSD bundle and enjoy each of these fine performances of the music of one of the most famous composers of all time.

NativeDSD Bundles are a mini-collection of DSD albums created by the NativeDSD team that brings the works of a special artist, music label or musical genre to your personal library. Better yet, when you buy all the albums in a bundle, NativeDSD gives you a special discounted price on the full bundle. Expanding your musical horizons and collection while saving money at the same time. Each bundle is a DSD music opportunity and adventure we urge you to explore.

The post Gershwin In DSD [DSD Bundle] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

The freedom peculiar to the composer-pianist ‘with fingers of steel’ is brought out in all its vitality by the subtle yet never showy playing of this Ukrainian artist.

Vadym Kholodenko, Pianist 

The post Prokofiev: Sonata No. 6 and Visions Fugitives appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

A Spanish Nativity is Stile Antico’s 11th DSD release at the Native DSD Music store.  It is also the first harmonia mundi album to be available in Stereo and Multichannel DSD 256, DSD 128. and DXD, along with a Stereo DSD 512 edition along with the familiar Stereo and Multichannel DSD 64 editions of this release. And yes, it is a DSD Exclusive, Not Available on SACD title as well. Exclusively available in DSD and DXD from Native DSD Music.

The Spanish ‘Golden Age’ witnessed an astonishing musical flowering, worthy of Spain’s new-found preeminence on the world stage. A Spanish Nativity focuses on works for Christmas and Epiphany. 

Stile Antico explores this glittering musical treasury, drawing together an irresistible mix of sumptuous polyphony and infectiously joyful folk dances. The centerpiece of the disc is the superbly rich and luminous Missa Beata Dei genitrix Maria by Alonso Lobo. Interspersed between its movements are motets by Tomás Luis de Victoria, Francisco Guerrero, and Cristóbal de Morales, an exuberant ‘ensalada’ by Mateo Flecha, and classic villancicos – Spain’s answer to the traditional carol.

The post A Spanish Nativity: Christmas Music by Lobo, Guerrero, Morales, & Victoria appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

The post Rippe – Works for lute ‘Un perfaict sonneur de Leut’ appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

‘Preparing for this recording has been a vivid reminder that it is remarkably difficult to play Haydn’s music well, but that with enough care, and attention to detail, his music has the potential to come jumping from the page. It would be hubris to suggest that I am even close to unlocking any of its secrets, but I am so humbled by the sheer beauty, humanity, wit and delightful irony of this music, that the desire to continue is irresistible.’

The Man at the Keyboard, or How to Solve A Collector’s Headache

Kristian Bezuidenhout – Fortepiano

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Some elected to seek European exile rather than facing persecution at home. Others paid lip service to the Protestant regime, whilst expressing their spiritual exile in their music.

The regime of Queen Elizabeth I dealt harshly with supporters of the old Catholic religion. Torn between obedience and conscience, some of England’s most talented musicians – Philips, Dering and Dowland – chose a life of exile abroad. Others chose to remain in spiritual isolation in England, comparing themselves to the exiled Israelites in Babylon.

Amongst them were Robert White, whose five-part Lamentations are one of the glories of English music of any age, and William Byrd, whose anguished Catholic music is referenced in Shakespeare’s enigmatic poem The Phoenix and the Turtle, vividly set by Huw Watkins especially for Stile Antico.

Stile Antico

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An extremely talented pianist, he found in his instrument a fertile terrain for exploration just as much for technical possibilities as for the expression of a philosophical or spiritual idea. This recording bears witness to this through the exhilarating and sensitive playing of Vadym Kholodenko.

The post Scriabin – Preludes, Etudes & Sonatas appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Richard Egarr

The post Bach – Partitas, BWV 825-870 appeared first on NativeDSD Music.