These forces of nature are mirrored in the score through Ravel’s characteristic lush orchestration and vivid melodies. Interjections from a wordless chorus – sung in this performance by award-winning British ensemble, Tenebrae – perfectly capture the celestial might of the God, Pan, as he comes to the lovers’ rescue.

While living in Paris at the turn of the century, Maurice Ravel was commissioned to write a ballet by the impresario and founder of the Ballets Russes, Serge Diaghilev. The result was music of fluid, delicate beauty – a languid drama of danger and desire. The plot of Daphnis et Chloé is adapted from a second-century Greek erotic pastoral and tells the captivating story of love and longing between the humble goatherd Daphnis and shepherdess Chloé. When Chloé is abducted by pirates, Daphnis calls upon higher powers to aid his pursuit.

London Symphony Orchestra
Tenebrae
Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor 

The post Ravel: Daphne et Chloe appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Created by the trail-blazing duo of the Weimer Republic, Kurt Weill and Bertold Brecht, the satirical ballet-chanté ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’ was to be the pair’s final collaboration. Hitler had come to power, and the Jewish Weill and Marxist Brecht had both left Germany in haste.

Weill was to come to terms with capitalist America more readily than Brecht, writing a series of popular musicals for Broadway with other collaborators. But, in ‘The Seven Deadly Sins’, Brecht’s pen is still dripping with venom as he excoriates the continent’s sleazy, materialistic values, the biblical septet of vices here given a contemporary twist.

The story tells of daughter Anna (Magdalena Kožená), who is sent away from her family, tasked with bringing back enough money to build a house on the Mississippi River. Through seven years and seven cities—from Memphis and Los Angeles to Philadelphia and San Francisco—Anna encounters the seven deadly sins, and is forced to make her choice between what is profitable and what is right.

Sir Simon Rattle, the London Symphony Orchestra and a star-studded line-up of soloists bring this shamelessly entertaining work to life alongside a collection of Weill’s other most memorable works, including Death in the Forest and Little Threepenny Music.

Magdalena Kozena
Andrew Staples
Florian Boesch
Ross Ramgobin
Alessandro Fisher
London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor

The post Weill: The Seven Deadly Sins appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Today, Miklós Rózsa is best known for classic film scores like Ben-Hur and Lust for Life. Living in America, yet yearning for his native Hungary, Rózsa took a momentary step away from Hollywood to write a violin concerto that sings, dances and positively smoulders. This rare performance of his Violin Concerto shows that even without the pictures, his music can hold an audience spellbound.

Taking center stage for this recording is London Symphony Orchestra Leader, Roman Simovic, who joined the Orchestra in 2010. His virtuosity and musicality have taken him throughout all continents, performing as soloist with world-leading orchestras and conductors.

“It is fiery; it is passionate—it is Tchaikovsky on steroids. And you could not have asked for a better advocate than Roman Simovic throughout the entire concerto. The work very much suits his Ukrainian temperament and his mastery of the concerto’s technical challenges was exceptional. I cannot recall being so mesmerised by a performance for a very long time.” – Seen and Heard International

“There were no downsides to the LSO casting its leader Roman Simovic as soloist in Miklós Rózsa’s Violin Concerto.” – The Strad

The accompanying work on this album is by Rózsa’s fellow Hungarian, Béla Bartók, whose passionate Violin Concerto No. 2 was known simply as his Violin Concerto throughout his life. His other concerto, written two decades earlier, was only published after the composer’s death.

The London Symphony Orchestra frequently invites its members into the solo spotlight, and this album joins the ranks of other widely lauded recordings by principal players of the LSO, including Mozart’s Oboe, Clarinet and Horn Concertos, Stravinsky’s Ebony Concerto, and Paganini’s 24 Caprices.

Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor
Kevin John Edusei, Conductor
Roman Simovic, Violin
London Symphony Orchestra

*Rózsa was recorded live in DSD 256 while Bartók was recorded live in 24bit 96kHz PCM.

The post Rózsa: Violin Concerto & Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2 appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Sir Antonio Pappano conducts this dramatic oratorio, with four star soloists bringing the tale of the Prophet Elijah to life. We follow the fortunes of the steadfast, open-hearted Elijah, and encounter ministering angels and the vengeful queen Jezebel.

The London Symphony Chorus, The Guildhall Singers and four electrifying soloists – Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Sarah Connolly, Allan Clayton and Gerald Finley give voice to the oratorio in English, as in its first premiere. Gerald Finley breathes life into the role of Elijah, and the London Symphony Orchestra ramps up the drama without losing sight of the stillness at the heart of the storm. This release also celebrates 25 years of our music label, LSO Live.

NativeDSD brings this all-star performance of Elijah to our listeners in Stereo and 5.1 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64 and DXD plus Stereo DSD 512 from the Edit Master Source. 

Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Soprano (The Widow, Angel)
Sarah Connolly, Mezzo-Soprano (The Queen – Jezebel, Angel)
Allan Clayton, Tenor (Obadiah, Ahab)
Gerald Finley, Bass-Baritone (Elijah)
Ewan Christian, Treble (Child)

The Guildhall Singers
Linnhe Robertson, Vocal Coach

London Symphony Chorus
Mariana Rosas, Chorus Director

London Symphony Orchestra 
Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor 

The post Mendelssohn: Elijah [Double Album] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

In 1924, the centenary of Bedřich Smetana’s birth was the impetus for establishing the tradition of the Year of Czech Music, commemorated every ten years since then. 2024 marks not only the 200th anniversary of Smetana’s birth, but also the 120th anniversary of Antonín Dvořák’s death and the 170th of Leoš Janáček’s birth. It also marks the 25th anniversary of LSO Live and its first recordings—the Ninth and Eighth Symphonies of Antonín Dvořák.

To celebrate these anniversaries, LSO Live decided to return to the original master tapes of its recordings of Dvořák, Smetana, and Janáček, to extract the highest-resolution audio available, and remaster these superb recordings using the latest technology.

The recordings in Dvořák: Symphonies Nos 6-9 (Remastered) with over 4 Hours of Music were captured across various periods in the label’s history, but all are united in being recorded using the latest high-density recording technology of the time. Available from NativeDSD in Stereo & 5 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64 plus Stereo DSD 512.

Being at the forefront of digital recording and other new technologies is something that LSO Live has always held as a core part of its vision. With a growing catalogue of audio and audio-visual recordings, the label has enabled the London Symphony Orchestra to extend its reach far beyond the concert hall, and to share its performances with millions of people around the world every month.

Here’s to the next 25 years!

Sir Colin Davis, Conductor
Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor 
London Symphony Orchestra

The post Dvořák: Symphonies Nos 6-9 (Remastered) [4-Album Set] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Recorded live in concert at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2023, this album sees the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sir Mark Elder join forces with Lyon Opera Chorus, Maîtrise des Bouches-du-Rhône, the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra, and an incredible cast of soloists to bring to life Meyerbeer’s visionary historical drama, Le Prophète (The Prophet).

The opera is based on a true story. In the 1500s, a charismatic innkeeper was converted to Anabaptism by itinerant preachers. After becoming a preacher himself, he came to Münster and established a tyrannical rule, renaming it Jerusalem and proclaiming himself king, before later being killed.

Add to this a bride who is a fighter, and the most formidable mother figure ever shown on an operatic stage, and Le prophète is the quintessential grand opera – a spectacular large-scale work that made the Paris Opera the leading stage in Europe, and Meyerbeer a composer admired and envied by the greatest.

An indisputable highlight of the festival was July 15’s concert performance of Le prophète. […] The evening was broadcast live on Radio France, but the achievement of Elder and everyone else here deserves wider currency and it would be tragic if a recording was not forthcoming”
– Opera Magazine

“This was certainly a night to remember”
– OperaWire

London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Mark Elder, Conductor

Lyon Opera Chorus
Maîtrise des Bouches-du-Rhône
Mediterranean Youth Orchestra

John Osborn – Jean de Leyde
Elizabeth DeShong – Fidès
Mané Galoyan – Berthe
James Platt – Zacharie
Edwin Crossley-Mercer – Le comte d’Oberthal
Guilhem Worms – Mathisen
Valerio Contaldo – Jonas
Maxime Melnik, Hugo Santos, David Sánchez – Soldats

The post Meyerbeer: Le Prophète (The Prophet) [Triple Album] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

The first movement, Lacrymosa, is measured, but powerful. The second movement, Dies Irae, is when this performance pulls out all the stops and goes for the throat (…) Recording quality is superb. So are the performances!
– Bill Dodd, NativeDSD Senior Reviewer
Read Full Review

Celebrating the work of Benjamin Britten, this album combines three of the composer’s enduringly popular, yet vastly distinctive works. Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra lead us on an unexpected journey through this diverse collection of masterpieces.

The post Britten: Spring Symphony, Sinfonia da Requiem, The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Russian music is a special passion of Noseda, and his performances of Prokofiev’s works, along with others by Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Rimsky-Korsakov, have drawn wide acclaim.

Available from NativeDSD in Stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound DSD 256, DSD 128 and DSD 64. 

Bells crash, rhythms pound, and melodies surge and swell, burning with a fire that smolders, scorches, and throws a thousand dazzling colors into the sky. Prokofiev adapted his Third Symphony from an opera of lust, longing, and demonic possession, and you can tell.

The whole orchestra seems to blaze from within – 20th Century music at its most ferocious, and flamboyant.

London Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda, Conductor

The post Prokofiev: Symphony No. 3 [DSD EP] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Majeski gives such heartfelt commitment to the role of Katya that one worries how she can come back down from the emotional peaks and precipices that she scales.
– Opera Today

Katya is young, sensitive, and desperate for love. But trapped in a remote country village with a bored husband and his snobbish family, she has no way out, until a summer thunderstorm changes everything. Uncompromisingly honest, and pulsing with intensely human emotion, the story of Katya Kabanova is written in music that cuts straight to the chase. The LSO’s concert stagings of classic operas always make headlines: and this one was no different. Enjoy this recording, captured live at the Barbican in January 2023 under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle.

London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Simon Rattle, Conductor

London Symphony Chorus
William Spaulding, Chorus Director

Simon O’Neill – tenor
Amanda Majeski – soprano
Katarina Dalayman – mezzo-soprano
Pavlo Hunka – bass-baritone
Andrew Staples – tenor
Ladislav Elgr – tenor
Magdalena Kozena – mezzo-soprano
Lukas Zeman – baritone
Claire Barnett-Jones – mezzo-soprano

The post Janácek: Katya Kabanova – Acts I, II & III [Double Album] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

London Symphony Orchestra
Gianandrea Noseda, Conductor

The post Prokofiev: Symphony No. 5 appeared first on NativeDSD Music.