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2021 NativeDSD Album of the Year Award – Classical Guitar

On Take Me Along (Ta’ Mig Med), guitarist Jesper Sivebæk plays the music of rock musician Kim Larsen on Classical Guitar. Kim Larsen – the much-loved Danish rock musician and multi-artist – captured – in music and words – the Danish soul. With 500 recorded songs and 40 albums he was known by Danes of all ages.

Jesper Sivebæk, Guitarist, and head of guitar department at The Royal Academy of Music in Copenhagen, had two heroes in his youth: Andrés Segovia and Kim Larsen – and they have followed him ever since.

For more than 10 years Jesper Sivebæk has worked on the pieces on this album. With his vast experience he uses the possibilities of the guitar to the utmost and follows the classical tradition of making instrumental versions of folk songs – like in Miguel Llobet’s arrangements of Catalan folksongs, in Benjamin Britten’s English and Chinese folksongs arrangements, and in Bela Bartok’s Hungarian folk songs. Sivebæk is true both to the beauty and the simplicity of Kim Larsen’s songs, and to his instrument – the classical Spanish guitar. In these arrangements, classical guitar players around the globe now have 12 new pieces to discover and put on their concert programs.

Erik Jensen, journalist, and former musical editor at Politiken wrote:
“Kim Larsen was unrivalled at taking the big moments and feelings of existence and converting them into music and lyrics in a playful, direct language that Danes loved. In his songs we were able to mirror ourselves and be precisely the Danes we wanted to be free and brazen, willful, and provocative, but also poetic and elegant, sensitive, and standing shoulder to shoulder with those struggling in society.

It is also striking that because the Danes’ favorite artist had so many roles and forms of expression, people in Denmark often underestimate his most important capacity: that of a composer. Thanks to Sivebæk’s fine versions of some of the melodies, they can now stand beautifully and pure in their own right – without being ‘packaged’ in all the commotion and mythology that surrounded Kim Larsen.”

Jesper Sivebæk – Guitar

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World Premiere Recording

We hope that you will enjoy this World Premiere Recording of Carl Nielsen’s own 4 Handed Piano Arrangement of Espansiva. His orchestral works brought brilliantly to life through the musicianship and scholarship of Rikke Sandberg and Kristoffer Hyldig.

When Danish composer Carl Nielsen finished his Third Symphony, he spoke of the first movement as “a gust of energy and life-affirmation blown out into the wide world,” and called the finale of his Third Symphony “a hymn to work and the healthy activity of everyday life,” truly a sense of optimism all-too-rare for us denizens of the 21st century!

So, why a four-hand arrangement of an orchestral score you ask? In the days before mechanical recordings, four hand arrangements were both a delightful social activity and an invaluable means of making large-scale works available to gifted amateurs who might not otherwise have opportunity to hear them in concert as well as promote them to conductors and concert programmers. As pianist Rikke Sandberg and Nielsen scholar Niels Bo Foltmann describe in the booklet notes, the discovery of the manuscript of Nielsen’s OWN arrangement “Sinfonia Espansiva” was itself a tale of luck and diligent librarianship.

Rikke Sandberg, Piano
Kristoffer Hyldig, Piano

Review from Classical Source

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“We have been working on the idea that Sean should make a Recorder Concertos for Michala for 5 years,- and Sean wanted to make a concerto without string! For many years I have been following the students at The Royal Danish Academy of Music,- and I thought they should have a change to make a recording with international profiled artists and producer. Sean wrote a wonderful and different recorder concerto including a lot of percussion,- and Jean Thorel is really a master, as a conductor, to make these young musicians from 11 different countries understand the music,- and to get the best out of all participants! The energy is great,- reminds me of Bolivar Youth Orchestra!” – Lars Hannibal (OUR Recordings)

The featured work on this vinyl maiden voyage is American composer Sean Hickey’s three-movement concerto for recorders, winds, brass and percussion, “A Pacifying Weapon”. Composed as a response to recent, turbulent events, Hickey sought to convey the idea of a “tool or instrument that was capable of providing an instant and irreversible peace.” In turning to the recorder, “an ancient instrument passed down unchanged through the years”, Hickey invoked many aspects of the ancient instrument’s personality, from the bucolic, the melancholic and even the militant.

An extensive percussion battery enjoys second-billing in Hickey’s score, adding both drama and providing an effective foil for the recorder’s solo displays. Sharing honors with both the composer and the soloist are the phenomenally talented ensemble of young musicians from 11 nations, attending the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music, who appear for their very first professional recording under the direction of Jean Thorel. Filling out the program is Thomas Clausen’s charming Neo-Baroque Concertino for recorder and strings, originally released on Nordic Sound – Tribute to Axel Borup-Jørgensen.

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The Willis Organ of St. Mary’s Espiscopal Cathedral is organist’s Wayne Marshall’s second album on Base2 Music at NativeDSD.  It follows his earlier release Passion Symphony, a Pure DSD release.

During the 2021 Edinburgh festival, Wayne Marshall OBE came to conduct the show A Grand Night for Singing by Rodgers and Hammerstein. St. Mary’s Episcopal cathedral heard Wayne was in town and invited him to perform a recital on the Father Willis organ, restored by Harrison and Harrison in 2020. The main piece on the album is the ‘Prelude and Fugue in D Major’ by Bratislavan composer Franz Schmidt. The Pastoral by Jean Roger-Ducasse is only on this Stereo and 5.1 Channel Surround Sound DSD edition, and a live recording with audience of an improvisation by Wayne Marshall on two Scottish themes.

The album was recorded in DXD in Stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound.  It is available at NativeDSD.Com in Stereo and 5.1 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64 and DXD plus Stereo DSD 512.  The DSD 256, DSD 128 and DXD editions of the album are exclusively available from NativeDSD.

Wayne Marshall – Organist

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Immerse yourself in the enchanting world of Tiffany Poon, “classical pianist of the new generation”, who makes her Pentatone debut with her album Diaries: Schumann. Through her vivid interpretation of Robert Schumann’s masterpieces, Tiffany invites us on a journey through her musical diary.

Exclusively available in Stereo DSD 512, DSD 256, DSD 128 and DSD 64 at NativeDSD thanks to our signature Higher Rates Program. Along with the resolution of your choice, included in this purchase is the Deluxe Double Vinyl.

With a selection ranging from the introspective Kinderszenen to the passionate Davidsbündlertänze, she creates a tapestry that reflects the different aspects of her life and her personal growth. With this album Tiffany aims to invite the listeners to connect with the different aspects of ourselves, be vulnerable and imaginative like Schumann’s Eusebius and Florestan.

This album encourages daydreaming in open spaces, “feeling all the feels”, without any judgement. Experience the brilliance of this rising star as she shares her innermost thoughts and musical prowess through the captivating melodies of Schumann.

Born in Hong Kong, Tiffany Poon has appeared with orchestras and in recital throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia and China since she was first accepted to the Juilliard pre-college program at the age of eight. She makes her Pentatone debut with Diaries.

Tiffany Poon, Piano

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2020 NativeDSD Album of the Year Nominee – Solo Guitar

Bucky Pizzarelli was a legendary Jazz Guitarist.  He was the father of Jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli and double bassist Martin Pizzarelli. He worked for NBC as a staff member for Dick Cavett (1971) and for ABC with Bobby Rosengarden in (1952). The list of musicians he collaborated with includes Benny Goodman, Les Paul, Stéphane Grappelli, and Antônio Carlos Jobim. Pizzarelli cited as influences Django Reinhardt, Freddie Green, and George Van Eps.

Bucky Pizzarelli: The Early Years is a double album that features two of his earliest albums Green Guitar Blues (Tracks 1-9) and The Cafe Pierre Trio (Tracks 10-18) with a fine collection of standards.  The album features Tangerine by Johnny Mercer, Satin Doll by Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn and Johnny Mercer, Cry Me A River and Girl Talk by Neal Hefti and Bobby Troup, I Don’t Know How To Love Him by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life by Michel Legrand and Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Dreamsville by Henry Mancini, The Summer Knows (Theme From Summer of ’42) by Marilyn and Alan Bergman, and many more.

The album is an Analog Tape to DXD Transfer by Rene Laflamme at 2xHD using the album master tapes from Jazzology Records.  It appears in all of our Stereo DSD bit rates, including an exclusive Stereo DSD 512 edition created by NativeDSD Mastering Engineer Tom Caulfield using the Signalyst HQ Player Pro 4 mastering tools and its “EC” modulators.

Bucky Pizzarelli – Guitar

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Dave Brubeck Redux was recorded ‘off-the-floor’ to 2 Track Analog Tape at 15 ips, using the purest audiophile analog techniques, capturing the energy and joy of three brilliant young musicians playing together as one, seizing the well-known compositions and making them freshly their own.

The L.A. Network project was born as a collaboration between two veteran recording engineers and producers – 2xHD’s president André Perry and Resonance Records’ president George Klabin – with the idea of creating a high-end rendition of Dave Brubeck’s most memorable compositions.

Perry and Klabin have collaborated on many projects over the last 5 years, including high-res remastering of famous albums by Bill Evans, Wes Montgomery, Jaco Pastorius, Stan Getz, Sarah Vaughan, Shirley Horn, and others.

Los Angeles (L.A.) is one of the great music centers of America, with a vast pool of outstanding jazz musicians and singers. The Dave Brubeck Redux album is the first of a projected series of audiophile L.A. Network recordings which will be performed by various musicians and released in high-resolution download formats including Stereo DSD at NativeDSD.

The L.A. Network
Josh Nelson – Piano, Arranger
Alex Frank – Bass
Ryan Shaw – Drums

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Musical Ode to Sublime Nature

Vladimir Jurowski and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester continue their journey through the heights of German late-Romantic repertoire with a recording of Richard Strauss’s Eine Alpensinfonie. The Alpine Symphony was inspired by the composer’s experiences during a mountain trail, and is an audience favorite thanks to its picturesque, idyllic charm and powerfully evocative score.

To Jurowski, the attraction of this piece lies not so much in the picturesque, but rather in Strauss’s Nietzschean embrace of living in the now and the transformative power of being in complete harmony with sublime nature. In that respect, this album shares a kinship with Jurowski’s previous recording of Strauss’s Also Sprach Zarathustra also available at NativeDSD. 

Vladimir Jurowski, Conductor
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester

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Vivaldi and Locatelli Performed by a Rising Star

Rising star violinist Chloe Chua makes her recording debut on Pentatone together with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra led by Concertmaster Chan Yoong-Han, presenting Vivaldi’s Four Seasons alongside Locatelli’s Harmonic Labyrinth.

With the Four Seasons, Chloe returns to a piece that’s very dear to her, Vivaldi’s Winter, and which she won the joint-first prize at the 2018 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition for Young Violinists with. Despite her young age, Chua performs regularly with several world-class ensembles and enjoys a huge following on social media thanks to her breathtaking technique and charismatic stage personality.

This album, recorded as Artist-in-Residence of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra, launches her international recording career.  Exclusively available in Stereo and 5 Channel Surround Sound DSD at NativeDSD Music.  Not available on SACD.

Chloe Chua, Violin
Singapore Symphony Orchestra
Chan Yoong-Han, Concertmaster

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