Heinrich Schütz continued to set himself challenges throughout his long career. Of all the genres of sacred music that he undertook, the oratorio offers us his most contrasting ideas. His Historia der Geburt Jesu Christi is in many respects the model for the genre that would later be employed by the musicians of Johann Sebastian Bach’s generation.

The score that Vox Luminis uses for this recording has been reconstructed from manuscript sources in the Düben Collection in Uppsala. The album is completed with a number of particularly festive motets for the Christmas period by Heinrich Schütz and his illustrious contemporary Andreas Hammerschmidt.

Vox Luminis
Lionel Meunier, Musical Director

The post Schütz: Weihnachtshistorie (A Christmas History) appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

We owe a very big Thank You to 2L, 2xHD, Lawo Classics, Reference Recordings and Sono Luminus and their artists (listed below) who participated in this joyous Christmas project at NativeDSD.

The album is available in Stereo DSD 512, DSD 256, DSD 128 and DSD 64 only at NativeDSD. It is a DSD Exclusive, Not Available on SACD release.

Check the ‘You may also like…’ section below or click on the Catalogue Numbers in the track list to view the individual albums which are featured in this Sampler.

Eric Holtan, True Concord Voices & Orchestra (Tracks 1, 5, 9)
Torsten Nilsson, Oscar’s Motet Choir (Tracks 2, 11)
Alf Linder (Tracks 2, 11)
Marianne Mellnas (Tracks 2, 11)
Ensemble Galilei (Track 3)
Anne Karin Sundal-Ask, Norwegian Girls’ Choir (Det Norske Jentekor) (Track 4)
Todd Gustavsen (Track 4)
Beate Strømme Fevang, Bragernes Church Youth Choir (Bragernes Kirkes Ungdomskor) (Tracks 6, 7, 13)
Alexander Vedernikov, Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow (Tracks 8, 12)
Jasper String Quartet (Track 10)
Skylark Vocal Ensemble (Track 14)

The post Holiday Music DSD Sampler appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Featuring popular favorites and lesser-known treasures commonly sung during the annual Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols – the beloved Christmas Eve service broadcast worldwide to millions every year.

The album showcases the incredible acoustic of the King’s College Chapel and the Choir’s stellar leadership through recordings conducted by the late Stephen Cleobury, and the Choir’s Director of Music, Daniel Hyde.

Exclusively available at NativeDSD in Stereo DSD 512, DSD 256, DSD 128 and DSD 64.

Choir of King’s College Cambridge
Daniel Hyde, Director of Music

The post Carols from King’s College Cambridge appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

This recording of Oslo Cathedral’s Christmas program demonstrates that the cathedral continues to thrum with its rich musical tradition. Vivianne Sydnes, who succeeded Kvam as Artistic Director and Choirmaster of the Oslo Domkor in 2015, has brought the quality of the cathedral’s choral music to new heights. While maintaining a strong sense of tradition, Sydnes has invigorated and developed the musical activities of the cathedral.

The album begins with ‘Veni, redemptor gentium’ (‘Come, Saviour of mankind’), an ancient church hymn for Advent and Christmastide. Bringing new generations together to sing these ancient melodies is one of the finest and most meaningful things a church can do. The concert culminates triumphantly with the last verse of ‘Deilig er jorden’, where the choirs sing of the Angels’ wish for peace from Bethlehem: ‘Fred over jorden, menneske, fryd deg! Oss er en evig Frelser født’ (‘Peace on Earth, men, rejoice! Unto us a Saviour is born’).

– Kåre Nordstoga, Organist at Oslo Cathedral

Oslo Domkor (Oslo Cathedral Choir)
Vivianne Sydnes, Artistic Director and Choirmaster
Kåre Nordstoga, Organ

The post Klinge skal et jubelkor (A Chorus of Christmas Cheer) appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

The inspiration for Hugo Distler’s Die Weihnachtgeschichte Opus X, a gem of a Christmas narrative can be found in the German-language protestant sacred music of the early baroque era, especially the music of Heinrich Schütz.

Drawing on Schütz’s example, Distler composed his Christmas story exclusively for vocalists – soloists and a 4-8-voiced ensemble – in what is, in Distler’s own words, described as an “Oratorium mit kammermusikalische Charakter [Oratorio with a chamber music character]”. We also hear parts of the beautiful choral Es ist ein Ros entsprungen, which appears seven times during the course of the narrative – every time in a new harmonic colour.

The story of Hugo Distler’s life is a tragic one. Born in Nuremburg in 1908, he would go on to teach at the School for Church Music in Spandau before being appointed professor of church music in Stuttgart in 1940. Distler, who was a deeply religious man, has been recognized as a forerunner of the New German Church Music, an important musical movement which developed in the 1930s. The Nazis stigmatized Distler’s compositions as “degenerate art”, and when he received his conscription papers, he took his life. Sadly, Distler’s music is seldom performed outside of Germany even to this day.

Hailed by Gramophone as “a choir worth listening to for their beautiful singing, which can deliver performances of pure, natural eloquence,” the 16 voices of the award-winning vocal ensemble Concert Clemens, founded by conductor Carsten Seyer-Hansen in 1997, has established itself as one of the leading vocal ensembles in Scandinavia. Their stylistic versatility has been seen in numerous collaborations exploring the connections between jazz and classical music as well as note-perfect interpretations of standard repertoire. The evangelist, tenor Adam Riis, is one of Denmark’s leading voices.

Recorded in the DXD format by the Danish “Wizard of Sound”, Preben Iwan, in the in the resonant sonics of Skt. Markus Kirken, Århus.

Concert Clemens – vocal group
Adam Riis – vocals
Carsten Seyer-Hanses – conductor

The post Hugo Distler: Die Weihnachtgeschichte Opus X appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Tucson, Arizona-­based True Concord Voices and Orchestra made their New York City debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in September 2015 with Mozart’s Requiem and Stephen Paulus’s Prayers and Remembrances. That same year, True Concord made its internationally­-distributed debut album on Reference Recordings, Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus (also available at NativeDSD), for which it received a Grammy nomination for Best Choral Performance, and for which Stephen Paulus won posthumously the Grammy for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

Eric Holtan, founder and conductor of True Concord Voices and Orchestra states: “Every December, True Concord presents its popular Lessons and Carols by Candlelight concerts in the Tucson area. Unique in the local milieu of seasonal offerings, the focus is on sacred Christmas carols. Even in their simplest form, carols evoke emotionally powerful memories of personal and family experiences that enrich and enliven annual holiday celebrations.

With this album, I wanted to capture the essence of our much­-loved concerts with the mostly familiar carols presented here, but in musical settings by American composers that are new or not widely known. With the kind assistance of advisor Dale Warland — who set the standard of excellence with several cherished Christmas recordings over the years by The Dale Warland Singers — True Concord offers these holiday treasures, most of which are receiving their world premiere recordings. This is Christmas With True Concord — Carols in the American Voice.”

Eric Holtan, Conductor & Founder
True Concord Voices & Orchestra

The post Christmas With True Concord: Carols In The American Voice appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Matthew Guard, the Artistic Director of Skylark tells us “In the Summer of 2019, we recorded our album Once Upon a Time, our first recorded version of a “story concert.” Although we had explored this concept for several years prior with storyteller Sarah Walker, Once Upon a Time was our first collaboration with Benedict Sheehan, who composed incidental music (almost like a choral movie score) to accompany Sarah’s dialogue and to connect the musical dots between existing works by an array of composers.

That summer, it became clear that we had stumbled onto something unusual and special. First, the idea of a continuous choral story score – combining elements of classical performance, storytelling, film scoring, and theatricality – seemed to be a rich new idiom for choral performance art. Second, the collaborative team of the project seemed like a dream come true. There was a strong sense of mutual respect for everyone’s unique talents, and a rare ability for creative push and pull.

In agreement that we were eager to explore something even more intentional, Christmas was a topic of great interest to all of us. Choral music seems to have a special appeal during the holidays, and Christmas is a time when stories seem to have a unique ability to move people. In some ways, the Dickens is both the best and worst choice for our nascent art-form. The best because it is so well known and beloved by many; familiarity creates an entry point for many listeners. The worst because it has been done so many times, it has the danger of being seen as a holiday trope (who doesn’t see a poster of an old man in a stocking cap?).

Writing this now, on the day that I’ve heard the final mastered recording for the first time, it’s hard to believe that this particular arrangement of words and music has never existed before. Like many great works of art, it feels to me as though this has always been there waiting to be discovered, like a beautiful figure carved from a single piece of wood whose form is revealed by a master wood carver. As Benedict’s early vocation was as a carpenter, this analogy feels particularly apt.

Looking forward to our debut concerts in a few months, I cannot wait to share this dramatic experience with the world. Yes, it’s a story that has been told before. Frequently. Yes, it calls to mind images of early Victorian England – not a particularly modern story to bring the table in 2021. But, the story is ultimately a story of redemption – how one human is transformed to see the world differently; to open eyes and hearts to others, to offer love and joy rather than bitterness and contempt. It’s a journey we all should contemplate. My greatest hope for this recording is that this collaborative labor of love will encourage many people to contemplate such a journey each and every year.”

Skylark Vocal Ensemble
Sarah Walker – Storyteller
Matthew Guard – Artistic Director

The post A Christmas Carol appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

This is a Pure DSD 256 Stereo album. It is available in its original recorded format of Stereo DSD 256 as well as other DSD bit rates created in the DSD Domain from the Stereo DSD 256 master. It is a DSD Exclusive, Not Available on SACD release.

Gabor Benda tells us “The first time I was touched by the story of Jesus was in my early childhood in elementary school at about the age of six. I remember we had a wise, elderly and very elegant Bible class teacher. She spoke about five languages and often read to us from foreign books, not only translating but simplifying themes as well. Somehow, she was always able to connect these different books, these different tales to Jesus; through his teachings and deeds.

Once, during a school event I played J.S. Bach’s Prelude in C minor (BWV 999). I had a terrible stage fright, after all the whole school was watching, and it was my first public performance. My teacher was really touched by my humble piano playing and said that I played the keys like Jesus walked on water. She told me that Bach is the most important composer in music history and the closest person to God, the closest person to Jesus. At that moment somehow, I understood at this very young age that our whole cultural existence is based upon the existence of Jesus Christ: music, literature, fine arts; everything is connected to him.

From that moment J.S. Bach became my favorite composer. The way his melodies, his polyphonous leads develop in his compositions is like a never-ending energy that moves nature; as the leaves grow on trees and die and grow again in an infinitive circle in a time-lapse video recording. His music imitates the whole eternal cycle of life that is being triggered by an irresistible outside force.

This is the essential moving force I wanted to represent in my music. Not to imitate Bach but to follow the substantive nature of things that Bach followed and tell stories to modern humankind in a traditional way through an up-to-date language.”

Gábor Benda, Piano

The post The Story Of Jesus [Pure DSD] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

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 recording, the role is entirely for the celesta, without the orchestra. In this way you hear the celesta for the first time in its pure form. There is no better piece for this than the one that has put the celesta in the spotlight since it was first performed.

Celia García-García plays a Schiedmayer 5 ½ Octave Model celesta kindly provided by Schiedmayer Celesta GmbH.

There is no booklet available for this DSD Single. The album credits are shown below in the Additional Information tab.

Merry Christmas from Celia García-García, the TRPTK team and NativeDSD Music!

Celia García-García, Celesta

The post Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy [DSD Single] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.