The inner strength of this album is the progression from minor to major. With our instruments we speak about contrasts between loss and comfort, captivity and freedom, injustice and honesty, sarcasm and humor, drama, and love.

Sasha Witteveen, Double Bass
Jorian van Nee, Piano [Tracks 1, 3, 11]
Jose David Ospina Gaviria, Double Bass [Tracks 4-10]

The post Into the Light appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Anyone who has seen the conductor Elim Chan on stage is familiar with the immense energy produced by her baton. With the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, of which she has been Principal Conductor since 2019, she celebrates a genre dear to her heart, ballet music, which places the emphasis on both physical movement and orchestral power.

More than a century of ballet music is presented here, with excerpts from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet suites, oscillating between passionate love and fatal violence; Suite no.2 from Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé , the fruit of his first collaboration with Diaghilev in 1912, which he described as a ‘choreographic symphony’; and finally a work by Elizabeth Ogonek, All These Lighted Things , premiered in 2017.

Although the title of these ‘three little dances for orchestra’ comes from a poem that evokes a soothing union with the earth at the dawn of a sunny day, the piece ends with a sort of folk dance that degenerates into an orchestral storm.

Antwerp Symphony Orchestra
Elim Chan, Conductor

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The album is Exclusively Available at NativeDSD in Stereo, Binaural and 5 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64 and DXD plus Stereo DSD 512.

For far too long Paul Wittgenstein’s library was inaccessible to the world. Not before 2001 a pile of chamber music surfaced, specially composed for the pianist who commissioned Maurice Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand. These chamber music works have hardly ever been played since Wittgenstein premièred them in the 1920s and 30s.

The Dutch pianist Folke Nauta had to continue his career as a one-handed pianist, after focal dystonia affected his right hand. Paul Wittgenstein was his model and this trove of chamber music was his salvation. There was just one complicating factor: Wittgenstein’s library had become dispersed throughout the world. Nauta tracked down the original manuscripts in Austrian and English archives, still containing Wittgenstein’s furiously scribbled annotations. The quintet formation of piano, clarinet and string trio is a consistent feature of Wittgenstein’s chamber music legacy. So Nauta approached the clarinetist Lars Wouters van den Oudenweijer and Prisma String Trio. Together these five top-of-the-bill chamber musicians from the Netherlands joined forces and launched the Wittgenstein Project, with the aim of bringing the music back to life and telling Wittgenstein’s extraordinary tale of misery, struggle and artistic triumph.

The album Left Hand Legacy Vol. 1, also available at NativeDSD, showcases the diverse vocabulary of Wittgenstein’s circle of composer friends Franz Schmidt, Josef Labor, Hans Gál and Ernest Walker. This album Left Hand Legacy Vol.2 plumbs the emotional depths, with Franz Schmidt’s brooding Quintet in B flat major and the sublime combination of clarinet, viola and piano left hand in Josef Labor’s Trio in G minor.

Tragically and unexpectedly, the second album is destined to be the last one to feature Folke Nauta, who passed away suddenly in de summer of 2023. This personal tragedy signifies a great loss for the music world. This album features the very last recordings Folke Nauta ever made.

Folke Nauta, Piano
Lars Wouters van den Oudenwijer, Clarinet
Prisma String Trio

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“I don’t think Mendelssohn gets the attention he deserves,” said Paavo Järvi at the start of the 2020-2021 season. Faced with this observation, he undertook to record a complete cycle of Mendelssohn’s orchestral works with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra for his second season as Music Director.

On the program are the composer’s five symphonies, including the second, known as ‘Lobgesang’, half-symphony, half-cantata, with the participation of the Zürcher Sing-Akademie, tenor Patrick Grahl and sopranos Chen Reiss and Marie Henriette Reinhold.

Finally, A Midsummer Night’s Dream , based on Shakespeare’s play, the overture to which Mendelssohn composed when he was just 17, concludes this very fine cycle.

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Paavo Järvi, Conductor

The post Mendelssohn: Symphonies – Vol. 4 appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

“I don’t think Mendelssohn gets the attention he deserves,” said Paavo Järvi at the start of the 2020-2021 season. Faced with this observation, he undertook to record a complete cycle of Mendelssohn’s orchestral works with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra for his second season as Music Director.

On the program are the composer’s five symphonies, including the second, known as ‘Lobgesang’, half-symphony, half-cantata, with the participation of the Zürcher Sing-Akademie, tenor Patrick Grahl and sopranos Chen Reiss and Marie Henriette Reinhold.

Finally, A Midsummer Night’s Dream , based on Shakespeare’s play, the overture to which Mendelssohn composed when he was just 17, concludes this very fine cycle.

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Paavo Järvi, Conductor

The post Mendelssohn: Symphonies – Vol. 3 appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

“I don’t think Mendelssohn gets the attention he deserves,” said Paavo Järvi at the start of the 2020-2021 season. Faced with this observation, he undertook to record a complete cycle of Mendelssohn’s orchestral works with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra for his second season as Music Director.

On the program are the composer’s five symphonies, including the second, known as ‘Lobgesang’, half-symphony, half-cantata, with the participation of the Zürcher Sing-Akademie, tenor Patrick Grahl and sopranos Chen Reiss and Marie Henriette Reinhold.

Finally, A Midsummer Night’s Dream , based on Shakespeare’s play, the overture to which Mendelssohn composed when he was just 17, concludes this very fine cycle.

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Paavo Järvi, Conductor

The post Mendelssohn: Symphonies – Vol. 1 appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

“I don’t think Mendelssohn gets the attention he deserves,” said Paavo Järvi at the start of the 2020-2021 season. Faced with this observation, he undertook to record a complete cycle of Mendelssohn’s orchestral works with the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra for his second season as Music Director.

On the program are the composer’s five symphonies, including the second, known as ‘Lobgesang’, half-symphony, half-cantata, with the participation of the Zürcher Sing-Akademie, tenor Patrick Grahl and sopranos Chen Reiss and Marie Henriette Reinhold.

Finally, A Midsummer Night’s Dream , based on Shakespeare’s play, the overture to which Mendelssohn composed when he was just 17, concludes this very fine cycle.

Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich
Paavo Järvi, Conductor

The post Mendelssohn: Symphonies – Vol. 2 appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Taking a break from the tumultuous M-BASE New York jazz scene, Canadian pianist Andy Milne offers solo impressions of ‘new standards’, including gems from fellow Canadians Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.
– Mark Werlin

Canadian pianist and keyboard player Andy Milne is best known for his 5-piece band Dapp Theory, which navigates the lines between jazz, heavy metal, hip-hop, Appalachian folk and classical music. But in the mid-2000s he started playing a lot more solo piano.

Dreams and False Alarms contains deeply considered re-workings of long-remembered pop, rock, folk, reggae classics (and three originals), reaffirming and expanding Milne’s creative process as a jazz improviser. Exclusively Available at NativeDSD in Stereo and 5 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256, DSD 128 and DXD plus Stereo DSD 512, DSD 256, DSD 128 and DXD. 

The social and artistic idealism which Milne brings to his work influenced both his choice of music and its interpretation. “For me, I have to discover how I’m going to assume my own temporary ownership of a song before I can determine my approach. So in the case of these songs, I played them a bunch of different ways for a while, until a path revealed itself. Deciding what songs to record wasn’t easy, but essentially I looked for material rich with meaningful, strong melodic content and just enough room for some personal harmonic development. What draws me to this music? I think it’s the combined artistry of the poetry, songwriting and performance of their creators. Artists like Bruce Cockburn, Bob Marley, and Joni Mitchell use their songs to speak about important things that need to be heard in this world. I guess I’m drawn to them for their courage and ideology.”

In terms of style, Andy cites a long list of keyboard heroes and mentors, from Tatum, Monk, Oscar Peterson, Herbie Nichols, Ahmad Jamal, McCoy Tyner and Herbie Hancock to Muhal Richard Abrams, Mulgrew Miller, Geri Allen, Kenny Werner and Brad Mehldau, not forgetting Glenn Gould or Stevie Wonder. There’s a two-handed creative alchemy going on here though that Andy has been working on since his summer at the Banff jazz workshop in 1990 under Steve Coleman’s leadership. “These days it seems like every musician listens to a multiplicity of musical genres, or at least they frequently cite diverging influences in interviews. Blending those influences isn’t quite as easy as citing them. My goal is to do it in ways that don’t sound contrived or insincere. Learning to work with who each of us is, while exploring the universe for inspiration and then expressing those things in creative and personal ways, is to me [a] humbling and inspiring thing….”

Dreams and False Alarms was recorded in the recital hall of UBC’s School of Music in Vancouver. In such a venue “there’s room to explore the entire range of the piano, because the instrument and the natural acoustics of the room dictate the dynamic range of the performance. Also, playing solo is proving to be a very liberating experience because I can give in to whimsical impulses at any given moment. Throughout this album, an attempt was made to take the listener on a sonic as well as musical voyage. At times the mix shifts perspectives, enabling the listener to be in different positions in the room and perhaps even different points in history.” And with high-resolution recording and multi-channel mixing, each musical gesture contains subtle aural/emotional resonances.

The post Dreams and False Alarms appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Ensemble C4 is a Norwegian baroque ensemble working primarily in Norway. With its association with several freelance musicians, the ensemble remains flexible in both its musical expression and size. Since 2015, it has presented several new concert programmes per year and has consequently built up a large repertoire of music taken from the period from approximately 1575 till 1800.

With extensive concert experience and great synergy, the ensemble has developed a playful and virtuosic style that thrills audiences and has received critical acclaim. Neun Deutsche Arien is the ensemble’s first album release.

Countertenor Daniel Saether studied at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and the Royal Academy in Den Haag. He has performed as a countertenor in Norway and abroad since 2011 with a wide-ranging repertoire from early music to contemporary. From 2018-2020 he was awarded the Norwegian government grant Statens Arbeidsstipend to work with contemporary music for countertenor on baroque instruments and document this in concerts and recordings. In the summer of 2023, Daniel featured as Cesarin the Trygve Broske’s contemporary opera Kommandantenheld at the Oscarsborg open air Opera.

Saether is a founding member of Ensemble Freithoffand Christian IV Consort(now known as Ensemble C4), both of which perform chamber music in Norway with a focus on Renaissance and Baroque music.

Ensemble C4
Daniel Sæther (Countertenor)
Caroline Eidsten Dahl (recorder)
Ingrid Økland (violin)
Kate Hearne (cello)
Henrikke G. Rynning (viola da gamba)
Jadran Duncomb (baroque lute / theorbo)
Christian Kjos (harpsichord/organ)

The post Händel: Neun Deutsche Arien (9 German Arias) appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

It is Exclusively available in Stereo DSD 512 at NativeDSD thanks to our signature Higher Rates Program.

The album follows Ella On Our Mind with The L.A. Network and Bill Cantos.  Both albums are from 2xHD and Resonance Records. She is also featured on the Jazz Ballads, Volume 3 and Girl Power, Volume 1 sampler albums – also available at NativeDSD.

Where The Sunshine Is Expensive topped Billboard’s charts as #1 of the Contemporary Jazz genre. Coined “The Queen of Sass” in the press, Logan was a featured guest vocalist on Dave Koz‘s #1 selling contemporary jazz 2018 album, ‘Summer Horns II: From A to Z‘. Her debut solo 2017 album ‘Impossible‘ charted in the Top 10 on the iTunes and Billboard jazz charts.

The album was recorded live at the legendary East West Studios in Los Angeles in front of an intimate audience and captures an exciting blend of Pop, Jazz and R&B tunes, that tell a story about Hollywood from Logan’s unique perspective.

In addition to original songs composed by Aubrey Logan, the album also features her performances of Alfie by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Put It Where You Want It by Joe Sample and I Keep Forgettin’ (Every Time You’re Near) written and made famous by Singer, Composer and Keyboard Player Michael McDonald.

Dave Koz says, “Aubrey is that rare artist who comes along once in a very long while. She truly makes you stop in your tracks. With such a communicative voice and style and a great sense of musical adventurousness, combined with unmatched technique, there’s really no emotion she can’t tackle musically. She’s the total package. Oh, and then there’s the trombone! She’s in a class all by herself.”

Aubrey Logan, Lead Vocals & Trombone
Nick Petrillo, Piano & Keyboards
Will Yanez, Guitars
Tabari Lake, Electric & Upright Bass
Dave Johnstone, Drums & Musical Director
Katie Hampton, Background Vocals
Rebecca Jade, Background Vocals
Jordan Michael, Background Vocals

Special Music Guests
Dave Koz, Alto & Tenor Saxophone (Track 4 – Alto Sax & Track 11 – Tenor Sax)
Casey Abrams, Bass & Vocals (Track 11)

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