For his 5th release in Stereo & Multichannel DSD 256, pianist Josep Colom returns to NativeDSD Music with his performance of Musica Callada (Music of Silence) from Eudora Records. The album is a Pure DSD 256 release – recorded and released in Stereo and 5 Channel Surround Sound Pure DSD 256 without any DXD processing. only at NativeDSD!
Producer and Recording Engineer Gonzalo Noque says: “We can unashamedly say it is a reference recording of this iconic work!”
NativeDSD Music Technical Advisor Brian Moura says: “This is one of the most realistic recordings of a pianist that I have ever heard.”
The most important Catalan Classical piano work, Frederic Mompou’s Música Callada is performed by the most eminent Catalan pianist of our time, Josep Colom on a 1957 Model D Steinway & Sons piano.
Mompou’s Música Callada is a special, elusive work of the piano repertoire. Their pieces speak with a minimalist simplicity; as Mompou himself stated: “Its mission is to reach the profound depths of our soul and the hidden domains of the vital force our spirits. This music is silent as if heard from within.” The title refers to a poem by the Spanish mystic St. John of the Cross, who also wrote the “Cantar del alma”, the poem which Mompou set to music, and which closes this recording with Soprano Cecillia Lavilla Berganza and pianist Josep Colom.
This is a Pure DSD 256 Stereo and 5 Channel Surround Sound release – recorded in Stereo and 5 Channel DSD 256 by Gonzalo Noque of Eudora Records.
Noque made the album with Sonodore, Neumann U89 & Schoeps microphones and the Horus Analog to DSD 256 Converter and Microphone Preamp from Merging Technologies.
Monitoring was done with Sennheiser headphones and Dutch and Dutch 8c studio monitor loudspeakers.
The other DSD bit rates (DSD 512, DSD 128, DSD 64) were created in the DSD Domain by NativeDSD Mastering Engineer Tom Caulfield using the Signalyst HQ Player 4 Pro mastering software with no DXD processing.
Josep Colom – Piano
Cecillia Lavilla Berganza – Soprano (on Cantar del Alma)
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.Total time: 01:09:34
Additional information
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | EUDDR2101 |
| Qualities | DSD 512 fs, DSD 256 fs, DSD 128 fs, DSD 64 fs, FLAC 192 kHz, FLAC 96 kHz |
| Channels | 2ch Stereo, 5 Channel Surround Sound, 2ch Stereo & 5ch Surround |
| Artists | |
| Composers | |
| Genres | |
| Analog to Digital Converter | Horus, Merging Technologies |
| Microphone Preamp | Horus, Merging Technlogies |
| Microphones | Sonodore, Neumann U89 & Schoeps microphones |
| Monitoring Equipment | Sennheiser headphones; Dutch & Dutch 8c speakers |
| Original Format | DSD 256 (Pure DSD) |
| Instruments | |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Piano | 1957 Model D Steinway & Sons |
| Piano Technician | Carles Horváth i Ysàs |
| Producer | Gonzalo Noqué |
| Recording Engineer | Gonzalo Noqué |
| Recording Location | Auditorio de Zaragoza, Sala Mozart in Zaragoza, Spain on April 16-17, 2019 |
| Recording Software | Pyramix, Merging Technologies |
| Release Date | May 18, 2021 |
Press reviews
Positive Feedback
Amongst all of the albums I’ve heard by Josep Colom, this album has most attracted me. Both musically and sonically. (…) And for the sound? I think this 2021 recording is possibly Gonzalo Noque’s best solo piano recording thus far. And if you’ve experienced any of his exceptional recordings, you will know that this places it at a very high level of excellence, indeed.
HR Audio.Net
Eudora’s newest album features Spanish pianist Josep Colom in a series of 28 ‘Silent Music’ miniatures written between 1951 (1959) and 1967 by the emblematic Catalan composer, Frederic Mompou.
Música Callada is the perfection of silence in music that some may describe as ‘Zen’. In its simplicity, it shares some of a French friend’s minimalist approach, though at a completely different and incomparable spiritual level.
In this kind of repertoire, Josep Colom is one of the best interpreters to go for, and not only for Mompou fans but also for all those new to this composer. The liner notes are more of an essay, written by Adolf Pla, shedding lots of interesting details of Mompou and his intellectual visions.
And the sound? Need I say more than that Gonzalo Noqué always goes for the best and as natural as it is.
Pizzicato
The 28 miniatures of Musica Callada (Silent Music) are one of the most important works by Federico Mompou (1893-1987) and are considered his musical testament. Josep Colom plays them not only meditatively, but cares for everything that this music needs.
The tonal purity that had marked Mompou due to the bells he had heard in his childhood, the many nuances, colorful and dynamic, and above all, the poetry. This ensures a delightful hour of music, the music of a weak heartbeat, as Mompou called it, on the one hand not doodle-mystical, on the other hand not cold-ascetic. Colom finds the right balance!
Mompou was inspired to his cycle by poems of the Carmelite Saint-Jean de la Croix, from whom he set one poem to music, Cantar del Alma, which is heard at the end of the program, performed very intimately by Colom and Cecilia Lavilla Berganza, the daughter of singer Teresa Berganza and pianist Felix Lavilla.
NativeDSD Technical Advisor
This is one of the most realistic recordings of a pianist that I have ever heard.
1 review for Musica Callada (Music of Silence) [Pure DSD]
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The sound and performance are very nice. There are a few tracks where it seems the composer is trying to prove how outrageous they can be, which happens. I eventually just erased those few tracks as they always pulled me out of my immersion.
Highly recommended.
Tony Dennison (verified owner) –