Josep Colom’s Confluences: Bach & Chopin

I’m really happy to present Josph Colom’s latest album – Confluences: Bach and Chopin.  This is a recording which I find unique. Now that most of our core classical music repertoire has been recorded many times, I find extraordinary what Josep Colom has done with this masterpiece. He brings out Bach and Chopin’s connection by pairing Bach’s Preludes and Chopin’s Études and Nocturnes based on shared or contrasting key signatures, similar instrumental treatment or texture, subtle harmonic links, dialectic oppositions or spiritual affinities, and with the help of finely-drawn improvisatory passages that either connect a prelude to an étude or act as a transition into a new pairing. The result is a de facto single composition, an almost narrative experience where both composers’ works are intertwined highlighting Bach’s influence on Chopin’s music.

This project was recorded direct to Stereo and Multichannel DSD 256 with an outstanding 1957 Steinway & Sons piano. The piano brings a full-bodied and unique wooden sound to Josep’s performances. We were lucky to record again in the amazing Mozart Hall, in Zaragoza, Spain, which has a huge, ethereal acoustic but at the same time allowing for an outstanding clarity. We use the extraordinary Sonodore microphones which reproduce the nature of both the instrument and the hall with utmost accuracy, highlighted by the DSD256 format we used to record the album using the Horus Digital Converter and Pyramix software from Merging Technologies.

To bring you the full benefit of this native DSD 256 recording, all the DSD files for Confluences at the NativeDSD Music store use DSD rendering from the master DSD 256fs Stereo and Surround Sound recording.  No DXD conversions, balancing and processing are present on this release. 

I hope you will enjoy the music!