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Read Original (PF) Yarlung Records continues to celebrate its Twentieth Anniversary with another superb release from its analog master tape archives. In April 2025, we received the marvelous recording by David Fung, Evening Conversations, about which I wrote HERE. Now we have another release from Yarlung’s archives that has only seen light of day as a CD: […]
Available now at 40% OFF! In the first half of my 50 + years as a radio personality, I was exposed to hundreds of ho-hum albums of songs from movies. The last thing I wanted to hear was another version of the Theme from The Apartment, or the Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet. And […]
Available now at 40% OFF! It’s easy to lump composers together simply because they are contemporaries, or they come from the same place or area. I’ve written about this before in relation to Sibelius and Nielsen. The “Nordic” similarities seem stretched– Denmark (Nielsen) is traditionally more aligned in culture with Germany and continental Europe. Finland […]
Title: Beethoven, Ligeti & LefkowitzBeethoven: String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135Ligeti: String Quartet No. 2Lefkowitz: Green Mountains, Now BlackPerformer: Quartet IntegraLabel: Yalung Records For my first review on Native DSD, I have chosen this recording of string quartets. The reason is severalfold; this is a pure DSD recording, a format I firmly believe […]
View Original Over the years I’ve freely admitted to being something of a sound nut. I revel in recordings that feel transparent, timbrally truthful, and utterly convincing in their portrayal of natural acoustic space. For me, the deepest listening pleasure comes from acoustic instruments captured in real environments, without artifice. With that in mind, I’m […]
Available now at 40% OFF! I love Dvorak’s Cello Concerto and I have since I first heard it in the 1962 recording with Janos Starker, backed by Dorati and the LSO. I would never want to be without it, but this one with Pieter Wispelwey, backed by Ivan Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra is […]
Now Available at 40% OFF! I didn’t know much about Polish-American pianist and composer, Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938). I saw his name occasionally, but it wasn’t until I spent some time with his Java Suite that I wanted to know more. Godowsky is celebrated for his extraordinary technical imagination and his ability to transform the piano […]
View Original Article In this issue, we have some exquisite new albums at NativeDSD, led by a new Pure DSD256 release from Cobra Records with a fascinating program for solo piano. And two new releases from the creative artists partnering with Brendon Heinst at TRPTK, and more. I hope you will find something to further […]
Now Available for 40% Off I have loved the music of Erik Satie since… Well, I admit it, since I was first exposed to his Gymnopedies, no 2 as interpreted by Blood Sweat and Tears in their landmark 1968 album. I wasn’t alone in this. I’d been enjoying Debussy, Ravel, and Poulenc for years, and when I […]
In 1830 Hector Berlioz created a groundbreaking, programmatic work about an artist who falls in love with a woman, becomes obsessed with her but is rejected, and eventually kills her. The Symphonie Fantastique was the first major symphony to follow a written narrative – a radical departure from the “absolute music” of earlier composers. Innovative orchestration […]
This is one of the best “Discoveries” I’ve made so far! 840, with guitarist Enno Voorhorst, is a wonderful album! The artistry is superb, the music program couldn’t be better, and the recording quality is the best I’ve heard for a solo guitar. I’m not alone in saying it will seem like Voorhorst is in the room […]
These reviews are re-posted from Stereophile.com, written by Jason Victor Serinus / Stephen Francis Vasta. Dvořák: Slavonic DancesCzech Philharmonic/Sir Simon RattlePentatone Music PTC5817414 (CD). 2025. Holger Urbach, prod.; Stephan Reh, eng.Performance ***Sonics ***½ I shouldn’t have praised Tomá Netopil for recording the Slavonic Rhapsodies instead of the seemingly inevitable Slavonic Dances: Apparently he was leaving […]