Music Reviews
A grand collection of reviews. If you are a professional music reviewer and would like to contribute a review to this blog, please contact us.
A Dream Come True: Anna Fedorova’s Chopin
Did Chopin ever die? Chopin belongs to a group of composers who never tire, no matter how often you listen to the same piece. Just like Johann Sebastian Bach, his music can be listened to anytime anywhere. I do not know of anyone who dislikes his music. On the contrary. For countless lovers of the […]
Growing Into Gershwin
Use coupon: GERSHWIN for 20% OFF the DSD Albums below!Ends: September 30, 2021 Once upon a time, about 27 years after Gershwin first introduced his Three Preludes for Solo Piano, my piano teacher gave me Prelude No. 2 to learn. My hands were a bit small for one of the chords, so I had to cheat […]
LSO: Rachmaninoff Symphony No.2 in E minor, Op.27
This is Rob’s review of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No.2 in E minor, Op.27 performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Simon Rattle on the LSO Live label. Recorded live at the Barbican Hall, London in September 2019. Rob reviewed the Stereo DSD 512 edition download from NativeDSD Music. Originally published in Audiophile Sound (Italy). In […]
The Best DSD. Does Bill Dodd Agree with Gramophone Magazine?
Gramophone says they’re among the very best! Founded almost 100 years ago (1923), Gramophone is one of the world’s most important music publications. Over the past few weeks Gramophone has posted on social media lists of the top recordings of works by various composers. It should come as no surprise that we can find many […]
DSD Album Review: So, Don’t Spare Your Speakers
New does not always mean New In a highly competitive field, labels must look for new avenues to satisfy classical music lovers’ appetite having already umpteen versions of Ludwig van Beethoven’s violin concerto on their shelves. Many ripe and green examples have passed my player. Some interesting, some less so. In fact, on the road […]
The Unexpected
I admit it –just like most people I tend to stay in my comfort zone. But one of the joys of wandering through the Native DSD library is that I can find unexpected pleasure in a new viewpoint in performance, or a new arrangement for a different instrument, or even new and unfamiliar works. In […]
From Russia With Love – DSD Review
Music or Witchcraft? How many of you are familiar with the theremin? It may sound a bit out of place here, but I came to know this instrument through the adventures of Inspector Barnaby. I was intrigued by a sound in the theme song of Midsomer Murders which I couldn’t quite place. Google helped me […]
More Than A Great Pianist: Nicolas van Poucke
More than a great pianist | A natural talent enthralling his audience Is it fair to say that the best recordings are made by people who love music and want to do it the way they would like to have it for themselves? TRPTK’s quality statement: “No costs or efforts are spared to seize that […]
40 Classical DSD Recommendations (Dodd’s DSD Discoveries)
Ah, the opportunities! With so many albums to choose from! Here I share a few ideas, these are some of the classical works, interpretations and recordings that I admire most. How about a complete Beethoven Symphony cycle from Jan Willem de Vriend on Challenge Classics? Everybody has some favorite Beethoven conductors, but I can’t imagine […]
Can You Recommend Some DSD Jazz? (Brian’s Corner)
A NativeDSD Music customer from Italy recently asked NativeDSD’s Technical Advisor Brian Moura: “Can you recommend some Jazz in Direct Stream Digital (DSD)”? His reply to that question is hereby shared with all of you through this special DSD Jazz edition of Brian’s Corner. We hope that you will enjoy the read and the music! […]
The Man at the Keyboard, or How to Solve A Collector’s Headache
Unless you are lucky enough to have a box set of complete (?) piano sonatas, which only exists in the CD format, or, if that is your preference, Tom Beghin’s hi-tech sound reconstruction ‘The Virtual Haydn’ it is an impossible job to collect all of Haydn’s piano sonatas without doublures. So far, I’ve managed to […]
Engineering Wizardry & Pianistic Honesty
Schubert’s final piano sonata, a long and demanding testament Searching on the internet for the best interpreters of Schubert’s late sonatas, one invariably ends up with the usual suspects of which most are no longer among us. Moreover, pianists from some countries don’t seem to be represented at all, like for instance Spain. Does Spain […]