Music Reviews
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Review of Trio Callas’ First Release in Ambitious Project
Could ‘The Horse’s Mouth’ Be Bigger than We Thought? Mozart played by three students of the Mozarteum University must be as though it comes straight from the horse’s mouth. Is that so? I compared Mozart’s Fourth Piano Trio, the first item on this new ADS release, with the excellent reading by the ‘Haydn Trio Eisenstadt’ […]
Ning Feng plays Shostakovich & Prokofiev Violin Concertos No. 1
Only 15 years separated Prokofiev and Shostakovich by age. Both were born in the Russian Empire. Prokofiev left at the time of the Revolution, but Shostakovich never left. Prokofiev lived in Paris from the early 1920s until 1936. His exposure to the exciting music scene there gave a western foundation to much of his music. It was in […]
Sound Liaison Releases a Pure DSD256 One-Mic Stunner, With Free Download Sample Track
View Original Review Peter Bjørnild and Frans de Rond at Sound Liaison have just released a stunning new Pure DSD256 album. This is their first album in Pure DSD256 and the results are simply incredible, with all the transparency, timbral accuracy, and resolution for which we love Pure DSD256. Frans says of DSD, “Its incredible […]
‘Somnia’ – Denis Kozhukhin – Pentatone
Here’s a discovery from just a few weeks ago that I really wanted to share with you– Denis Kozhukhin’s Somnia. The Russian pianist is absolutely marvelous in this exploration of the theme of childhood. These works are charming, yet truthful. They are involving, yet soothing. Most importantly, this is music that captures your attention […]
Pure DSD256: My Top of the Pile
Go To Original I listen to a lot of high resolution DXD and DSD256 file downloads. And, as you can imagine, I have my favorites—my “top of the pile” recordings for sound quality (to borrow a description from my vinyl years). I thought I’d assemble some of these personal favorites into a list for anyone […]
Rachel Yonan: ‘Kiss On Wood’
I was re-watching “About Time,” one of my favorite little British films, a few days ago, and was charmed all over again by the way it made me laugh, as well as the way it made me think about family and love. It’s one of those rare films that blends humor, heartache, and a touch of […]
Recent Finds No. 42 – Rachel Podger’s New Album plus Pure DSD256 from Yarlung
View Original A new album from Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque, recorded by Jared Sacks, is always reason to celebrate! Add to that some delightful discoveries from Alpha Classics, Yarlung Records (in Pure DSD256), two albums from IBS, and an intriguing peak at what may come from the “new” Channel Classics under Outhere Music’s direction, […]
Martin Helmchen plays Schumann & Dvorak
This is an excellent example of why I do these “discoveries.” This set has been around for a while, but it sounds as fresh as anything released last week! Pianist Martin Helmchen, and Mark Albrecht conducting the Orchestre Philharmique de Strasbourg, have captured my heart in these two works. The Piano Concerto in A […]
Recent Finds No. 41 – Pure DSD256 from Hunnia Records
View Original You will likely have noticed a large number of recordings in my articles from Hunnia Records. The owner of the label, Robert Zoltán Hunka, loves all kinds of music and is fanatically committed to making recordings with the highest sound quality he is able to achieve. Their albums keep showing up for three […]
Gabor Varga: Gold Rings of the Wounded Stone
Improvising at the piano… I used to do it a lot when I was a teenager. I think Improvisation is connected to memories– usually happy ones. Gabor Varga, whose various jazz albums have done very well on native, opens up his heart with Gold Rings of the Wounded Stone. It’s made up of 27 improvisations— no […]
Recent Finds No. 39 – Mining Pure DSD256 Gold
Go To Original Article For me, a Pure DSD256 recording done well is the height of audio reproduction excellence. Yes, 15ips and 30ips analog tape sound marvelous, but so does Pure DSD256. Play either in its pure state, as in direct from the tape or direct from an excellent D/A converter, without intervening mucking about, […]
Mahler’s 6th: “Tragically” Wonderful
Tragic? Who wants to listen to tragic! I mean really! Sure, Mahler has the occasional funeral march in his symphonies. Some say you can hear Mahler’s last breath in his Ninth. Some say you can even what sounds like the end of the world in the Second. And let’s face it, nobody writes symphonies about bunny rabbits and […]