Music Reviews
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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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Bach – Kåre Nordstoga – The Schnitger Organ of St. Ludgeri in Norden
Originally written for Classical Source – view original This album, featuring a great Baroque organ and superb organist, is for a number of reasons, highly recommendable. First the organ has an almost translucent sound and time and again such as in the Prelude of BWV 535 and Chorale Prelude BWV 690 you hear exquisitely nuanced, […]
Outstanding Organ Recordings in DSD256 and DXD
View Original Article Okay, I admit it. I love a good organ recording. In my vinyl days, I had shelves upon shelves of excellent organ recordings on LP. Today, my digital library is somewhat bereft. There are lots of organ albums on CD, but piffle. I want full resolution. If I can’t have vinyl, then […]
Back to Paris
Here are two Norwegian musicians, Amalie Stalheim (cello) and Christian Ihle Hadland (piano), and composers from Russia and France. So what’s the result? A remarkably French recital– in the most positive sense. There’s a playfulness, and a lightness to the music that sends me back to Paris 100 years ago. Stravinsky lived in France at the […]
Three Discoveries of Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 11
Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 11, The Year 1905, is deeply rooted in Russian history. It was premiered in 1957 and commemorates the 1905 Russian Revolution, particularly the tragic events of Bloody Sunday. On January 22, 1905, thousands of peaceful demonstrators marched to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II. […]
Janowski Schumann Complete Symphonies
Robert Schumann was a German composer, pianist, and music critic. He was born in 1810 and died in 1856 after a lengthy battle with illness and depression. His approaches to thematic contrast, emotional narrative expression, and architectural innovation set precedents that later Romantics, like Brahms and Mahler, would expand upon. My first exposure to Schumann’s orchestral work […]
Rembrandt Trio ‘The Blue Hour’ in Pure DSD256
To Original Article Sometimes an album arrives on my shores that simply requires immediate comment because it is so deliciously good. This is one of those. The Blue Hour Sessions: Audiophile Jazz Recordings Rembrandt Frerichs, Rembrandt TrioJust Listen Records 2025 (Pure DSD256) Edit Master Sourced I have been a fan of pianist Rembrandt Frerichs for several […]
Recent Finds No. 36 – The NativeDSD Catalog Continues to Deliver Wonderful Recordings
Go To Original Article NativeDSD continues to earn highest recommendations from me as a preferred source for high resolution downloads. There are some labels they don’t have access to, unfortunately, but their catalog continues to grow with new labels showing up every few weeks. This means their new releases outpace my ability to write about […]