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Dear <<First Name>>,

This weekend we have a very nice and large collection of new DSD Albums for you. Make sure to take a look (and a listen)!

Kind regards,
Floor from NativeDSD Music

The album is the latest one with Double Bass player Renato Gattone who is also featured on two earlier DSD favorites - Les Chats Noir and Gypsy Jazz Trio - on the Forward Music Italy music label.

The history of American musicals has always been connected to Jazz music. Musicians like Gershwin, Porter, Berlin gave vital and precious lymph to the African American musical repertoire with their works and musical theatricality.

At first, Leonard Bernstein is an exception, because he does not appear in jazz songbooks as often as the above-mentioned colleagues. Nevertheless, he left some absolute masterpieces, full of engaging and touching arias. Among them, West Side Story decisively stands out as a poetical and heartbreaking modern revision of Romeo and Juliet.

The BFG trio based their repertoire on the most famous and evocative songs of such a precious musical: Maria, America, Tonight Cool, and Somewhere are unforgettable songs of Bernstein’s musical world.

On the album, the tunes are played as Jazz standards, but always with their own characteristic atmospheres.

All tracks were Recorded Live in studio with DSD technology and no overdubs. This album stayed within the DSD domain throughout the recording, mastering, delivery, and upload processes. This is a Pure DSD release, recorded in DSD 128 by Andrea Secchi. It is also a DSD Exclusive, Not Available on SACD album.

This album is exclusively available at the NativeDSD Music Store in Stereo, Binaural & 5 Channel DSD. It is a DSD Exclusive, Not Available on SACD release.

Watch a live concert video of the Terem Quartet on the album page:

Terem Quartet (pictured at the top of the newsletter)
Alexey Barshchev
Andrey Konstantinov
Andrey Smirnov
Vladimir Kudryavtsev

Through this recording The Hague String Trio aims to celebrate the discovery of these string trios as well as promote and shine a light on female composers who, in the past, have so often been overlooked. The album presents a wonderful quartet of four women composers, each with their own personal musical voice; refreshing and intriguing and all four with fascinating biographies, diverse cultural backgrounds, coming from four different countries and no less than three different continents.

The main work of the album is the impressive and romantic string trio by the English composer Dame Ethel Smyth, whose name and work is gradually gaining greater recognition. Her string trio work, composed during her studies in Leipzig, is perhaps the only large scale string trio composed by a woman in the 19th century.

In addition to this magnificent trio piece, The Hague String Trio presents a lyrical string trio by the Australian Miriam Hyde composed during her studies at the Royal College of Music in London. A suite of five sparkling miniatures by the Dutch composer and violinist Emmy Frensel Wegener, and a glorious fugue by the African-American composer Irene Britton Smith, a composer and school teacher from Chicago.

This is a Pure DSD release, recorded in DSD 256 (Stereo, Binaural, and 5 Channel) by Tom Peeters. The music stayed within the DSD domain throughout the recording, mastering, delivery and upload processes. This is a DSD Exclusive, Not Available on SACD release.

The Hague String Trio
Justyna Briefjes, Violin
Julia Dinerstein, Viola
Miriam Kirby, Cello

Just imagine, being asked whether you would be interested in a pile of copies of scores left over from the extensive collection of the legendary Christopher Hogwood (1941-2014), one of the British pioneers of the Early Music movement. This happened to harpsichordist Menno van Delft who, together with Artem Belogurov, one of his former Master students, worked through no less than twelve large boxes of historical material: a true voyage of discovery!

Working closely together, Belogurov and Van Delft brought order to the extensive collection. They also made a preliminary selection of works they wanted to perform, in which all possible combinations were imaginable, from solo to six-handed! But also a four-handed fugue for organ or a combination of harpsichord and fortepiano were among the possibilities.

The adventurous TRPTK label immediately expressed its interest in a recording project. Amerongen Castle was chosen as the location, a place that breathes music with its collection of historical instruments. Van Delft: “The music hall has fantastic acoustics and the residents were extremely hospitable. We were allowed to record there every evening for a fortnight, after the tours during the day. We really lived there.” Belogurov: “I was completely in love with the rare Kirkman harpsichord they have there. It is a beautiful instrument.”

Make sure to watch the teaser video on the album page:

Artem Belogurov
Menno Van Delft

Under the European influence, the Viceroyalty of New Spain developed a rich musical tradition between the 16th and 18th centuries. The ensemble Vox Cantoris reveals the treasures of these polyphonies sung in 1648 by the nuns of the Convent of Incarnation in Mexico city, which combines the hieratic Spanish style with the New World fervor.

This recording unveils an anonymous five-voice mass, parody of a famous Renaissance song titled “Susanne ung jour”, and an entire service of polyphonic Complines composed by Juan de Lienas, first native Mexican composer, whose music is related to great Spanish masters such as Morales, Victoria, or Guerrero.

The Greek Mass of Saint Denis is a genuine secular French musical tradition sung since the 11th century by the monks of Saint-Denis Abbey near Paris for the feast of Saint Denis the Aeropagite. Never stopping from evolving until the time of the Sun King (Louis 14) toward the plainsong version with the organ that this recording provides as a world premiere.

Rated 4 Stars by Diapason
Nominated at 2020 ICMA International Classical Music Awards

Vox Cantoris ensemble
Jean-Christophe Candau, Director

Musiche sacre concertate (Venezia 1656) is an anthology of Sacred Music composed by Francesco Cavalli. It is performed on this album from Fone by Sylvia Pozzer, Simonetta Cavalli, Vincenzo Di Donato, and Garrick Comeaux (Voices), Monica Pelliciari and Elisa Imbalzano (Violins), Daniele Cernuto (Cello), Pietro Prosser (Tuba), Accademia di Musica Antica, and the Ensemble Vocale e Strumentale di Rovereto conducted by Romano Vettori.

Francesco Cavalli was an important musical figure in 17th Century Venice. As a student of, and later, successor to Claudio Monteverdi, he was the leader of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice. He also served as head of the Venetian operatic school and was very highly regarded as a composer of religious and operatic music in his day. Unfortunately, he was reluctant to have his compositions published, and therefore, is virtually unknown to modern audiences.

Sylvia Pozzer – Soprano
Simonetta Cavalli – Mezzo Soprano
Vincenzo Di Donato – Tenor
Garrick Comeaux – Basso
Monica Pelliciari – Violin
Elisa Imbalzano – Violin
Daniele Cernuto – Cello
Pietro Prosser – Tuba
Accademia di Musica Antica
Ensemble Vocale e Strumentale di Rovereto
Romano Vettori, Conductor

The Violins of Cremona: Homage to Kreisler features Violinist Salvatore Accardo accompanied by pianist Laura Manzini on this recording from Fone. It features the works composed by Chopin, Korsakov, Schubert, Brahms and more. These selections have been chosen to honor Fritz Kreisler.

Accardo plays the finest music of Fritz Kreisler on several famous and treasured violin models produced by Amati, Guarneri, and Stradivari. It is the best of the best. The album is a treasure with violinist Accardo, pianist Manzini and the listener.

Salvatore Accardo – Violin
Laura Manzini – Piano

Schumann composed his Cello Concerto in about two weeks during November 1850. Before Schumann, few major composers had written cello concertos. Schumann avoids technical display for its own sake, allowing his characteristic poetic expression, intimacy, and fantasy to prevail.

Schumann originally scored the Fantasiestücke Opus 73 (1849) for clarinet and piano but simultaneously provided alternative arrangements for violin or cello. In his choice of clarinet Schumann was typically innovative. The three pieces are melodically interrelated, creating a unity underlined by the absence of breaks between them.

Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro in A flat major, Opus 70 dates from a week after the Fantasiestucke Opus 73. He originally intended his Opus 70 for the new valve horn, though he named cello, violin, or viola as alternative instruments. The piece is fully characteristic of Schumann’s Romantic spirit. The expansive and dreamily romantic Adagio gives way to an Allegro with a leaping, joyful main theme.

Just as Schumann had wanted “popular elements” to prevail in his Rhenish Symphony (1850), the Fünf stücke im Volkston (1849) are correspondingly simple, tuneful, and accessible. Nevertheless, Schumann’s creative imagination and wide expressive range are no less apparent.

Ella says “I would like to invite you into a world I love dearly. The fantasy rich world of Robert Schumann’s music. As a child I was intrigued by what I sensed to be the captivating and magical inner world of Schumann’s music. Years later I came to understand that the raw intuition that drew me to this music as a child was a spellbinding quality that characterizes Schumann’s music and to this day fascinates me.”

Make sure to watch the teaser video with recording session footage on the album page:

Ella van Poucke – Cello
Jean Claude Vanden Eynden – Piano
Phion Orchestra of Gelderland & Overijssel
Gunter Neuhold – Conductor

His rendition of Goldbergs sums up all the features of a ‘contemporary’ interpretation at the highest degree:

• Transparent, detailed, and crystal clear phrasing: each and all notes are discernible.

• A supreme – but not artificial nor mannered – control and care of tone and sound: touch, color and timbre are all fruit of a clearly deep insight and work.

• A smooth flow of the discourse: a solid overall concept of the work structure and a plain, simple (never emphasized) ‘singing’ of the melodic line. (Even when he takes a slow tempo – as in the famous Variation no. 25, about 30% slower than usual – he always sustains the melody, which means it is not the tempo that makes the melody living, but the capacity to make it flow, to ‘connect’ sounds and silences).

• These Goldbergs are not told as a narrative: it is not a dramatic tale, but the architectural structure is well visible. It is not a story. It is a three-dimensional visual work of art.

• Northern Star productions gives Minnaar the sound that perfectly matches his concept of the work. The rest is made by the unique Chris Maene Straight Strung Concert Grand CM005 piano generously supplied by Piano’s Maene.

This is a ‘Goldberg’ for the 21st Century.

Hannes Minnaar – Piano

“(…) Chopin’s magical inventions continue to enchant. That’s why there are never enough recordings of his music. On condition though that the interpreter understands his language. This new release proves it beyond any shade of doubt.

(…) Great music and great soloists, like Anna Fedorova, deserve the best possible sound reproduction to lift the music into the reality of a concert experience at home. The Pure DSD engineering by Channel Classics obliges and my ears concur: The concert grand sounds like a concert grand. What else do we need to make a dream come true?”

Copyright © 2021 Adrian Quanjer and HRAudio

Each week, we select one incredible DSD Album from the catalogue, and offer it at 25% Off for 7 days.

“Right from the voice-bass intro on “My Heart Stood Still”, you know that this is to be no run-of-the-mill program.”
— Frankie Nemko, Jazz Times

An immediate reaction may be to notice the exceptional diction and enunciation and the distinctive phrasing that McGarry demonstrates. It’s not surprising to learn that her greatest influences have been such unique stylists as Jon Hendricks, Betty Carter, and Mark Murphy, as well as the great lady of jazz vocals, Ella Fitzgerald.

Easy To Love is a One Microphone Recording by Producer, Recording Engineer and Tube Audio Designer David Manley from Vacuum Tube Logic (VTL). It was recorded direct to Stereo Analog Tape using a single Manley Gold Reference Stereo Condenser Microphone and a 2-track Studer C37 Analog Tape Deck updated by VTL mechanically that contains only the Manley pure tube circuitry.

Kate McGarry – Vocals
Paul Kreibich – Drums
Karen Hammack – Piano
Eric Von Essen – Bass

Thank you for reading our newsletter. Have a nice weekend and hope see you again next week.

Kind regards, Floor