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Dear <<First Name>>,

We have just released lots of New & Excellent DSD Music. And even these newest releases are reduced in price in your cart, as our Storewide Sale continues for another week. 😄

Can You Recommend Some DSD Jazz?
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 recommend using the NativeDSD Downloader app for Windows and Mac to download your purchases. No more un-zipping is needed. Available in your account.

Happy Storewide* Sale shopping from all of us at NativeDSD.

*Price reduction is automatically applied during checkout. Valid on all Downloads, SACDs and LPs (only Analog Tapes are excluded). Ends May 28, end of day, CET. The next storewide sale is not expected until the end of November of this year.

A Fine Line In Between
Roland Heidrich & The Abstract is a Hungarian band. They play a mixture of Avant Garde Jazz, Progressive Rock, and bitter-sweet Hungariana.

Although The Abstract plays Roland’s compositions and musical concepts, these serve mostly as a canvas for further possibilities and creativity. Their music responds to a broad range of genres, styles, and emotions. It is among their goals to play the widest musical and dynamic range possible.

The themes that could be easily recognized as “songs,” provide the framework for an adventure. An adventure where the trio gets to display their musical talents in a broad variety of settings and styles

Roland Heidrich
Roland Heidrich is a Hungarian experimental guitarist and composer. His music and playing has broad influences from modern Jazz, Blues, Progressive Rock to Avant Garde and Free Improvised music.

He played acoustic guitars for 10 years, explored the opportunities on the 8 string classical guitar, 16 string guitar and fretless 8 strings, before his return to the electric guitar and his original sound imaginations.

In the last couple of years he mostly plays electric guitar. He has played guitar with musicians including István Grencsó, Róbert Benkő, Alf Wilhelm Lundberg, Ralf Gauck, Zoltán Lantos, Thomas Gundermann, Mark Wingfield, and Kevin Kastning.

Roland Heidrich – Guitar
Csaba Pengő – Double Bass
Zsolt Sárvári Kovács – Drums

Special Guests:
János Ávéd – Tenor and Soprano Saxophone
Gergő Kováts – Baritone Saxophone

“Champaka” is exclusively available from NativeDSD and attractively Champaka is exclusively available from NativeDSD Music. It is attractively priced to invite you to take a listen to the music of White Lotus ahead of the full album’s release date! This single will be track 3 of the 12-track album release in DSD and DXD at NativeDSD Music.

This DSD and DXD Single coincides with the Grammy.com interview - Pipa Master Min Xiao-Fen On The “Harmony And Balance” Of Traditional Chinese Music & Her New Album, ‘White Lotus.’ That interview has just been published for your reading enjoyment here.

The upcoming White Lotus album also features the music of acclaimed guitarist and 2021 Guggenheim Fellow recipient Rez Abbasi. It has been co-producer by multi-Grammy winning recording engineer and producer Jim Anderson and Grammy-nominated immersive sound producer Ulrike Schwarz - the team at Anderson Audio New York.

Min Xiao-Fen - Ruan
Rez Abbasi - Guitar

In this new recording from 2xHD, Forestare Ensemble features music from an unusual ensemble of 12 guitars, 2 double basses and occasional percussion. The album offers a fresh, 21st Century glance at the baroque era.

Forestare’s modern guitar arrangement gives a new perspective to this traditional music which is normally played by small string chamber ensembles with the occasional wind instruments. The energy emanating from the players make this a captivating introduction to the Classical Music genre in a contemporary way, without betraying the authenticity of these timeless compositions.

The audiophile DXD recording took place at the Saint Augustin Church in Mirabel, Canada, which is known for its fine acoustics.

★★★★★
‘’The best guitar ensemble of the moment’’
– Oscar Ohlsen, founder, Chili’s Radio Beethoven, ‘Guitarra’ program

★★★★ ½
“Forestare Baroque – 2xHD. An innovation that’s truly out of the ordinary, appealing to all Baroque and guitar enthusiasts.”
– Journal de Montréal

TRPTK describes the new album Reverie as ‘meditative music that arises in the moment.’

QOPE is the pseudonym of Bart Koop. Koop comes from a musical family and has been fascinated by keyboard instruments all his life.

Once he took his first steps in classical piano. But soon QOPE chose his own path. Self-taught, he also threw himself into composing and making music in a band.

His Earlier Releases at NativeDSD
For the adventurous TRPTK music label, he made the album ‘Paper Motion’ (TTK 0006) in 2016 with his eponymous band. It was one of the first DXD rock recordings. A production that makes ample use of electronics.

He then sought musical intimacy in ‘Nocturnal’ (TTK 0024). A solo exercise with the musician behind the grand piano in Schiedam’s Westvestkerk: a place praised for its atmosphere and acoustics.

In its artistic narrative, QOPE is closely linked to the Neo Classical movement with composers such as Max Richter, Jóhann Jóhannson and Nik Bärtsch. Music that seems to arise in the moment and has a kind of healing effect on the listener.

The Same Spot
The new album ‘Reverie’ (TTK 0074) was recorded in the same place and follows the themes of ‘Nocturnal’. Meditative and often cyclical musical expressions, with a spontaneous character.

QOPE is extremely critical of the adjustment of the grand piano. He makes ample use of sustain, using space as a second instrument.

Rarely have you heard the piano sound fade away so beautifully, for which of course the high end recording by TRPTK engineer Brendon Heinst also guarantees. A symbiosis that leads to an irresistible musical result.

Improvisation
Titles like ‘Lament,’ ‘Reverie,’ ‘Liminal Spaces’ and ‘Running Still’ speak for themselves. In QOPE’s music, which is improvised, time seems to stand still: the listener is forced to clear his head and create space for new thoughts and creativity.

QOPE gives, as it were, a prompt and whispers encouragement to his listeners. Something that, especially in this world that is so complicated and infested with the corona virus, is a particularly welcome artistic gesture.

Listen to the romantic ‘You Were Not Really Here,’ the hopeful ‘The Vastness of Light,’ the percussive ‘Time Lapses’ or the exciting ‘Underneath the Umbrella Pines.’ Music to let wash over you: a moment of relaxation in complicated times.

– Ronald Smit for Alpha Audio

The table is hereby set for the second and final recording of Vasily Petrenko and Oslo Philharmonic’s releases with symphonic works of Sergei Prokofiev and Nikolai Myaskovsky.

“…indecently lush string sound…” The Arts Desk on Prokofiev 5/Myaskovsky 21

Both Prokofiev and Myaskovsky, who were close friends, suffered under the oppressive Soviet regime, and, in the course of their careers, had to compose with threats of artistic censorship hanging over them.

Prokofiev composed Symphony No. 6 in E-flat minor, Op. 111, between 1945 and February 1947, though some of his sketches date from 1944 before he completed the fifth symphony. It is written for large orchestra and is a profound and personal work with an unmistakable tragic element. He said himself that this symphony was inspired in part by the war years: “Now we are rejoicing in our great victory, but each of us has wounds that cannot be healed.” Myaskovsky completed the last of his symphonies in C minor, Op. 85 in November 1949. His 27 works in this genre are so strikingly varied in character that is virtually impossible to define a “typical” Myaskovsky symphony.

No. 27 is referred to as one of his most popular, even though his music was hardly performed outside of Russia. Prokofiev described the music of his good friend in this way: “Myaskovsky was something of a philosopher his music is intelligent, passionate, somber and self-absorbed.”

Melody is something I have been passionate about throughout my career as a composer. Crafting a melody that is captivating yet simultaneously original and unpredictable. What, exactly, makes a melody “good”? I’ve been looking into this for years. From studying Palestrina’s strict rules, all the way to studying the American songwriters who created the great “Evergreens” catalog.

Writing for the voice is of great interest to me – especially musical drama. Throughout my years as a composer, I’ve composed songs. Everything from opera arias to simple songs. This album unites several genres I’ve worked on. The songs are based on opera, musicals, theatre, folk song programs and poetry evenings. What unites them is my love for poetry. And on this album, you will make the acquaintance of the poets I admire the most.

Summer is the main theme you’ll sense here. The bright summer. The light that gives life, but which eventually turns into darkness – the summer that passes into autumn. The cycle of life and nature.

Liv Holtskog’s poem “So Short The Summer” we all have tells us that everything is perishable. Summer is short. Life is short. But as Ruth Maier writes: “The days get brighter when you’re in love with someone.”

Shakespeare writes “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?,” while in sonnet 33 he describes how the sun is darkened by clouds when his beloved deceives him. In his poem “Don’t Ask For Love” Wildenvey writes: “After a spring and a summer, autumn crushes it all – heavy, hard, and cold.”

I’ve been really looking forward to this album. It is a gift for a composer to have his songs performed by such wonderful artists as Marianne Beate Kielland and Nils Anders Mortensen. Grateful, proud, and happy!

- Gisle Kverndokk (composer)

Marianne Beate Kielland - Mezzo-Soprano
Nils Anders Mortensen - Piano

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 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! Especially since all 9 of these fine DSD Jazz albums are part of our storewide DSD Sale.

Brian Moura tells us:

It seems like an easy question to answer. NativeDSD is known for its extensive catalog of Jazz albums in DSD with hundreds of titles available. But which ones to recommend?

In answering the question, I selected 9 Jazz favorites of mine. Interestingly, all 9 of the Jazz favorites are DSD Exclusive, Not Available on SACD releases.

Below you will find the 9 albums I recommended – in the blog post you can read a few comments on why. I invite you to drop by the NativeDSD Music Store and consider these albums the next time you go DSD Jazz shopping.

These too are 15% off!

Thank you for reading our newsletter.

Hope to see you again next week, when we will publish a new edition of ‘Dodd’s DSD Discoveries,’ in which he highlights his personal Classical DSD Favorites in a new blog publication.

Kind regards, Floor