Pianist Mari Kodama celebrates the Bruckner bicentenary year with Bruckner: Piano Works, a collection of piano works, most of which are rarely heard. While some of them, such as the Fantasie, Erinnerung and Stille Betrachtung, reveal the serious symphonist and church composer, the many dances included on this album illuminate a lighter side of the composer.

In general, hearing his approach to the piano enriches our understanding of this enigmatic genius. As much of the material was taken from study sketch books, these pieces allow us a look into the workshop of this ever-searching spirit. To Kodama, the Bruckner that appears from his works is in many ways more interesting than the various, cliché-ridden accounts of his life and character.

Instead, Kodama aims to paint a nuanced Bruckner portrait, gaining depth thanks to the original selection and perspective. Mari Kodama is one of the most extraordinary pianists of our age and has an impressive discography, featuring Beethoven’s complete piano sonatas (2003-2014), piano concertos of Loewe and Chopin (2003), Tchaikovsky Ballet Suites for Piano Duo (2016), De Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain (2017), Martinů’s Concerto for Two Pianos (2018), Kaleidoscope: Beethoven Transcriptions and MON AMI Mon amour (both 2020), New Paths (2022) and Mozart & Poulenc Double & Triple Concertos (2024).

Mari Kodama, Piano 

The post Bruckner: Piano Works appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Save 20% on this and 2 other albums with the Rafael Payare DSD Bundle

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and its Music Director Rafael Payare celebrate Arnold Schoenberg’s 150th birthday with a recording of two of his late-Romantic masterworks: Pelleas und Melisande and Verklärte Nacht.
Both pieces are based on stories evolving around love, jealousy, acceptance and forgiveness, and showcase Schoenberg’s expressive harmonic language and scintillating, multifarious orchestration. The album booklet features unique photography and paintings by Arnold Schoenberg, sketching a vivid picture of this extraordinarily versatile artist. After their acclaimed PENTATONE recordings of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony (2023), as well as his Rückert-Lieder and Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben (2024), Payare and the orchestra further explore this late-Romantic repertoire that fits them like a glove.

Orchestre symphonique de Montréal 
Rafael Payare – Music Director

The post Schoenberg: Pelleas und Melisande & Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) [Exclusive Early Release] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Where The Path Runs Straight And High is the 3rd album from the Hazelrigg Brothers on Outer Marker Records.  It is their tribute to the Music of Led Zeppelin recorded in Pure DSD 256. Exclusively available at NativeDSD in the recorded format and bit rate of Stereo Pure DSD 256!

The album follows their earlier releases Songs We Like: Deluxe Edition [Pure DSD] and Synchronicity: An Interpretation of the album by The Police. Both available at NativeDSD as well as their recent appearance on the album Time To Be Brave by Corrie Lynn Green & Her Band with the Hazelrigg Brothers.

As children of the nineteen-eighties, the Hazelrigg Brothers grew up with a variety of excellent music. From jazz fusion to synthesizer-driven pop to rock, the music industry was alive with innovation. At the same time, the classic rock radio format was born.

Led Zeppelin was, for us and many of our peers growing up (musicians and otherwise), the most significant in the pantheon of recording artists that now define so much of American, British, and world culture. They sat at an intersection of Elizabethan music, delta blues, and the technology of the day. Each member was a master of their instrument(s), and the ensemble was greater than their sum.

Where the Path Runs Straight and High is an adaptation and distillation of these elements into the format where we live a large portion of our musical lives: An intimate acoustic trio setting, not wielding the sheer sound pressure levels of a concert at Madison Square Garden, but with our careful attention on extracting the nectar of the genius in these songs.

Hazelrigg Brothers
George Hazelrigg, Piano
Geoff Hazelrigg, Double Bass
John O’Reilly, Drums

PLEASE NOTE The 2ch DXD version may download and show the name dxd-bi meaning binaural, but it is indeed the normal Stereo 2 channel version. We are working on correcting this naming issue.

The post Where The Path Runs Straight And High: Music of Led Zeppelin [Pure DSD] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

This is the 10th release from Michael Kevin Jones at NativeDSD. The album is Exclusively Available in Stereo DSD 512, DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64 and the recorded format and bit rate of 32 Bit DXD from NativeDSD.

The idea of Cello Meditation comes from the beautiful opera by Massenet “Thaïs”. You will enjoy here many familiar melodies heard before in a violin piano combination but not that often on a cello.

Our Cello Meditation ranges from Bach and Handel to Rachmaninoff, Fauré, Massenet, Gounod, Schumann. A very special composition closes the program: Max Bruch’s “Kol Nidrei” a feast for cello fans and everyone else.

Michael Kevin Jones, Violoncello
John Bryden, Piano

The post Cello Meditation appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Chopin Voyage marks pianist Yulianna Avdeeva‘s Triumphant Return to Chopin. Fourteen years after her victory at the XVI International Chopin Piano Competition, Steinway Artist Yulianna Avdeeva documents her journey with the music of Frédéric Chopin.

Voyage focuses on his late works, all composed while surrounded by nature. Avdeeva has recorded them at the rustic Tippet Rise Art Center in Montana, against the serene backdrop of the Beartooth Mountains.

A pianist of fiery temperament and virtuosity, Avdeeva plays with power, conviction, and sensibility, having won over audiences all over the world. She returns to Pentatone after her acclaimed debut with the album Resilience, also available at NativeDSD.

She says “For as long as I’ve been playing the piano, the music of Chopin has been a constant source of inspiration and enlightenment. Particularly the music from his later years, which this recording documents; it always reveals something new. The subtle nuances, which you only begin to perceive over time, whether you’re performing the music or listening attentively, capture something indefinable about the essence of our shared humanity.” 

Yulianna Avdeeva, Pianist 

The post Chopin Voyage appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Piano Piano Piano is a collection dedicated to recordings by Famous Jazz Pianists. Featuring 18 songs with over 90 minutes of music, the album travels through periods and different styles. Ranging from famed Jazz Stars like Bill Evans, Monty Alexander, Bob James, Hank Jones, Les McCann, Teddy Wilson and Dick Hyman.  The album also includes a song performed by pianist Martin Vatter which will be part of a future release at NativeDSD.

The selections on the album from the catalogs of Jazzology Records, Resonance Records, Storyville Records and others were transferred from Stereo Analog Tape to 24 Bit DXD by Rene Laflamme at 2xHD Mastering.  NativeDSD is making the available in Stereo DSD 512, DSD 256, DSD 128, DSD 64 and DXD 24 bit from the Edit Master Source.  This is a rare and complete collection that 2xHD was thrilled to assemble.

The L.A. Network (Track 1)
Dick Hyman (Track 2)
Bill Evans (Tracks 3, 5, 15)
Monty Alexander (Track 4)
Martin Vatter (Track 6)
Piltich & Davis (Track 7)
Hank Jones (Track 8)
Dorothy Donegan (Track 9)
Les McCann (Track 10)
Teddy Wilson Trio (Tracks 11, 14)
Derek Smith (Tracks 12, 17)
Sir Roland Hanna (Track 13)
Bob James (Track 16)
Tamir Hendelman (Track 18)

The post Piano Piano Piano appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Both of these violin concertos were written for the legendary Joseph Joachim, who had a hand in shaping the final form of both pieces, although ultimately his changes to the Schumann were rejected by the composer.

The highly original, introverted and melancholic concerto is a moving self-portrait of the 43-year-old Schumann a few years before his death, and Bruch’s No. 1 is one of the most beloved concertos of the entire repertoire.

Niek Baar, Violin
Deutsche Radio Philharmonie
Christoph Poppen, Conductor

The post Schumann & Bruch Violin Concertos appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Having listened for over half a century to tens of thousands of recordings of Mozart’s music, be it piano music, string quartets, symphonies, operas, et al, I have been hugely energized by these recordings, not because they are so great, but because they are usually so terrible.

Any ten fingers of almost any pianist can play these relatively simple notes, that however require an altogether different pianist to metamorphose them into music. Since experiencing Mozart primarily as a youngster playing my first sonatas and concertos, I immediately felt there were deeper layers than just the melodic oil slick floating at the surface, so have been steadfastly cutting away 200 years of accumulated varnish, and drilling down to the nub of Mozart’s music throughout my long career as a concert performer. The objective – lifting Mozart’s Sonatas out of the Egyptian section of museums and breathing new life into them. Though not a fortepianist, I still adhere closer to his markings than most pianists, but try to imagine how he might have played these sonatas on the modern Steinway.

The subterranean – often chromatic voices and harmonies in Mozart’s music reveal him demonstrably as a composer far greater than merely a gifted melodist, and this is why I have called this series of recordings of the complete Mozart Piano Sonatas – Hidden Voices.

Gil Sullivan, Piano

The post Hidden Voices: Mozart Piano Sonatas, Volume V [Pure DSD] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

The journey from darkness to light begins with Scriabin’s terrifying “Black Mass” Sonata. The work represents a satanic ritual that is possessed by the specter of the Mephistophelian Liszt. De Falla’s Suite from El Amor brujo conjures a mysterious world, full of magic, rituals and ghost visitations. Ravel described his Gaspard de la nuit as “romantic and of transcendent virtuosity”.

These highly evocative pieces are based on Aloysius Bertrand’s prose poems depicting scenes of a hanged man sighing on the gallows and a devilish dwarf. Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition portrays many scenes of darkness but emerges into light with the Great Gate of Kiev, in which triumphant episodes alternate with moments of religious contemplation.\

Often some great actors are more excited about the roles of villains over heroes because they are limitless in terms of interpretation and always give room to try new things and go to extremes in search of your character. I guess I could relate to that. And it’s so fascinating to explore the different ways of four composers I chose for this album and their approach to the darkness, mystery and supernatural.

Read the full exclusive interview here.

Anna Fedorova, Piano

The post Intrigues Of The Darkness [Pure DSD] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

The new edition of the Grammy Award winning album Modern Cool by Patricia Barber on Impex Records is Exclusively Available at NativeDSD.Com in Stereo & 5.1 Channel Surround Sound DSD 256, DSD 128 and DXD, Stereo DSD 512 and 5.1 Channel Surround Sound Dolby Atmos TrueHD and DTS MA MKV (with no height channels)

Patricia Barber’s Modern Cool was the recording that made Barber an International Jazz Star with a classic version of Light My Fire, first made famous by The Doors.

On the initial tour for this album, Barber played a four night stand at The Jazz Standard in New York where she was heard by Bruce Lundvall of Blue Note Records. This led to a string of Barber recordings for both Premonition and Blue Note, worldwide touring and unapologetic critical acclaim from which Barber never looked back.

Audiophiles were well aware of Barber from her 1994 Premonition recording Cafe Blue. Sonically, Modern Cool copied the Cafe Blue playbook: same recording studio, engineer, and recording approach. Musically, Barber added trumpeter Dave Douglas to her stellar working band and showcased her original compositions more than on any previous recording.

Grammy-Winning Audiophile Classic now with many First Time features:

• First time Modern Cool has been offered as a digital download
• Issued in Stereo & 5.1 Channel Surround Sound digital formats which Patricia Barber prefers for “maximum clarity and definition”

Sonically, one of the best recordings ever made by a Jazz Singer with small acoustic ensemble.
–Downbeat, rated 5 stars

Smart songs about the way we think and live, not just about the way we love. This is the kind of art we need to be on the lookout for everywhere. The 21st century has started. We can’t afford to be left behind.
–New York Times

An Album To Die For.
–Stereophile

NOTICE: For the time being, Dolby Atmos MKV dowloads are provided as direct download dropbox links and are not available for download through the downloader app. The download link will be supplied at checkout.

The post Modern Cool appeared first on NativeDSD Music.