We follow the fortunes of the steadfast, open-hearted Elijah, and encounter ministering angels and the vengeful queen Jezebel. The London Symphony Chorus and four electrifying soloists give voice to the oratorio in English, as in its first premiere. Gerald Finley breathes life into the role of Elijah, and the Orchestra ramps up the drama without losing sight of the stillness at the heart of the storm.

Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, Soprano (The Widow, Angel)
Sarah Connolly, Mezzo-Soprano (The Queen – Jezebel, Angel)
Allan Clayton, Tenor (Obadiah, Ahab)
Gerald Finley, Bass-Baritone (Elijah)
Ewan Christian, Treble (Child)

The Guildhall Singers
Linnhe Robertson, Vocal Coach

London Symphony Chorus
Mariana Rosas, Chorus Director

London Symphony Orchestra 
Sir Antonio Pappano, Conductor 

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In 1735 he composed the Italian Concerto in F Major, which, as a result of his meticulous research combined with genius, became one of Bach’s most popular works. It is followed by Ludwig van Beethoven’s ‘Waldtsein’ Sonata. The composer’s Op. 53 in C Major is one of the greatest sonatas in the piano repertoire and the twenty-first work of his in the genre.

Also in three movements, it opens with the taut rhythm of horses galloping. After a brief Intermezzo, the third movement is grandiose, reminiscent of a sunrise. The two concluding movements of the concert are the best-known works in Liszt’s cycle of Paganini etudes.

It was the playing of his contemporary, the great Italian violinist, that inspired the Hungarian composer-pianist to translate the virtuosic and profound playing of Niccolo Paganini, who had mastered the violin to the highest level, into the possibilities offered by the piano. Thus were born the Paganini etudes, known as the greatest challenge of all, of which the sixth in A Minor and the third in G Sharp Minor, the bells, better known as “La campanella”, are the most known.

As an encore, the concert will feature Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s choral work “Ave verum corpus”,
arranged for piano by Ferenc Liszt. The work, one of the composer’s last, is rich in subtlety and depth.

Misi Boros, Yamaha CFX Concert Grand Piano

The post Times Of The Day: Morning, Daylight, Evening (Triple Album) [Pure DSD] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

In this 1720 score, Johann Sebastian Bach laid the foundation that would shape the future of the violin in Western music. While building on the contributions of earlier composers, his meticulous craftsmanship—a true compendium of the instrument’s virtues—and his vision in terms of musical conception and performance render these Six Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin a cornerstone. No self-respecting violinist can ignore them, as they serve both as a fundamental study and a lofty aspiration.

There is no separation between the performer and the music; their expressive power and technical demands require a lifelong dedication. This is exactly what the excellent violinist Gisella Curtolo tells us:

“In Spanish, grabar means to leave a mark on a surface, on stone… on a CD. It is something lasting, like a “sculpture of sounds.” It is a way to communicate the culmination of our journey, akin to scaling a mountain and reaching the summit, achieving something “epic” that we have been carefully preparing and envisioning year after year. There comes a moment in musicians’ life when they feel like the right time to “record” what they have been playing, teaching, and perfecting for many years.

This is how I felt as I approached the recording of this immense masterpiece, one of the pillars of the repertoire for violinists of the past, present, and surely the future. My interpretation is the result of all my musical experiences, which have taken root and become deeply embedded in my bowing technique and sensitivity.”

Gisella Curtolo, violin

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J. B. Loeillet’s Six Suites for the Harpsichord is part of a larger project that aims to explore the distinctive elements of a nation’s music and their occurrence in the literature composed for keyboard instruments in the 17th and 18th centuries. It attempts also to further consider the validity of the term ‘national schools’ and to isolate elements characteristic of indigenous cultures.

The inspiration for such explorations came from work on the recording of the album ‘Basque keyboard music of the 18th century based on the collection of Padre Donostia ‘Musica de Tecla en el País Vasco Siglo XVIII’. Of particular interest in this research aspect is the work of composers from the broadly Flemish music circle in the broadest sense, active in the international sphere due to their their various origins, place of residence and numerous journeys.

Such composers included Jean Baptiste Loeillet, born in Ghent and working for most of his life in London, fascinated by the stylistic diversity and the most inspiring influences of the multinationals. Loeillet’s suites are very interesting comparative pieces – they are mature, expansive and very interesting in terms of texture, they also testify conclusively to the composer’s considerable melodic ingenuity of the composer.

In addition to J.B. Loeillet’s Six Suites, the project has produced a recording of Pieter Bustijn – IX Suites and a recording of the harpsichord works of J.H. Fiocco is planned.

Maria Banaszkiewicz-Bryla, Harpsichord

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The American conductor confesses that, during a performance of Tristan, Wagner was suddenly revealed to him as ‘a dreamer’ full of ‘humility, tenderness, vulnerability and generosity’. Swensen has made a point of following the chronology of the operas and respecting the original music:

‘My solemn promise to Wagner was that, aside from the occasional solo timpani roll denoting the passage of time, I would not change or add a single note to his masterpiece.’ An enthralling traversal, recorded at a memorable concert and delivered by exceptionally committed singers and instrumentalists.

Christiane Libor, Soprano
Michael Weinius, Tenor
Derek Welton, Bass-Baritone
Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine
Joseph Swensen, Conductor

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Dvořák’s nine symphonies are among the most varied of any composed in the nineteenth century. The last three in particular show an astonishing range of style and expression reflecting the markedly different circumstances in which they were written: the Seventh composed for an enthusiastic London audience in England in 1885, the Eighth, conceived in the Bohemian countryside in 1889, primarily for himself, and the Symphony ‘From the New World’ (Z nového světa), as its title suggests, written during his time in America reflecting the excitement of new surroundings and influences. Between composing the eighth and ninth symphonies, Dvořák’s muse took off in a more programmatic direction with the overture cycle, Nature, Life and Love. Although each has a clear mood and narrative, and sharing a distinctive melodic idea, they are also powerfully symphonic.

Note: the audio samples below only represent Volume 1 of this double album. When you purchase this double album, you will receive both Volume 1 and Volume 2 which will contain all three symphonies. We are working to add ‘Symphony no. 9’ to the audio samples below.

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra
Semyon Bychkov, Chief Conductor and Music Director

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For Henrik Dam Thomsen, solo cellist in Danish National Symphony Orchestra, J.S. Bach: Six Suites for Cello Solo are an integral part of his life, just as they are for all top-flight cellists. During the Covid shutdown, Henrik Dam Thomsen had the opportunity to immerse himself yet deeper into the Bach suites.

‘When one plays the suites, one is obliged to undertake many choices with regard to all the knowledge about Baroque music now available.’ Thomsen felt it was important to remain true to his own instrument and perform on his regular cello, a Francesco Ruggieri built in 1680, using modern strings, played with a conventional bow and tuned to the usual 442 Hz. These choices ensured the best homogeneity for the suites as a whole.

Nobody knows why Johann Sebastian Bach composed his six suites for solo cello. Nor does anybody know how it came about that the suites were soon afterwards consigned to oblivion and more than a century before a 13-year-old Spanish musical prodigy discovered a worn copy of the score in a second-hand bookstore store in Barcelona. For the next 11 years Pablo Casals practiced them every day. Finally, in 1936, he entered London’s Abbey Road studios to record the second and third suites for the first time. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, Bach’s cello suites have become a rite of passage for all aspiring cellists.

The suites were recorded in the burnished acoustics of the Baroque Garnisons Church (Garnisons Kirke) in Copenhagen, beautifully captured in the DXD format (352.8 kHz/24bit) by Mikkel Nymand.

Both volumes of the album are available at a discounted price when purchased together in this DSD Bundle.

Notice: the audio samples listed below only contain the Suites from Vol. 2. When you purchase this Double Album bundle you will receive both Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, comprising all 6 suites. We are working to correct this issue with the audio samples below.

Henrik Dam Thomsen, Cello

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The music is unique and not your typical ’80s branded Japanese ambient style. With elements of New Age, Jazz Fusion, Blues, Rock, and Bossa Nova merged together for a sound that “hadn’t been heard before.”

Bass Clarinet – Ned Rothenberg
Cello – Hank Roberts
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Guitar, Voice, Synthesizer [Sp12] – Arto Lindsay
Keyboards – Carol Emanuel
Marimba [Box] – Michael Blair
Saxophone – John Zorn
Synth [Key-bass] – Peter Scherer
Synthesizer [Sp12], Keyboards, Charango – Seigen Ono
Viola – Jill Jaffe
Saxophone – John Lurie

The post Comme des Garcons (Like Boys) [Double Album] [Pure DSD] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Recorded live in concert at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in 2023, this album sees the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sir Mark Elder join forces with Lyon Opera Chorus, Maîtrise des Bouches-du-Rhône, the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra, and an incredible cast of soloists to bring to life Meyerbeer’s visionary historical drama, Le Prophète (The Prophet).

The opera is based on a true story. In the 1500s, a charismatic innkeeper was converted to Anabaptism by itinerant preachers. After becoming a preacher himself, he came to Münster and established a tyrannical rule, renaming it Jerusalem and proclaiming himself king, before later being killed.

Add to this a bride who is a fighter, and the most formidable mother figure ever shown on an operatic stage, and Le prophète is the quintessential grand opera – a spectacular large-scale work that made the Paris Opera the leading stage in Europe, and Meyerbeer a composer admired and envied by the greatest.

An indisputable highlight of the festival was July 15’s concert performance of Le prophète. […] The evening was broadcast live on Radio France, but the achievement of Elder and everyone else here deserves wider currency and it would be tragic if a recording was not forthcoming”
– Opera Magazine

“This was certainly a night to remember”
– OperaWire

London Symphony Orchestra
Sir Mark Elder, Conductor

Lyon Opera Chorus
Maîtrise des Bouches-du-Rhône
Mediterranean Youth Orchestra

John Osborn – Jean de Leyde
Elizabeth DeShong – Fidès
Mané Galoyan – Berthe
James Platt – Zacharie
Edwin Crossley-Mercer – Le comte d’Oberthal
Guilhem Worms – Mathisen
Valerio Contaldo – Jonas
Maxime Melnik, Hugo Santos, David Sánchez – Soldats

The post Meyerbeer: Le Prophète (The Prophet) [Triple Album] appeared first on NativeDSD Music.

Carcassi is a very well-known name among every guitar player in the world thanks to his famous “25 Études Mélodiques op.60”, and his “Six Caprices op.26”. Unfortunately until now those were the only pieces really known by guitarists.

We thought Carcassi’s solo guitar music deserves much more recognition among not only guitar players but music lovers in general. So here it is, the first volume of a few to come, including the already mentioned “25 Études Mélodiques op.60” and “Six Caprices op.26” as well as the first world recording of his “Trois Sonatinas Op.1”, the beautiful “Variations on “La Capricciosa Corretta” op.6” and the charming 24 short pieces op.21 called “Les recreations des commençans” in a double album of 120 minutes.

We welcome all guitar and music lovers to rediscover a great XIX century composer through our Carcassi Project.

Agustín Maruri, Guitarist

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