Now Available in Stereo Pure DSD 512, DSD 256 and DSD 64!
For their second release at NativeDSD, Outer Marker brings us Murmurations from pianist Marcia Hadjimarkos. This is a Stereo Pure DSD 128 recording that is exclusively available in the recorded format and bit rate at NativeDSD Music – and now in Stereo Pure DSD 512, DSD 256 and DSD 64.
Murmurations features Marcia Hadjimarkos performing on an 1887 New York Steinway Model B. The album is a One Microphone Recording captured with an AEA R88 Stereo Ribbon Microphone through two channels of D.W. Fearn all-tube Preamplfication direct to Stereo DSD 128. Additional ambience was provided by a Lexicon 224X Digital Reverb.
Marcia tells us about the album “After a long gestation period due to the pandemic, I can’t believe Murmurations is finally taking flight! I’m excited and honored to join Native DSD’s great lineup of musicians, and extend heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped to shape the album.”
What brings these pieces together? They span and slightly overlap the 20th Century, with Satie’s Gnossiennes and Danses de Travers dating from the tail end of the 19th century (when the piano used on this recording was built), Pärt’s Für Anna Maria written in 2006, and the works of Cage, Monk, Tailleferre, Glass, Mompou and Skempton falling in between.
Eight composers, all associated with minimalism to a greater or lesser degree, born in the United States, France, England, Spain, and Estonia. Eight approaches to resonance, pattern, repetition, layering, phrasing, form, color, touch, texture, and volume on the piano.
The ways their music dovetails remind me of a murmuration, a cloud of iridescent starlings swirling and shape-shifting through the sky at dusk, seemingly at random but in fact governed by each bird’s observation of the seven other birds nearest it. So: a small murmuration of seven, plus one extra for luck, inspired by the enthusiasm of friends, students, and other musicians, and by my own reactions to the mesmerising qualities of this music in all its diversity, and the way it pulls me in time and again. This selection only scratches the surface of the works that fall under the capacious umbrella of minimalism, but it’s a start.”
Marcia Hadjimarkos, Pianist
Featured in blog post Notes on Recent Finds, No. 9 – Endless Bounty from NativeDSD by music reviewer Rushton Paul.
Tracklist
Please note that the below previews are loaded as 44.1 kHz / 16 bit.Total time: 01:13:31
Additional information
| Label | |
|---|---|
| SKU | OM02100H |
| Qualities | DSD 512 fs, DSD 256 fs, DSD 128 fs, DSD 64 fs, DXD 24 Bit, WAV 96 kHz |
| Channels | |
| Artists | |
| Composers | Cage, Glass, Mompou, Monk, Part, Satie, Skempton, Tailleferre |
| Genres | |
| Microphone | AEA R88 Stereo Ribbon Microphone |
| Instruments | |
| Original Recording Format | |
| Piano | 1887 New York Steinway Model B |
| Preamplifier | D.W. Fearn all-tube Preamplfication |
| Release Date | June 30, 2023 |
Press reviews
Positive Feedback
This is an engaging, thoughtful and rather contemplative traversal of works for solo piano by a variety of late nineteenth and twentieth century composers, including Erik Satie, Arvo Pärt, Federico Mompou, Philip Glass, John Cage, and others. The works are lovingly played, with deep sensitivity to the expressive content of each. It is such a pleasure to hear these more modern compositions rather than yet another traversal of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. There is nothing jarringly atonal here, all of the works have a charming tonality, frequently with great wit, and always with innovative rhythms and phrasing.
As someone who tends to play whole albums from start to finish, I value an artist who develops a true “recital program” when assembling the included tracks. Here, Marcia Hadjimarkos has done a very nice job of complimenting and contrasting the various pieces she has selected…
And the excellent sound quality of the recording is simply the cherry on top of this engaging album. Recording with a single stereo microphone, the image is completely solid and three dimensional. Plus, the sound heard by the microphone is then captured directly to DSD128 with no PCM processing. It is a pure sound, and a pure delight to hear. Well done!
1 review for Murmurations (One Microphone Recording) (Pure DSD)
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Marvelously played and recorded!
I look forward to listening to hopefully many more recordings by Marcia Hadjimarkos. This album offers a wonderful mix of composers, some of whom I am already familiar, and some that are new. Her previous recordings (there aren’t many) have been very warmly received by professional reviewers, including in Fanfare.
Many thanks to Outer Marker and Native DSD for introducing me to Hadjimarkos’ talent.
Bill Steiner (verified owner) –