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Each album Angelo Verploegen makes with Just Listen Records and Jared Sacks is an eagerly awaited pleasure in our household. Beautifully played jazz in some of the best small ensemble recorded sound we get to hear. Verploegen and his partners take us to a soft, warm musical place, and Jared Sacks brings the performances right... Read More »

Kraftwerk's influence on today's pop music is so pervasive, the band is so historically important, and so much has been written about them already that doing an introduction here almost seems clichéd. But for those who haven't been plugged in: they more or less invented electronic pop music. As such, they've had an incalculable influence... Read More »

Such a pleasure! A recording label for country, bluegrass, pop, world and other acoustic musicians that truly brings the listener into the presence of the live performance. Soundkeeper Recordings is making direct-to-two-track recordings that I'd love to hear from more labels. This is the way acoustic music should be heard. Barry Diament, founder, chief recording... Read More »

Magnificently performed by the string quartet Matangi, this is music written in the second half of the twentieth century by Russian and Ukrainian composers that is ideally suited to the bizarre world in which we find ourselves today in March of 2022. It is intense music of challenge, protest, and criticism. It was intended to... Read More »

Shostakovich: String Quartets: No 3 in F, Op. 71; No 8 in C minor, Op. 110. Novus Quartet. Aparte AP 271.  TT: 54.19 It's one up, one down—and not as you might have expected, or hoped. The five-movement F Major Quartet hovers uneasily, or schizophrenically, between Shostakovich's "traditional" style and his more angular, "modern" one. The... Read More »

George Walker, Five Piano Sonatas, (1953 - 2003) Steven Beck, piano. Bridge Records 9554. It's a bit early in the year to pronounce a Record of the Year, and perhaps I'm making the call based partly on guilt for my ignorance: why have I not heard of this extraordinary composer? His music is a brilliant... Read More »

Enjoy Gregorian Chant? I have a new album you may just love. Beautifully sung by the Gregorian female choir Novum Gaudium. With a repertoire around the Marian theme, the pieces on this album have been selected for variety of style, compositional technique, and complexity of sound textures. An intriguing and very gratifying presentation of great... Read More »

Music from the ever-inventive Georg Philipp Telemann has long enchanted me. His is music of never ceasing discovery. In these performances of some of Telemann's magnificent Fantasies, oboist and pianist Pauline Oostenrijk is a delightful guide. These are performances to savor, made even more enjoyable with the excellent sound quality provided by recording engineer Tom... Read More »

I have been enjoying the performances of violinist Rosanne Philippens for several years, but have not yet written about her recordings. She is remarkable, a tremendous talent, and someone whose work I value very much. My music library is enriched by her performances, as am I each time I select one to hear. Let's take... Read More »

With lively performances filled with joy and good humor, the Intercontinental Ensemble returns with a two immensely entertaining releases. And with the excellent sound quality provided by TRPTK, there is nothing but good things to say about these two releases. In Motu – Intercontinental Ensemble. TRPTK 2021 (DXD) HERE Arc, Intercontinental Ensemble. TRPTK 2022 (DXD) HERE Yes, I'm... Read More »

This new recording by the ever-excellent Dana Zemtsov offers much to savor, particularly with the rich, resonant tonal qualities of her viola brought front and center. And the sound quality provided by Jared Sacks is a true sonic joy, as usual. Dutch Hidden Gems, Contemporary Compositions for Viola. Dana Zemtsov, Anna Fedorova, Phion Orchestra. Channel Classics... Read More »

Today I am pleased to introduce what will be a new series of articles, one which will feature closer looks at some of my favorite recordings. I have been posting such "snapshots" of many of my favorite LPs on Facebook for years as abbreviated takes on specific recordings, often digging into the history and significance... Read More »

These searching, deeply penetrating, and searingly wrought performances by Trío Arriaga of two elegiac masterpieces left me emotionally drained...and uplifted. After first listening to Shostakovich's Piano Trio No. 2 in E Minor, I had to stop and collect my energy. The Arriaga's performance had simply wrung me out. In the best way—give me more, I... Read More »

Alessandro Perpich delivers an intensely felt, personal journey through the challenging Six Sonatas for Solo Violin by Eugène Ysaÿe. Perpich is an artist new to me, on a label new to me. I wanted to hear what he would have to say because every performance of worth is unique in the artist's relationship to Ysaye's... Read More »

RADAR – Random Access Digital Audio Recorder. The first fully functional HDD non-linear recording system Or how album recorded using RADAR sound like DIGITAL SOUND RECORDING  – method of preserving sound in which audio signals are transformed into a series of pulses that correspond to patterns of binary digits (i.e., 0's and 1's) and are... Read More »

Celebrate! Raise joyful noises in the streets because Jared Sacks has released another wonderful album recorded in DSD256. And superb, indeed, is the sound quality of this release. Mozart & Beethoven: Wind Octets, MIB Wind Ensemble. Channel Classics. 2022 (DSD256) HERE I am always mindful that wind instruments seem most difficult to capture accurately in... Read More »

The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame, narrated by Bob Attiyeh. Yarlung Records 2022 [DSD256 PureDSD] HERE What a wonderful, over-the-top, project. Yes, Toad would be proud.  I grew up with The Wind in the Willows and now have the perfect way to share it with my grandchildren, ages 7 and 9. They’ve listened... Read More »

Lewis Layton is among that small pantheon of engineering greats who made the golden age of stereo such a wonderful period. I've long admired his work for RCA. Many of his recordings are among the greatest classical music recordings ever made. High Definition Tape Transfers carries a great number of them. It's time to take... Read More »

Oh my, oh my, indeed. This is a great transfer from analog tape to DSD256 from HDTT, released this past week. If you love classic jazz, you owe it to yourself to hear this transfer. It is simply outstanding. Somethin' Else, Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis, Hank Jones, Sam Jones, Art Blakey. HDTT in Pure DSD256.... Read More »