Music Reviews

A grand collection of reviews. If you are a professional music reviewer and would like to contribute a review to this blog, please contact us.

Stravinsky on my mind & Musical forces of nature

I’ve got Stravinsky on my mind— No, hold on, I’m not talking about my 25th recording of Le Sacre. Here’s some different Stravinsky to enjoy: Philippe Herreweghe is largely thought of as a conductor of Baroque music, especially Bach. He has however branched out to record other more modern composers– Mahler, Dvorak, and even Stravinsky. […]

Bill Dodd on May 27, 2016

Forces of Nature in DSD

Musical forces of nature: Ning Feng, Rosanne Philippens and Gerard Schwarz conducting The Colburn Orchestra. In this edition of Dodd’s Discoveries Bill included some of the most intense music ever written, in refreshing performances. Ning Feng is absolutely a “force of nature.” He startles with his clarity and technique, but manages to do so with a warm […]

Bill Dodd on May 05, 2016

Head-spinning DSD Discoveries

Mahler, Khachaturian, Take One Here’s something special: Mahler Symphony No. 1 (Hamburg, 1893 version) Jan Willem de Vriend conducts The Netherlands Symphony Orchestra in a very early version of Mahler’s First Symphony, complete with the later-deleted “Blumine” movement. I have about 20 different recordings of the Mahler 1st, and I probably listen to one of […]

Bill Dodd on Apr 15, 2016

Orchestras, Oboes & Elbows

I’m beginning to really mistrust comparisons. People compare Mahler to Bruckner and Strauss. Except for speaking German and composing for big orchestras making big sounds— Their musical languages are quite different. This is why I’ve had trouble warming up to Nielsen in the past. Too many people have compared Nielsen to Sibelius. I love Sibelius […]

Bill Dodd on Jul 01, 2016

Music doing pirouettes in your head

There’s a myth that only French conductors and orchestras should perform French music, or only conductors and orchestras from the UK should be doing British music, and so on. I don’t believe it. Carlos Kalmar and the Oregon Symphony are extraordinarily fine with their “This England” set: Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872-1958) had been working on […]

Bill Dodd on Mar 04, 2016

Amadeus and brothers Haydn

Here’s a great idea: Next time you have a party, hire a group of wind players to play arias and other bits from famous Mozart operas– popular and tuneful music made accessible (and affordable). This was Harmoniemusik — and it was very popular around Vienna, Prague, and Budapest from the 1780s to the 1820s. You […]

Bill Dodd on Feb 20, 2016

A Hidden DSD Treasure

Native DSD is a treasure trove of great music, but you may not be familiar with some of it. My goal is not to “teach” or to “review” — I simply want to share my thoughts on some of the discoveries I’ve made here. Many years ago I discovered Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem (1947). For a […]

Bill Dodd on Feb 17, 2016