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Interview with Bert van der Wolf of Northstar Recording

The following is an interview with recording engineer Bert van der Wolf, chief recording engineer, producer and founder of Northstar Recording Services, many of whose wonderful recordings have been reviewed at Positive Feedback (see list of reviews HERE). He records frequently for the Challenge Classics label whose DSD64 releases are...

Four Superb Recordings from Bert van der Wolf, Northstar Recording

Bert van der Wolf is one of the best recording engineers in the business today. His recordings have only gotten better and better over the years as he's been able to incorporate into his recording chain the latest developments in high end technology. I've written many times in these pages...

Notes on Recent Finds, No. 18 - More Bert van der Wolf Recordings

If you've followed along with some of my other articles, you may have picked up on how much I admire the recordings made by Bert van der Wolf of Northstar Recording Services (see HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE). Bert ranks very highly among a small group of highly talented independent...

The Magic of Bert van der Wolf

"Life is a magical mystery; Bert has no part in any of that…" - Bert van der Wolf Producer, recording and mastering engineer Bert van der Wolf, owner of Northstar Recording Services, has been making among the best engineered classical recordings one will find. I've written before about his recordings...

Magic from the Van Baerle Trio and Bert van der Wolf

It's rare that one gets to experience a true tour de force, but that is what I've enjoyed the past several months with the Van Baerle Trio's traversal of Beethoven's complete works for piano trio—a marvelous journey through some of the greatest music ever written. I've long held the Beaux...

Notes on Recent Finds, No. 25 - New Recordings at NativeDSD

The labels represented in NativeDSD's catalog continue to deliver outstanding performances in great sounding recordings. NativeDSD is just a stunning resource for those who love immaculate high resolution recordings made by some of the best recording engineers working today (Jared Sacks of Channel Classics, Brendon Heinst of TRPTK, Gonzalo Noqué...

Notes from Recent Finds, No. 17 - Releases from NativeDSD

I'm excited about this most recent group of Recent Finds, all released over this past year at NativeDSD. Included are a great new album from Carmen Gomes and Sound Liaison, a new Rembrandt Frerichs album on Just Listen Records, Anna Fedorova and Dana Zemtsov on Channel Classics, several albums from...

Kuijken and La Petite Bande - Remastered in Original DXD Resolution!

With La Petite Bande's 50th anniversary in 2022, Challenge Records celebrated with the release of a nine CD box set, which you may have seen. All nice, but that's not what I want to talk about. I want to talk about something even more wonderful: the release of the original DXD...

Hannes Minnaar Performing Shostakovich, Beethoven and More

I've written before about the recordings of pianist Hannes Minnaar (see HERE and HERE). I'm writing now to share with you a new solo piano recording of the Shostakovich 24 Preludes (a marvel), an earlier recording of piano works inspired by Bach, and a scrumptious complete cycle of the Beethoven...

Pianist Hannes Minnaar - Artistry to Savor

Hannes Minnaar (b.1984) is a pianist to keep one's ears on. He is is consistently described by critics as able to convey musical essence in all its purity, and I've become convinced this is true. I first came to know him through his contributions with the Van Baerle Trio and...

The Bruckner Symphonies with Jaap van Zweden

The Bruckner symphonies cycle from Jaap van Zweden and the North Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, as recorded by Bert van der Wolf, is a superb accomplishment. It deserves a home in the music libraries of all music lovers—particularly those of us who value Bruckner. Bruckner Symphonies Nos. 1, 3, 6, and...

More Intriguing Music From Eric Vloeimans

Eric Vloeimans' music-making has captured me. I admit it happily. His innovative, cheerful explorations are refreshing, fun, interesting, and challenging, all at a go. No ruts here, no plodding along roads well-traveled by others. Listening to one of his albums is like finding fresh horizons. Oliver's Cinema, Eric Vloeimans, Tuur...

Willem de Fesch – Little Known Baroque Master to Rival the Greats

This recording by La Sfera Armoniosa of several works by the less-than-well-known composer, Willem de Fesch, is a treasure. The music is fully comparable to the best output from the Baroque. It is sophisticated, it shimmers. It is at least as colorful, playful, and inventive as that of his contemporaries....

The Prokofiev Symphonies with James Gaffigan - An Exceptional Cycle

James Gaffigan and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra deliver a very fine Prokofiev symphonies cycle. Collectively, these performances present a consistent and insightful look into Prokofiev's symphonic music, all exceedingly well executed. And all are recorded in the finest, most natural, sound quality one can find. The Symphonies of Sergei...

A Classical Ensemble with a Pop Mentality - Calefax Meets Eric Vloeimans

Classical ensemble Calefax Reed Quintet yields once again to the temptation for extemporaneous performance in this collaboration with improvising trumpeter and composer Eric Vloeimans—to extraordinarily satisfying results. On The Spot, Eric Vloeimans, Calefax Reed Quintet. Buzz | Northstar Recording 2014 (DXD) HERE I'm not sure what I expected when I...

Soundscapes – Music of Mendelssohn, Elgar, De Raaff for Violin and Piano

Violinist Tosca Opdam is joined by pianist Alexander Ullman to create some delightful chamber music in their new album, Soundscapes, all beautifully and sensitively performed. Included is the world premier recording of a work dedicated to Ms. Opdam by Dutch composer Robin de Raaff. The album is an engaging program...

Delta Piano Trio - Music of Martin, Dvořák and Mansurian

A piano trio is perhaps my favorite performing ensemble. And when the performances are as finely crafted as these from the Delta Piano Trio, bliss is near at hand. Add music by Swiss composer Frank Martin, and a recording engineered by Bert van der Wolf, and my expectations are very...

Compelling String Quartets by Schnittke, Silvestrov and Shostakovich from Matangi

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...

The Artistry of Ars Antiqua Austria, Part 3

The recordings by Ars Antiqua Austria continue to provide a rich treasure of musical enjoyment in our home. I group these next three recordings for no excellent musicology rationale, but simply because I enjoy the comparison of the all-instrumental works from a small rather hermetically sealed court (Graupner) and those...

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