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Gabriel Mervine's People, Places, and Things. Synergy Records SMCD 80040-2, 80043-2 and 80044-2, CD $12.98 each at Amazon.com Before I can introduce you to Gabriel Mervine, an incredible and ambitious jazz trumpet/flugelhorn player and composer, I have to introduce you to Uncle Don. He's not my uncle, by the way. Don Marsh is Colleen's uncle,... Read More »

John Huxhold and Eric Meyer With this contribution, Positive Feedback adds more to its music review community select contributions from NativeDSD.com's volunteer writers. This review was originally published as part of the "Call for Reviewers" programme initiated by NativeDSD.com. Eight carefully selected DSD listening reviewers have been writing for Blog.NativeDSD.com since late 2017. The focus... Read More »

Pal Szatmari With this contribution, Positive Feedback adds to its music review community select contributions from NativeDSD.com's volunteer writers. This review was originally published as part of the "Call for Reviewers" programme initiated by NativeDSD.com. Eight carefully selected DSD listening reviewers have been writing for Blog.NativeDSD.com since late 2017. The focus of these writers will... Read More »

It's good to have our dear friend John Marks back in our pages again. As always, he brings light and insight to music that's worthy of our careful attention. A valuable guide, he! In this essay, he covers the Harmonia Mundi recording of Stile Antico's performance of de Victoria's exploration of the passion of the Christ... Read More »

SCHMIDT: Symphony No. 2 in E flat. STRAUSS: Dreaming by the Fireside (Symphonic interlude from Intermezzo). Vienna Philharmonic/Semyon Bychkov. Sony Classics 88985355522.  TT: 55.14 Downloads: amazon.com (mp3); hdmusic.pw (FLAC); highresaudio.com (not available in U.S.); myopenmp3.com (mp3); prestoclassical.co.uk (FLAC, mp3); primephonic.com (WAV, FLAC; not available in U.S.) The composer Franz Schmidt, while renowned in his native Vienna during his... Read More »

Mozart, Violin Sonatas, Nos. 5, 6, 7, 28, 35; Variations in G minor; Sonata in B flat Major, 570. Alina Ibragimova, violin. Cédric Tieberghien, piano. Hyperion CDA 68175. (2 CDS for price of one). Alina Ibragimova plays Mozart as if he is at the center of her repertoire. He suits her refined tone and willingness... Read More »

Regular readers of High Fidelity remember, I hope, the texts from two and three years ago, which served (me and the editor-in-chief of HF, Wojciech Pacula) to present the best albums of mainstream music (read HERE). However, we did not write about the discs, that were the best music of 2017 "in our opinion", but about those... Read More »

Noa Fort, No World Between Us. Self-released, CD $15, available at https://noafort.bandcamp.com/album/no-world-between-us I've been really hard on contemporary jazz singers lately. Most of them are extremely talented, but I always feel like I need a little more from them. If they're going to raid the Great American Songbook, they should come up with a unique approach that... Read More »

Takaaki, New Kid in Town. Albany Records B076F3X5GJ, CD $16.99 amazon.com If you're an audiophile, you're probably already familiar with the 70s jazz recordings from Japan's Three Blind Mice label. I'm lucky enough to own several of these titles on LP—everything from Tsuyoshi Yamamoto's legendary Midnight Sugar and Misty to Isao Suzuki's Blue City to Hideto Kanai's Q... Read More »

Herein, good friend John Marks takes us into the heavenly realm of Western Christian chant, our faithful guide to a recent release by Morten Lindberg and the gifted production team at 2L in Norway. As always, 2L produces a recording with masses of detail, atmospheric presence, and haunting musicality; as always, John touches upon the... Read More »

Brooklyn Rider plays Philip Glass; String Quartets Nos. 1-5. 2 CDs. Orange Mountain 0074. I didn't get the string quartets of Philip Glass at all until I began to hear them as informed by dance—all kinds of dance. The opening work on the album, Suite from Bent (1997), adapted for string quartet by the Brooklyn... Read More »

Prokofiev: Lt. Kije (recorded in 1957); Stravinsky: Song of the Nightingale (recorded in 1956), Fritz Reiner (conductor), Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Producer: Richard Mohr; Engineer: Lewis Layton. Acoustic Sounds/RCA Living Stereo Ultra Tape, 15-ips, 2-track, reel-to-reel tape, LSC 2150. Price: $450. Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's performance of Prokofiev's Lt. Kije paired with Stravinsky's The Song... Read More »

Denny Zeitlin & George Marsh's Expedition. (Sunnyside Communication SSC1487. CD $12.98. http://sunnysidezone.com/album/expedition) The first time I listened to Expedition from pianist Denny Zeitlin and percussionist George Marsh, I didn't think of it as a collection of improvisations between two longtime collaborators. I imagined a more traditional jazz ensemble, one with a traditional rhythm section, even though their... Read More »

Greensleeves TBM5011 Recorded 1978. Three Blind Mice Records Inc. a subsidiary of Sony Direct Japan Inc. Manufactured and distributed by Impex Records Inc. Featuring Shoji Yokouchi Trio plus Yuri Tashiro on Hammond B3 Organ. 3000 numbered copies produced worldwide. Reissue is 180 Gram LP pressed at RTI, in California. Impex cutting engineer: Chris Bellman, Bernie... Read More »

Antonio Meneses Cello Concertos. Schumann: Cello Concerto in A minor, Op. 129; Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33; Tchaikovsky variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33. Antonio Meneses, cello; Royal Northern Sinfonia/Claudio Cruz. AVIE AV 2373.  TT: 60.29 Downloads: Amazon.com (mp3); hdtracks.com (AIFF, ALAC, FLAC, WAV); prestoclassical.co.uk (FLAC, HD FLAC, 320 Kbps mp3)'... Read More »

Dave Stryker's Strykin' Ahead on CD and LP. (Strikezone 8815, CD $15, LP $25 www.davestryker.com) The other night, while driving home one evening between Syracuse and Rochester, I happened upon a program called Cool Jazz Countdown on the local NPR station. The format of the show was clearly modeled on Casey Kasem's original Top 40 Countdown—if Casey... Read More »

Denny Zeitlin & George Marsh's Expedition. (Sunnyside Communication SSC1487, CD $12.98, http://sunnysidezone.com/album/expedition) The first time I listened to Expedition from pianist Denny Zeitlin and percussionist George Marsh, I didn't think of it as a collection of improvisations between two longtime collaborators. I imagined a more traditional jazz ensemble, one with a traditional rhythm section, even though... Read More »

Lyn Stanley's The Moonlight Sessions, Vol. 2 (A.T. Music LLC 3106, 2-LP set $125, CD/SACD $29.98, http://www.lynstanley.com) "Other than that, I think her voice is incredibly sexy and inviting. It's much closer to London than too-cool-for-school Krall and for that reason I'll be more than happy to bring this to all future trade shows. Unless, of... Read More »

Grandissimi Gravita. Violin Sonatas by Vivaldi, Tartini, Veracini, Pisendel. Rachel Podger, violin; Brecon Baroque. Channel Classics SACD. CCSSA 39217. Snow showers!  On November 13. In Western Massachusetts! And unexpectedly this album of baroque violin sonatas sounds warm and comforting that last week seemed a bit indifferent. I've learned not to underestimate the role meteorological (and... Read More »