In this issue, we have some exquisite new albums at NativeDSD, led by a new Pure DSD256 release from Cobra Records with a fascinating program for solo piano. And two new releases from the creative artists partnering with Brendon Heinst at TRPTK, and more. I hope you will find something to further explore.
Flowers We Are: From Byrd to Kurtág, Ksenia Kouzmenko (piano). Cobra Records 2026 (Pure DSD256-Direct Mixed, Stereo, MCh) Edit Master Sourced HERE
There is a magic to miniatures that I find inescapably captivating, particularly when they are as delicately played and as well-selected to complement each other as these.
Built around a theme of musical miniatures inspired by flowers, and anchored by recurring works from Hungarian composer György Kurtág (b. 1926), the album explores magical of short piano pieces by composers as varied as Byrd, Couperin, Schubert, Brahms, Sibelius, Rachmaninoff, Grøndahl, and others. Each selection is a fully realized miniature—often exquisitely delicate, occasionally forceful, but always refined. Kurtág's miniatures are the grounding to which Kouzmenko returns again and again. Each is distinct. Each vividly descriptive. Their impact is heightened by juxtaposition, nowhere more so than in tracks 24 and 25, where Kurtág's spiky Thistle (III) (1979) is followed immediately by the gentle, lyrical Bluebell (II) (1979). The contrast is delicious. From there, Kouzmenko moves seamlessly on to other musical "bluebells," with pieces by Sibelius and Palmgren in the following two tracks.
There is an intensity to all of Kurtág's compositions, and clearly evidenced in these selections, that creates a special listening experience. His compositions create a natural tension that binds and connects the album from beginning to end. My understanding is that Kouzmenko spent two years selecting and bringing together the pieces performed in this album, ever again changing the order, or adding new ones.
When I write of this recital being inescapably captivating, that is the effect on me of all the effort she has put into creating this program. This is a delightful recital. It is beautifully performed, with flawless technique completely in service to the wonders of the music. Never flashy just to show off, never "see what I can do." It is just a marvelous sharing of music over an hour and 15 minutes that lifts one's spirits. Brava!
Ksenia Kouzmenko, born in Minsk, Belarus, to a family of pianists, is well known for her excellent work as a partner in chamber music. I've long enjoyed the albums in which she participates. This is the second solo album by her that I've heard, and I am enchanted. It is now her fourth album for Cobra Records, and all four are very much worth your attention.
As with other recent releases from Cobra Records, Tom Peeters recorded and mastered this album in Pure DSD256-Direct Mixed. No PCM anywhere in the recording chain. The sound is, accordingly, very pure, with excellent capture of the timbre of the Steinway in the always excellent acoustics of the Westvest90, Schiedam, The Netherlands, recording venue. As I commented to a friend, the sound quality is stunning.
Three more albums with Ksenia Kouzmenko on Cobra Records you should hear.
Ivan Vukosavljević: a mind in the heart, Joana Gama (piano). TRPTK 2026 (DXD 32-bit, DSD256, Stereo, MCh) HERE or DXD 32-bit HERE
In this new release from TRPTK, Serbian composer Ivan Vukosavljević has created music for solo piano inspired by the sacred chants and traditions of the Orthodox Church in the Balkans. The music is haunting, spare—every note counts. Play it when you have quiet time to allow it to envelope you.
Writes Vukosavljević: "These eight pieces became a growing companion to a chapter of my life determined by many serious transformations. A chapter that ultimately concluded with the most impactful event in my life so far—the birth of my daughter. The album itself finally came out as a fragmented vision of a spiritual reverberance sourced, in part, from a humble understanding of the Orthodox Christian ethos and the musical heritage surrounding it; in part by the sermons of Meister Eckhart (c. 1260 - c. 1328); and in part by a manner of living through which raising my own child in the world becomes the highest spiritual confirmation of it. These piano pieces mysteriously accompanied this process, which was laid out in my life seemingly in a perfectly arranged procession. As if my spiritual realizations have been conditioned by my fatherhood to come."
Ivan Vukosavljević (composer) and Joana Gama (pianist) during recording sessions, Westvest90 Church, Schiedam, The Netherlands, September 25th to 26th 2025.
A word about Brendon Heinst and TRPTK:
As always, this acoustic recording from Brendon Heinst is superb. Sure, I'd love to see these releases in Pure DSD256, but his format choices clearly serve a larger goal: the freedom to produce consistently marvelous recordings. The results speak for themselves—exceptional microphone technique, thoughtful mic selection, and carefully chosen venues combine to deliver beautifully natural captures of acoustic performances. Every new release is an aural pleasure. If you value acoustic instruments recorded honestly, in real spaces, and without artifice, there are few better places to look than the TRPTK catalog. I'm always delighted by what I hear.
But don't pass by the more "experimental" recordings from the TRPTK catalog, either. Brendon and the TRPTK team are doing very creative work with artists exploring the boundaries of what can be achieved by combining acoustic and electronic music in the studio. While the acoustic recordings are where my heart lies, I find these experimental explorations fascinating, sometimes mind-blowing. Particularly when cellist, composer, and TRPTK artists & repertoire manager Maya Fridman is involved.
Explore the TRPTK catalog, and find out more about what drives this team, visit the TRPTK website here. Other Positive Feedback reviews and articles about TRPTK recordings can be found in this search link.
Richard Rijnvos: Aphrodite & Selene, Ives Ensemble, Naomi Sato. TRPTK 2026 (DXD 32-bit, DSD256, Stereo, MCh) HERE or DXD 32-bit HERE
I enjoy music that challenges me—music that forces a recalibration of how I think about flow, instrumental combinations, and the way musical language can transport us into unfamiliar spaces. Richard Rijnvos's compositions on this album do exactly that. I love it. Step outside your comfort zone and give it a listen.
In 2021, under the umbrella title Kosmoscópio, Dutch composer Richard Rijnvos (b. 1964) began a series of works devoted to the nine components of Musica Universalis. Often referred to as the "Harmony of the Spheres," this ancient Greek philosophical concept reflects on the proportional relationships governing the movements of celestial bodies.
The album presents two pieces from this series, running 27:47 and 24:19 respectively. Both are arresting, demanding, and unmistakably contemporary. Although Rijnvos has written more than twenty original orchestral works—and many orchestral arrangements—his creative center of gravity has long been symphonic. These new compositions present a turn to the small-ensemble realm. In that shift, his ongoing exploration of new instruments and sonorities continues, accompanied by stylistic pivots that may confuse listeners familiar with his earlier works.
The album opens with Aphrodíte, a portrait of the planet Venus, scored for traditional Japanese shō and string sextet. I can't recall ever having heard the shō before, and its sound strikes me as utterly strange and distinctive—otherworldly, even plaintive. Placing it at the center of a string sextet makes for a genuinely wild ride. In an ideal staging, the six string players are arranged in a circle, facing inward, with the shō at the center and the audience surrounding them in an amphitheater-like space. At the close of the coda, each string player exits in turn, continuing an ostinato as they go, until only the shō remains, alone.
The shō itself is a traditional Japanese free-reed mouth organ with seventeen slender bamboo pipes. Used primarily in gagaku (imperial court music), it produces sustained chordal sonorities known as aitake. Played on both inhalation and exhalation, the instrument occupies a central place in Japanese classical music and has increasingly found a role in contemporary composition.
Naomi Sato, who performs on this album, demonstrates the shō in this 2010 YouTube video.
The second composition, Seléne, is performed by the string sextet alone. It consists of five main sections, each four minutes in duration, depicting the consecutive lunar phases (as seen from Earth). The shorter sections in between, each sixty seconds long, represent the intermediate phases. In an ideal performance the members of the quartet are positioned in a circular space, facing inwards, with the audience all around them in an amphitheater setting. The cello is the first to split off and rotate outwards, personifying the first glimpse of moonlight (Waxing Crescent). The viola joins when we reach First Quarter, then the second violin (Waxing Gibbous), and midway the first violin (Full Moon). This process is then reversed until a New Moon is, yet again, nowhere to be seen.
The Ives Ensemble was founded in 1986 by the Dutch pianist John Snijders and consists of a steady pool of 14 musicians. The ensemble concentrates on performances of non-conducted 20th and 21st century chamber music, in which, ever since the founding of the ensemble, the music of Charles Ives, John Cage and Morton Feldman has been serving as its base. It has built a large body of commissioned pieces, including works by John Cage, Aldo Clementi, Gerald Barry, Laurence Crane, Christopher Fox, Fabio Nieder, Richard Ayres, Piet-Jan van Rossum and Richard Rijnvos.
Naomi Sato (b. 1975, Tokyo) graduated from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. From 1998 she studied saxophone with Arno Bornkamp and composition with Wim Henderickx at the Amsterdam Conservatoire. In addition, she undertook studies on the shō (the traditional Japanese bamboo mouth organ) with Ko Ishikawa at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Since 2004 she is the shō player in the Atlas Ensemble Amsterdam and provides workshops for the Atlas Academy.
Aphrodíte recording session, July 2025, Doopsgezinde Kerk, Haarlem (NL)
Beethoven, Violin Sonatas Op. 30, Francesca dePasquale (violin), Peter Takács (piano). Leaf Music 2026 (DSD256, DXD*) Edit Master Sourced HERE
These violin sonatas are from what would be considered the early portion of Beethoven's "middle period," composed ending in 1802. Their composition coincide with one of the most tumultuous years of his life during his rapidly worsening hearing loss. This turning point in his life casts a long shadow as Beethoven can be heard pushing familiar forms to new expressive ends. Throughout these Opus 30 compositions, one can hear him stretching and challenging the boundaries of the sonata form, resolutions that find one in unexpected places.
I have long admired pianist Peter Takács for his direct and straightforward style of play. His performances always say to me: "Listen to what the composer has to say, I'm not here to editorialize." I always come away from his performances refreshed. Cleansed of nonsense. Enjoyably intrigued by what I've been hearing. Takács has recorded the complete cycle of Beethoven piano sonatas and his traversal is well worth hearing, and then hearing again. In these violin sonatas, he provides a warm, consistently human, accompaniment for a violinist who seems to share his philosophy of "let's tell it like it is."
Francesca dePasquale is refreshing. She has been applauded for her "sincerity, intensity, and individual voice" (Philadelphia Inquirer) and praised for her "immaculate and discreet phrasing" (Strad Magazine). Well deserved accolades, in my opinion. Her playing is technically precise, but with a warmth that sucks one into a deeper relationship the music she shares.
Together, Takács and dePasquale deliver some of the most welcome performances of these Opus 30 sonatas that I can recall hearing. Not flashy—thankfully. They are authentic, gracious, and engaging.
The recording is nicely balanced, with excellent detail and a natural acoustic—with just enough distance to allow the two performers to truly sound like they share the same acoustic space and the sound of their instruments to interact naturally. Overall, just very nicely done.
Dohnányi and Dvořák: String Sextets [HIDDEN: AUDIO FIXES TAKING PLACE]. Stradivari Sextet. VDM Records 2026 (DXD 32-bit, Stereo) Edit Master Sourced HERE
This release pairs two late-nineteenth-century string sextet landmarks—Ernő Dohnányi's Sextet in B-flat major and Antonín Dvořák's Sextet in A major—performed by the Stradivari Sextet.
Dohnányi (b. 1877) composed his Sextet at the astonishing age of sixteen. The work bears clear traces of Brahms and Schubert and already points to what would become his lifelong devotion to chamber music.
Dvořák's String Sextet in A major, Op. 48 (1878), comes from a crucial and remarkably productive period in the composer's life. Between 1875 and 1879, Dvořák took decisive steps toward forging a national musical voice, integrating Slavic folk elements within a refined classical framework. A government grant during these years likely helped—freeing him to concentrate on composition. The Sextet was written alongside the Slavonic Rhapsodies (Op. 45) and Slavonic Dances (Op. 46), and it shares their unmistakably "Slavonic" character. From the expansive lyricism of the opening movement through the dumka, furiant, and variations finale, its identity is immediately apparent.
The Stradivari Sextet offer refined, almost elegant readings of both works. What I hear, however, is a distinctly "international" approach—technically polished, precise, and controlled, but not idiomatically Slavonic in any meaningful sense. That's a bit of a disappointment. While I enjoyed the performances, they strike me as somewhat generic, missing the particular spice that makes Dvořák's music resonate so deeply with me.
VDM recorded the album in a resonant, spacious venue that nonetheless yields a tightly focused sound with little to no sense of that natural acoustic space, likely the result of close multi-miking. I remain conflicted about the overall soundstage. The recording is detailed and captures timbre well, yet there's something artificial and processed about the presentation. That's my impression after two separate listening sessions. I feel like I should like this recording more than I do. Tell me what you hear.
Recording venue: Teatro Comunale, Municipality of Todi, Italy.
Igor Stravinsky: Late Works, Cappella Amsterdam, Daniel Reuss, Noord Nederlands Orkest. Pentatone 2026 (96k, Stereo) HERE
Stravinsky's choral music attracts vehement opinions, often of the "negatory" variety. I find them challenging listening and will vacillate back and forth as to whether I'm enjoying them or suffering through them. In most respects, they are intriguing, frequently compelling, and at times genuinely beautiful. In every respect, they demand consideration.
On this release, we have them performed by Cappella Amsterdam and Noord Nederlands Orkest in perhaps the most crystalline, dynamic, characterful settings I've yet to hear. Kudos to Daniel Reuss for bringing these performances to us. If you've ever considered dipping a toe into the waters of Stravinsky's late choral music, this is the album to hear.
Four main works anchor this album: In Memoriam Dylan Thomas from 1954; Threni, a spiny, multifaceted jewel from 1958; and the haunting Introitus and bristling Requiem Canticles, from 1965 and 1966 respectively. Interspersed are shorter pieces, including Two Sacred Songs (Hugo Wolf), composed in 1968, beautifully sung by the ever-marvelous Norwegian mezzo-soprano Marianne Beate Kielland. We are fortunate to hear Kielland in various other settings throughout the album as well.
What ultimately sets this release apart—and why I recommend it so strongly to anyone exploring Stravinsky's choral output—is the intensely characterful singing of Cappella Amsterdam. Their ensemble precision, tonal clarity, and razor-sharp diction bring these works to life in ways I haven't heard before. They are superbly matched by the intrepid playing of the Noord Nederlands Orkest, whose shared sense of precision and attack is a constant pleasure.
The recording itself is excellent. Yes, I'd welcome a bit more aural density of the sort one often hears at resolutions higher than the 96 kHz original used here, but the balance among orchestra, chorus, and soloists, the retrieval of inner detail, and the overall soundstage are all excellently well captured.
All in all, a superb release.
A further note... In looking once again at the enclosed booklet, I was sufficiently struck by conductor Daniel Reuss' comment that I share it with you:
"I was asked to write a text to accompany this recording, but I believe my contribution is already fully contained in the performance itself. There is a story about a composer who, after playing one of his own piano pieces, was asked if he might explain the work. He simply sat back down at the piano and played it again. That was the explanation.
"That thought perfectly reflects my own view: the essence of music lies in the sound itself. My commentary, therefore, is the performance itself. If you'd like an explanation from me, just press 'play' once more."
Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirrors Within Mirrors), Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Candida Thompson, Hülya Keser, Martina Batič, Netherlands Chamber Choir, Tim Posner. Channel Classics 2026 (DXD*, DSD256, Stereo, MCh) Edit Master Sourced HERE
Spiritual, meditative, soul lifting—occasionally dynamic, loud, and commanding. This is music to savor, and to restore one's spirits. And, perhaps, to gird for battle. Like life, it is a series of contrasts.
Beginning with music of Arvo Pärt (b. 1935), his Spiegel im Spiegel (for cello and piano), and closing with the same work but now for violin and piano, this composition by Pärt bookends music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Veljo Tormis (1930-2017), Pēteris Vasks (b. 1946), and Lepo Sumera (1950-2000). Together, we have four composers from the Baltics, plus a 20th century Englishman inspired by another composer from England of the 16th century.
What connects all of these works is a deep spirituality, and perseverance. It is music inspired by religion, offering both a mirror for reflection but also something to hold on to in times of conflict or oppression. In so many ways, this program is a celebration of the indomitability of the human spirit, which perseveres.
Pärt composed Spiegel im Spiegel for the Russian violinist Vladimir Spivakov in 1978. Sabei writes in the enclosed booklet: "...the piece became the prototype of the tintinnabula style and gained cult status in versions for various instruments. A deeply thoughtful 'peeling' lurks within its seemingly accessible simplicity which releases everything that is superfluous and gives space to stillness and delay. Pärt had finally reached what he considered as the true origin of the compositional process; the transcendental character of Spiegel im Spiegel became his trademark and was to move audiences throughout the world."
Amsterdam Sinfonietta director Candida Thompson on shaman drum in performance by the Netherlands Chamber Choir of Veljo Tormis' Curse Upon Iron, track 3.
Veljo Tormis' Curse Upon Iron (1972) provides powerful, angry contrast. Performed a cappella, with only the violent strikes on the shaman drum, the music drives a strident denunciation of the use of metal for destructive military purposes—"shamanic incantations and chilling primal cries are deployed against the evils of war." Tormis is regarded as one of the great 20th Century choral composers and one of the most important composers in Estonia. His compositions are imbued with traditional Estonian and Finno-Ugric folk traditions, which he easily acknowledged, saying "It is not I who makes use of folk music, it is folk music that makes use of me."
Latvian born Pēteris Vasks' Plainscapes (2002) offers a quiet reprieve, a gentle period of reflection. To quote from the enclosed booklet, "Soft whispering tones evoke the Latvian plains and their vistas, their changing seasons and starry night skies whilst violins and cellos blossom over a wordless choral accompaniment. Not only serene themes but also restless passages translate the menace as well as the beauties of nature."
In a manner similar to the effects of Vaughan Williams' Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910) in track 2, Vasks invites us to spend some moments in reflection and contemplation, but to not become complacent as the violins become ever more urgent and the choir ultimately rises with them—apparently, life is ever uncertain.
Lepo Sumera's Concerto per voci e strumenti (1997), is comprised of three movements in a minimalist style that is embedded in centuries-old Estonian Runo songs—chants filled with alliteration and incantatory repetition. Here the choir is joined by Amsterdam Sinfonietta to create a rich combination of voices and instruments. Sumera has described his style as a kind of musical magma in which sound itself is a substance holding a number of potential developments. That is an apt description of this work as it erupts with burning intensity and urgency.
The album ends with Pärt's Spiegel im Spiegel once again, this time for violin and piano. Softly, gently, kindly, the program is brought to a reflective close.
The Amsterdam Sinfonietta and Netherlands Chamber Choir deliver excellent performances throughout. They are alert, dynamic, and agile. I found this entire album thoroughly enjoyable, and the selections of music nicely complementary with variety that maintained my interest across the entire hour and a quarter program. Warmly recommended!
As always, Jared Sacks captures the performances in superb sound quality. As with virtually all of his recordings, the sound stage is spot on, with the performers sounding like real people in a real space performing with real instruments and voices. Jared's ability to create a recording that allows for the pleasurable suspension of disbelief is approached by only a few other recording engineers. Sui generis? No, but fantastic. And among the elite of the elite recording and mastering engineers.
Out Of Vienna (Music of Berg, Webern, Schulhoff), Leonkoro Quartet. Alpha Classics 2026 (96k, Stereo) Edit Master Sourced HERE
I have long enjoyed these modern compositions from the first quarter of the 20th Century. When they are presented as well as the Leonkoro Quartet performs them, they are a pure, unalloyed pleasure to revisit.
Opening with Anton Berg's Lyric Suite (1926), the Leonkoro immediately arrested my attention. Their playing is fresh, alive, and eminently engaging. They present the music as a roller coaster of emotional shifts—probing, searching, changing direction—this is how this music should be presented, in my opinion. They find the life and energy of the work, with it's both lyrical and clashing contrasts. What a pleasure!
From Berg, the program steps into Erwin Schulhoff's nearly contemporaneous Five Pieces for String Quartet, op. 5 (1924). The enfant terrible Schulhoff looks at the Baroque genre through surrealist lenses in this work to liberally mock various traditions. The opening movement, "Alla Valse viennese" is a ferocious four-beat parody of the waltz, while the final movement "Alla Tarantella" is a furious pastiche with a relentless spiccato. Devastatingly brilliant piercing insanity.
The program then steps back a few years to Anton Webern's Five Movements for String Quartet, op. 5 (1909). With it's astringent opening, Five Movements for String Quartet is a first step away from the aesthetic of Wagner and Strauss. After an opening that boldly announces "you are in for something different," the music eases into the broad melodic tradition, but only for a little time. The lush supporting textures have been removed as Webern applies a more free atonal style, hauntingly probing a darkness unknown. The work contains a kaleidoscopic of effects. It shifts with broad dynamics, from a triple forte explosion at one point to a barely audible murmur at another. It is music of a new sound world launching a new century. It sets the stage for a new freedom of musical expression.
Almost as a closing gift, the program concludes with the lovely, lyrical, and tenderly expressive Langsamer Satz, composed by Webern just a few years earlier in 1905.
The entire program, the entire performance, is a marvelous listening experience. It is complemented by superb balance engineering* that captures the sound of the strings with great detail and gorgeous resonance. The sound stage is nigh on perfectly captured as one listens to a phrase passing, with utter clarity, from one instrument to another and back again. That is what I so love about hearing a well recorded quartet.
*And, yet, once again I will bemoan Alpha Classics' choice of recording at 96kHz and not giving us that greater aural density one hears when the original recording resolution is at DXD or DSD256 resolution. It is a shame to have such an excellent performance, and such an otherwise well recorded release, limited by this poor choice of original recording resolution.
