Author Archive for Reference Recordings
The Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos Reviewed in Audiophilia
Anthony Kershaw offers an in-depth review of Garrick Ohlsson, Sir Donald Runnicles, and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra’s recordings of The Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos in the Audiophilia Magazine: “I’m not sure whose idea it was to record this repertoire, but one of the US’s most interesting pianists with a fine conductor and a superb orchestra made up of top professional players from the US and further afield in an idyllic summer setting, sounds…
HRAudio Gives Four and Half Stars to The Complete Beethoven Concertos
Adrian Quanjer gives Four and half stars for performance and sonics to Garrick Ohlsson, Sir Donald Runnicles, and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra’s recording of The Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos: “Long-standing giants like Sir David Runnicles and Garrick Ohlsson, don’t have to prove anything anymore. Their extensive and rewarding international careers say it all. No longer dependent on the moods of critics, they can be themselves and, as we may assume, support wholeheartedly the…
Doug MacLeod wins 2023 Blues Music Award!
The Blues Foundation Announced its 44th Annual Blues Music Awards in Memphis on May 11, 2023, and Reference Recordings is thrilled to share that Doug MacLeod was announced as the winner of the 2023 Acoustic Artist Award! Congratulations to Doug MacLeod! Doug MacLeod Recordings on Reference
Colin Anderson Reviews The Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos
Classical Source editor Colin Anderson has published a rave review on his Colin’s Column site in his “Outstanding” Category for the Garrick Ohlsson, Sir Donald Runnicles, and Grand Teton Music Festival’s Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos recording: “I started at the very end, with Beethoven’s Prometheus Overture, to get a feel for recorded sound and the orchestral playing: both excellent, Sir Donald setting a dignified opening against a bustling allegro, an appreciable entrée to Garrick Ohlsson and the five Piano…
Gramophone Features the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra and Garrick Ohlsson’s Recording of The Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos
The May 2023 issue of Gramophone Magazine features a must-see four-page feature on the Grand Teton Music Festival and the orchestra’s recording of the Beethoven Piano Concertos with Garrick Ohlsson and Sir Donald Runnicles. See the piece, titled “Climbing Everest in the Rockies” by Thomas May on Page 23! “To perform all five Beethoven piano concertos as a cycle is to ascend one of the repertoire’s proverbial Everest-like peaks. … a winning combination of factors…
Fanfare’s Colin Clarke Adds Bach Aria Soloists to his 2023 Want List
Colin Clarke has added Bach Aria Soloist’s Le Dolce Sirene album to his 2023 Fanfare Magazine “Want List”: “this is a well-considered mix… It is worth taking the pieces in running order as one gets an idea of the variety of sound on offer. After that chamber Messiah, an organ sonata movement by Mendelssohn is heard in a grand performance by Elisa Williams Bickers, but one that retains miraculous clarity. Then it’s back to Handel for…
James Altena Gives Bach Aria Soloists High Praise in Fanfare
Subscribers can find the full review online or in the May/June 2023 issue of Fanfare Magazine
Happy 150th Birthday to Rachmaninoff
Join Reference Recordings in celebrating the 150th anniversary of Sergei Rachmaninoff’s birthday (April 1873)! We’re celebrating by recognizing three recordings and offering two of them at 20% off through April 9: Rachmaninoff: All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 Peter Jermihov, Conductor Gloriæ Dei Cantores Richard K. Pugsley, Director Named “The Best Recording” of Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil, Op. 37 in BBC Music Magazine‘s April 2023 issue, this gorgeous production was recorded, edited and mastered by our own engineering…
Fanfare Interviews Bach Aria Soloists
The following is an excerpt from an interview with Fanfare Magazine‘s James Altena and members of the Bach Aria Soloists. The full interview is available for subscribers online and will be in the May/June 2023 Issue of the Magazine:
Bach Aria Soloists’ Le Dolce Sirene is Brilliant and Captivating says Fanfare Magazine
Fanfare Magazine‘s Ken Meltzer recommends Le Dolce Sirene from the Bach Aria Soloists “with the utmost enthusiasm”: “In Le Dolce Sirene, the BAS explores vocal and instrumental music ranging from Monteverdi to the 21st-century English composer Cecilia McDowall. The emphasis is on Baroque repertoire, performed with such HIP elements as minimal vibrato and ornamentation in repeated sections. Within that foundation, the BAS offers music-making of striking beauty, energy, and an infectious enthusiasm for the works at…
The Absolute Sound Feature on the Reference Mastercuts Series
The April 2023 issue of The Absolute Sound features a new article from Stephen Estep entitled “New Classical Recordings on Vinyl” and highlights our Reference Mastercuts series! Look for the article in the April 2023 issue of The Absolute Sound!
Announcing Limited Edition LPs!
Reference Recordings is excited to have come across a limited collection of some of our earliest recordings on LP — including our first-ever recording, created in 1976 before Prof. Keith O. Johnson began working with RR! Explore the recordings below, and make sure to look through the images as each one includes the LP Jacket with information about the backstory of the recordings. We regret we cannot ship to the EU or UK at this time.…
Italy’s Macallé Blues Reviews Doug MacLeod’s “A Soul To Claim”
Italian Blues Magazine, Macallé Blues has a new review for Doug MacLeod’s A Soul To Claim in their “Discs to Consider” section: “Doug MacLeod is one of the last and most iconic songwriters in blues that the contemporary scene can still offer. One of those endangered beings who should be preserved by some special law to protect the species and its few devotees. A Soul To Claim is his most recent album and … Despite…
Gramophone Reviews Le Dolce Sirene
The Bach Aria Soloists’ Le Dolce Sirene gets a great review from Laurence Vittes in the March 2023 issue of Gramophone Magazine: “The Kansas City-based Bach Aria Soloists make their recording debut on Reference Recordings with a lovely album of Monteverdi, Bach, Handel and Mendelssohn, complemented by Cecilia McDowall and concluding with their own improvisation on La folia. Recorded with the label’s trademark sweet and clear perfection, ‘Le dolce sirene’ achieves that audiophile miracle, sounding even…