Author Archive for Reference Recordings – Page 11
The Absolute Sound Reviews Fiona Boyes’ Blues In My Heart
Greg Cahill gives Fiona Boyes’ Blues In My Heart: 20th Anniversary Edition a four-star review in The Absolute Sound: “Boyes lends a loose, sassy flair to these songs—check out the defiant attitude she bestows upon Kid Bailey’s “Rowdy Blues.” Boyes’ vocals and picking are the driving force here, and her big Matan dreadnaught is close-miked to accentuate the foot stomps, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and string bends. And she is supported by occasional bandmates Kaz Dalla Rosa…
Manfred Honeck and Pittsburgh Symphony Offer a New Go-To Beethoven Symphony No. 9
Culture Spot LA reviews Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra‘s recording of Beethoven Symphony No. 9: “Getting a CD in the mail from Reference Recordings is always a little like Christmas, especially when the package contains a new release by Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. That’s because I know that there will always be an interesting and often exhilarating interpretation of whatever work(s) Honeck decides to bring the listener. … Right out…
TheaterByte Gives Manfred Honeck’s Beethoven Symphony No. 9 its Highest Recommendation
TheaterByte‘s Lawrence Devoe puts Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven Symphony No. 9 recording at the top of his list: “A thrilling performance of Beethoven’s crowning symphonic achievement by Manfred Honeck and his Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra that in terms of sound and musical execution goes to the top of my list of recordings of this venerable work. Maestro Manfred Honeck is in his twelfth season as music director of one of America’s top-tier…
Kansas City Symphony’s Leshnoff Album is a MusicWeb International Recording of the Month!
MusicWeb International names the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Jonathan Leshnoff: Piano Concerto; Symphony No. 3 with Joyce Yang and Stephen Powell a February 2021 Recording of the Month! “Both are world-premiere recordings, the symphony set down a week after its premiere performance in 2016, while the Concerto was recorded live at its premiere in November 2019, and both are treated to excellent orchestral playing, as well as superb sonics from Reference Recordings –…
InfoDad Reviews Manfred Honeck’s Beethoven Symphony
The InfoDad Team revels in Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Beethoven Symphony No. 9 recording, giving it their highest rating! “there are near-infinite ways of presenting a symphony as crucial to all of classical music as Beethoven’s Ninth, and any recording that has something new to say is certainly entitled to say it. In the case of the performance led by Manfred Honeck and released by Reference Recordings, it happens that there is much new to…
Pizzicato Reviews Manfred Honeck and Pittsburgh Symphony’s Beethoven Symphony No. 9
Remy Franck reviews Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s recording of Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in Pizzicato Magazine: “Manfred Honeck is a conductor who thinks a lot about music… This always results in personal interpretations like this one. …There is plenty of excitement in his very detailed and pulsating interpretation, with emphatically bright colors and many a tumble in the woodwinds, in addition to some more austere-sounding passages (including the somewhat eerie funeral march at…
Four Stars from ConcertoNet for Pittsburgh Symphony’s Beethoven Symphony No. 9
ConcertoNet critic Linda Holt, gives a four-star (of four) review to the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s Beethoven Symphony No. 9 recording: “Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra have released a remarkable new reading of one of the most venerated classics of the Western canon, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in D minor, opus 125. Honeck’s vision of this work is impressive for its respect for the instructions of the composer and its dynamic sense of unfolding…
Manfred Honeck Discusses Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with The New York Times
Don’t miss this incredible look at Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Manfred Honeck and New York Times critic David Allen! See it on nytimes.com “Manfred Honeck is one of today’s leading Beethoven conductors. As music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, he has created notably exciting recordings of the Third, Fifth and Seventh Symphonies. Now he and the orchestra, founded 125 years ago this month, are releasing their interpretation of the mighty Ninth. What makes Honeck’s approach so…
MusicWeb International Review for Kansas City Symphony’s Leshnoff Premiere Recordings
MusicWeb International reviews the Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, Stephen Powell, and Joyce Yang’s world premiere recordings of Jonathan Leshnoff: Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto: “This is an excellent concerto. It’s thoroughly entertaining, though in saying that I don’t want to give the impression that the music is in any way superficial. Such is not the case; the work is inventive and very accessible and in the second movement depths of feeling are plumbed.…
Blues Blast Magazine Strongly Recommends Fiona Boyes’ “Blues In My Heart”
The latest issue of Blues Blast Magazine has a strong recommendation for Fiona Boyes’s Blues in my Heart 20th Anniversary Edition recording: “Fiona Boyes truly stands out from the crowd… With a hard-to-define style that blends everything from Delta and swamp to Chicago blues and more, Fiona exploded onto the world blues scene with the original analog version of this CD, which was self-produced and released on her own label. … The twelfth album in…
Atlanta Audio Society Reviews Kansas City Symphony’s Leshnoff Recording
Phil Muse reviews The Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, Stephen Powell, and Joyce Yang’s recording of Leshnoff: Symphony No. 3; Piano Concerto in the Atlanta Audio Society‘s December Newsletter: “Once again, an exploration of the music of American composer Jonathan Leshnoff proves rewarding. … What makes this composer so distinguishable from his contemporaries is easy to divine: it is the concentrated emotion, the lyricism, cohesive construction, and economy of his music. In the last-cited, Leshnoff…
Fanfare Reviews Pittsburgh Symphony’s Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 & Leshnoff Double Concerto
Jerry Dubins reviews the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s recording of Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4; Leshnoff: Double Concerto for clarinet and bassoon in the November/December 2020 issue of Fanfare Magazine: “[Leshnoff’s Double Concerto] is gloriously beautiful and quite possibly a masterpiece, though that judgment will have to be left to time. … If Leshnoff’s aim was to ensure that the bassoon would emerge as the clarinet’s equal, he suceeded admirably. Nancy Goeres huffs and puffs…
Living Blues Reviews Fiona Boyes Blues in My Heart
Living Blues reviews Fiona Boyes’ 20th Anniversary Digitally Remastered release, Blues in my Heart: “One listen, and well, yeah, she’s blues alright, that and then some. There are not enough acoustic blues women, and even less who compose their own songs at her level. She graces the genre with the remastered 20th anniversary edition of her first solo recording, Blues in My Heart. Listeners will appreciate the generous helping of 18 songs on this CD,…
The Arts Fuse Reviews Kansas City Symphony’s Jonathan Leshnoff Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto
The Arts Fuse reviews Kansas City Symphony’s recording of Jonathan Leshnoff Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto with Stephen Powell and Joyce Yang: “The Concerto’s first movement alternates motoric and lyrical subjects, its constant shifts of phrases and harmonies keeping the ear from ever getting too comfortable. “Neshema,” the slow second movement, offers a beautiful, falling tune that’s gradually embellished. The Scherzo, with its frolicsome keyboard writing and nifty transformations of orchestral textures, charms throughout.…
Textura Reviews Kansas City Symphony’s Leshnoff Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto
Textura Magazine reviews Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symhony No. 3 and Piano Concerto recording featuring the Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, Stephen Powell, and Joyce Yang: “Any classical pianist hearing the concerto would likely salivate at the prospect of performing it. In this iteration, Joyce Yang delivers a riveting performance others would be hard pressed to better. … The opening movement dazzles from the start, with Yang expertly voicing chiming figures over insistent strings and the syncopated…