Author Archive for Reference Recordings – Page 16
American Record Guide Reviews Hermitage Piano Trio’s Rachmaninoff
American Record Guide Editor Donald Vroon reviewed the Hermitage Piano Trio’s Rachmaninoff recording in the Fall 2019 issue. It was also one of his recordings of the year! “I have recordings of the Rachmaninoff Trio 1 that range from 12 to 16 minutes. … Our three Russians who call themselves the Hermitage Trio… take 14-1/2 minutes, and they sound Russian and romantic; they have ardor, but they are not pushy about it. This is the…
American Record Guide Reviews Kansas City Symphony’s New Holst Recording
The Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern’s Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool gets a great review in the March/April 2020 issue of American Record Guide: “This wonderful recording sounds better and better the more you increase the volume; and somehow, that glorious sound includes both great detail and great space. We seem to be hovering just above music director Michael Stern, so individual instruments are heard vividly, and yet we never seem too close.…
Wisconsin Public Radio Reviews Hermitage Piano Trio’s Rachmaninoff
A fantastic new review for the Hermitage Piano Trio’s GRAMMY®-nominated Rachmaninoff recording from Wisconsin Public Radio: “virtuoso performances, outstanding production quality, and a program overflowing with gorgeous music and deeply wrought emotion. … The music provides a shimmering showcase for the young musicians, enabling them to display powerful technical and interpretive chops. The program itself is profoundly moving, including a youthful work, an elegy to Tchaikovsky after his death, and a gorgeous arrangement of the “Vocalise” that will be new…
Classical CD Choice Review for Utah Symphony’s Prokofiev
Classical CD Choice‘s Graham Williams reviews the Utah Symphony and Thierry Fischer’s Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky – Lieutenant Kijé Suite recording: “Discerning collectors are used to releases from the Reference Recordings label receiving effusive plaudits, not only for the high artistic level of the performances but especially for the thrilling audiophile sound quality that brings listening at home to a new level of enjoyment. This latest spectacular recording from Thierry Fischer and the Utah Symphony of…
The Arts Desk Reviews Hermitage Piano Trio’s Rachmaninoff
The Arts Desk‘s Graham Rickson reviews the Hermitage Piano Trio’s GRAMMY®-nominated Rachmaninoff album: “This performance, from three Russian musicians, oozes soul. Cellist Sergey Antonov has a gloriously dark tone, and he’s well matched with violinist Misha Keylin. And what a beautifully balanced recording too, pianist Ilya Kazantsev’s Steinway captured with startling fidelity. This never once sounds like a contractual meeting between three starry soloists; it’s clear that these musicians have lived with this music for…
Audiostream Review for Prokofiev
Audiostream Magazine reviews our high-resolution downloads for the Utah Symphony’s Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky – Lieutenant Kijé Suite: “I was given access to download the 24-bit/192kHz WAV files of Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky – Lieutenant Kijé Suite for listening, and was immediately blown away at the lack of any compression artefacting on the tracks – this recording sounds like it has a mile of dynamic headroom built into it. Regardless of whether I played it on my…
Gramophone Magazine Reviews Utah Symphony’s Prokofiev
Gramophone Magazine’s Mark Pullinger reviews Thierry Fischer and the Utah Symphony’s Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky – Lieutenant Kijé Suite in their February 2020 issue: “Thierry Fischer pairs two contrasting Prokofiev film scores in this Utah Symphony release: the gritty, rarely heard cantata Alexander Nevsky and the quirky, satirical Lieutenant Kijé. The latter is… guaranteed to raise a smile. … Nevsky is given a sober reading here, the University of Utah A Cappella Choir and University of…
Four-Star Limelight Review for Richmond Symphony’s Bates & Vaughan Williams
Limelight Magazine offers a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review for the Richmond Symphony and Chorus and Steven Smith’s recording of Mason Bates: Children of Adam; Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem. “[Bates’s] choral writing is reminiscent of Vaughan Williams, whose well known Dona Nobis Pacem is the coupling. … Bates’ command of orchestral texture is colourful and assured. In the choral sections, he sets poets such as Whitman, Sandburg, and the long passage from Genesis about the creation of the world.…
The Poetry of Places Wins 2020 GRAMMY® Award!
GRAMMY® Winner: Classical Compendium Reference Recordings would like to congratulate Nadia Shpachenko, producers Victor and Marina A. Ledin, and recording engineer Barry Werger-Gottesman on their 2020 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Compendium for The Poetry of Places! The Poetry of Places Nadia Shpachenko’s latest Reference Recordings release The Poetry of Places features World Premiere recordings of works for solo piano, for two pianos, percussion, electronics, voice, and toy piano in a fascinating mélange inspired by great architecture…
Pittsburgh’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 an Audiophile Sound Album of the Month
Italian magazine, Audiophile Sound, has named the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 recording their December 2019 album of the month! “Over the last decade Manfred Honeck has moulded the Pittsburgh Symphony into a world-class band and on this album they give a compelling account of Bruckner’s greatest symphony using the Nowak edition. … The magnificent recording also allows one to hear how Honeck delineates instrumental lines and builds massive, structured…
The Arts Desk Reviews Holst: The Planets
The Arts Desk’s Graham Rickson reviews Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern’s recording of Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool: “Michael Stern’s Kansas City Symphony version is a blast… An audiophile’s delight as well as a musical treat, Stern gets pretty much everything right. You’ll hear things in this recording that you’ll struggle to discern on starrier versions, the marvel being that nothing feels forced or artificially spotlit. There’s a sepulchral brass chorale a few…
Doug MacLeod Nominated for 2020 Blues Music Award
The Blues Foundation announced its 2020 Blues Music Awards Nominees and Reference Recordings is excited to share that Doug MacLeod has been nominated for his 11th Blues Music Award with a 2020 nomination for Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year! Become a Blues Foundation Member and Vote Full Nomine List Doug MacLeod Recordings on Reference
Gramophone Magazine Reviews Kansas City’s Holst: The Planets
Gramophone Magazine started the New Year with a January 2020 review for the Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern’s Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool in the Sounds of America section: “The Kansas City Symphony seize the day, and night, on their new recording under music director Michael Stern. Some performances of The Planets focus more on the score’s colourful surfaces than on its dramatic mysteries and jubilance but Stern’s concept pays close attention to every alluring…
Richmond Symphony’s Bates & Vaughan Williams is an Opera News Critic’s Choice
The Richmond Symphony and Chorus and Steven Smith’s Mason Bates: Children of Adam; Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem recording is a December Opera News Critic’s Choice! “Richmond Symphony’s new album pairs works by prominent contemporary composer Mason Bates and twentieth-century master Ralph Vaughan Williams. Brimming with vitality, the performances of the orchestra and the Richmond Symphony Chorus, led by conductor Steven Smith, deftly reflect the strength of both composers’ choral writing while establishing a connection between…
Pittsburgh and Manfred Honeck Win the Bruckner Society’s Recording of the Year!
The Bruckner Society of America has announced that the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck’s recording of Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 has received their award for Recording of the Year! “this new recording stands out clearly as among the finest we have heard. The Pittsburgh Symphony performs with a palpable level of commitment, which is conveyed with extraordinary clarity by the superb recording. Maestro Honeck’s interpretation of the Symphony is particularly compelling and musically rigorous,…