Author Archive for Reference Recordings – Page 18
InfoDad Review for Richmond Symphony’s Mason Bates and Vaughan Williams Recording
The InfoDad team gives their highest rating to the Richmond Symphony and Richmond Symphony Chorus’s Bates: Children of Adam; Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem recording in a new review: “The elegant orchestration and skillful use of voices make [Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem] a very moving work when it is well performed, as it is on a new Reference Recordings disc featuring the Richmond Symphony Chorus and Richmond Symphony conducted by Steven Smith. Soloists Michelle Areyzaga…
Pittsburgh’s Bruckner Symphony No. 9 Gets Five Stars from Audiophile Audition
Audiophile Audition’s Steven Ritter gives Five Stars to Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 recording: “Ah, to live in Pittsburgh these days! … And why, you say? Because the Pittsburgh Symphony is sounding as good as any orchestra in the country, and Manfred Honeck’s direction stamps an indelible seal on so many masterworks once thought virtually untouchable. … a balanced, dramatic, powerfully reliable attention to the score is coupled with what…
John Williams At The Movies – Now on LP!
2019 Best Engineered, Classical GRAMMY® Nominee2019 Best Classical Compendium GRAMMY® Nominee “a must for movie fans and audiophiles alike.” —Dan Morgan, MusicWeb International John Williams is a game changer. Early in his career he crossed the lines between music that was “art” and music that was “commercial,” and never looked back. He is one of the best known, most awarded and most successful composers in US history, and his name is inextricably connected to outstanding…
Culture Spot LA Reviews Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
Henry Schlinger reviews Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 recording for Culture Spot LA: “Manfred Honeck, the music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, can apparently read my mind and has been doing so for some time now. He seems to know what I want him and the PSO to record on the spectacular Fresh Series from Reference Recordings. … [Honeck] has a seemingly intuitive knack for pulling back on the…
Revelatory PSO Performances Make Bruckner Symphony No. 9 Fresh Again
The family review site, InfoDad reviews Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 recording and finds it “revelatory”: “Even music that is familiar and has frequently been recorded can sometimes come across as fresh and new when performances are sufficiently revelatory – as is Manfred Honeck’s of Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Not since the days of William Steinberg has this orchestra sounded so warm, full, and emotionally evocative…
American Record Guide Reviews PaTRAM’s Kurt Sander: Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
The September/October 2019 issue of American Record Guide features a new review for the PaTRAM Institute‘s recording of Kurt Sander’s Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom: “Most of the music falls into one of two categories: brief choral responses to chanted declamation by the priest or deacon, and more extended choral pieces like the Cherubic Hymn and the Lord’s Prayer. In his notes, Sander observes that most composers would begin by writing the more extended…
MundoClasico Reviews Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s Bruckner Symphony No. 9
The Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 recording gets a review in MundoClasico: “Furthermore, the Pittsburgh Symphony surrenders itself without compromise. Although this recording is not as widely broadcast as one would desire, it is, in my opinion, an interpretation that must be taken very seriously by anyone worthy of being a Brucknerite. And it is, of course–until now, and as far as I know– Honeck’s best discographic work in Pittsburgh.” —Alfredo López-Vivié…
The Whole Note Reviews Hermitage Piano Trio’s Rachmaninoff
“Now based out of the United States, the ensemble has just released their debut CD for Reference Recordings, a beautifully performed and recorded capture at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts of some of the most intricate and dynamic works of the celebrated late Romantic-era Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943). … And, like the finest Western art musicians of today, the trio here handles all of this (and more) with ease, expressively and flawlessly traversing the…
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on PSO’s Bruckner Symphony No. 9 : “a masterpiece”
Jeremy Reynolds reviews Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s new Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 recording in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “To get right to it, it’s a masterpiece. Music director Manfred Honeck and the orchestra recorded the symphony last year during three live concerts — reviewed here — and again partnered with recording engineers from Soundmirror of Boston. Bruckner’s ninth is a beast. Even in its unfinished, three-movement state, the symphony runs just over an hour. The…
Hermitage Piano Trio’s Rachmaninoff is “absolutely unmissable”
Barry Forshaw reviews the Hermitage Piano Trio’s new Rachmaninoff recording for Classical CD Choice: “This absolutely unmissable disc performs a valuable service in providing the first SACD performances of his exquisite piano trios. The Hermitage Piano Trio has the full measure of this vivid and colourful music, chamber works which are not afraid to wear their heart on their sleeve – but never in a forced, sentimental manner. In fact, it is the muscle and…
Four-Star Review for the Richmond Symphony from Pizzicato
The Richmond Symphony and Richmond Symphony Chorus’s Bates: Children of Adam; Vaughan-Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem recording gets a four-star rating from Remy Franck’s Pizzicato Magazine: “The work is eventful in its orchestration and varied in its moods… [and] musically rich… here spiritual and sensual, there reflective, sometimes also solemn. In contrast to the very colorful and complex orchestral part, the choral part is rooted in the chorale and hymn… [an] exciting live recording.” —Remy Franck,…
Pittsburgh’s Tribune-Review Reviews PSO and Manfred Honeck’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
“The spiritual richness of Bruckner’s symphonies is unmistakable, yet Honeck’s interpretation breaks new ground in understanding the specific connection between musical ideas and religious meaning. His program notes for the new CD are a practical guide to the music which make it easy to correlate his words with his performance. … The proof of Honeck’s verbal interpretation is the enthralling performance he leads. It is a bold performance marked in part by extremes – the…
Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 is Now Available Worldwide!
Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Continue to Amaze! Reference Recordings proudly presents this iconic work in a new and definitive interpretation from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, in superb audiophile sound. This hybrid SACD release was recorded in beautiful and historic Heinz Hall, home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. In his deeply personal and scholarly music notes, Maestro Honeck gives us great insight into the history and the musical structure of Bruckner’s final composition,…
The Wall Street Journal Profiles Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
The Wall Street Journal has a new review and feature for Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s new Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 recording! “Conductor Manfred Honeck has become one of today’s most insightful interpreters of the classics. A regular presence on the world’s most prestigious orchestra podiums, the Austrian maestro has been music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for more than a decade, where he has made valuable additions to its discography. … Their…
Classical Music Sentinel Review for Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
Jean-Yves Duperron reviews Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra‘s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 recording in Classical Music Sentinel: “As if a call from the beyond, the magnificent horns of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra infuse a profound sense of eerie and yet powerful stillness within the opening pages. … this account is highly gripping. … a Bruckner symphony is ‘absolute’ music. You can’t evince a different outcome from a harmonic progression or a sequence of chords. It’s sound…