Author Archive for Reference Recordings – Page 18
More MusicWeb Praise for Honeck and Pittsburgh’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9
Critic Michael Cookson adds a second MusicWeb International review for Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 recording: “Honeck’s Pittsburgh forces are in commendable form here and this unquestionably joins my favourite recordings. This is a live performance in the Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh and on this hybrid SACD, played on my standard unit, the renowned Soundmirror team has provided first class sound providing clarity, detail and satisfying balance. … Honeck has written…
Gramophone Reviews the Hermitage Piano Trio’s Rachmaninoff
Gramophone Magazine features the Hermitage Piano Trio’s Rachmaninoff recording in the Awards Issue: “The Hermitage Piano Trio prove another strong contender within a catalogue of riches. The ensemble brings a darker, more brooding vantage point to the 19-year-old composer’s one-movement G minor Trio, tastefully stretching out phrases…while favouring relatively massive sonorities. … Thoroughly detailed annotations and ravishingly balanced surround-sound engineering lend further distinction to this release.” —Jed Distler, Gramophone See the full review on Gramophone.co.uk
Textura Reviews Richmond Symphony’s Bates and Vaughan Williams Recording
Textura Magazine has a new review for the Richmond Symphony and Chorus and Steven Smith’s Mason Bates: Children of Adam; Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem recording: “This hour-long presentation of choral works by Mason Bates (b. 1977) and Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) works to both composers’ advantage, the former benefiting from the relative familiarity of the Vaughan Williams work and the latter invigorated by its pairing with the later creation; the listener benefits, too, of…
Straight Tens for Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9!
Manfred Honeck and Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 recording received a 10 rating for both Artistic and Sound Quality from ClassicsToday: “This is an amazing performance, captured in terrific sound. … Honeck’s aided by typically exceptional brass playing, with horns, trumpets, and trombones well differentiated in timbre, their musical lines clear in even the densest tuttis. The strings, too, make gorgeous sounds in the first movement’s second-subject “song period,” and throughout the Adagio. In…
Rafael’s Music Notes’s Reviews the Utah Symphony’s “Outstanding” Prokofiev Recording!
Rafael de Acha reviews the Utah Symphony and Thierry Fischer’s Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky – Lieutenant Kijé Suite recording: “Augmenting its chorus by the addition of two fine choral ensembles from the University of Utah, the orchestra, led by Thierry Fischer delivers a powerful performance of two Prokofiev compositions originally created for the screen. The score of Alexander Nevsky… gets an enthralling performance by Maestro Thierry and his forces, with the exceptional mezzo-soprano Alisa Kolosova contributing her…
Kansas City Symphony’s Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool is Out Now!
Michael Stern and The Kansas City Symphony — Brilliant Performances, Dazzling Sound! Reference Recordings proudly presents Holst’s best known and beloved works in an outstanding interpretation from Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony. This hybrid SACD release was recorded in the beautiful and acoustically acclaimed Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. It was produced by David Frost, six-time winner of the Classical Producer of the Year GRAMMY® award. It was recorded by…
The Strad Reviews The Hermitage Piano Trio’s Outstanding Rachmaninoff Recording
The Strad Magazine reviews the Hermitage Piano Trio’s Rachmaninoff recording in the October 2019 issue: “Striking the right balance between interpretative nobility and expressive candour is particularly challenging in music of such claustrophobic intensity, yet the Hermitage Piano Trio – pianist Ilya Kazantsev, violinist Misha Keylin and cellist Sergey Antonov – proves fully equal to the task, ensuring that no emotional stone is left unturned without resorting to mere hysteria. … Exemplary annotations from Victor…
Honeck and Pittsburgh Symphony Meet High Expectations in Bruckner Symphony No. 9
Fanfare Magazine’s Gavin Dixon reviews Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 recording: “Manfred Honeck’s impressive discography with the Pittsburgh Symphony raises high expectations for this new Bruckner Nine, and it doesn’t disappoint. Honeck has a knack for reinventing core Romantic repertoire, but without moving outside of established performing traditions. … The orchestra deserves equal praise for their performance here. The distinctively American brass sound works wonders in Bruckner, but the…
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…