Author Archive for Reference Recordings – Page 20
Jan Kraybill is a Treasure
The Kansas City Star hails organist Jan Kraybill as “a local treasure” while reviewing her new recording, The Orchestral Organ: “The Orchestral Organ is a stunner. Imagine some of classical music’s most powerful orchestral works performed on Helzberg Hall’s Casavant organ. If you think that sounds good on paper, wait until you actually hear the recording. Kraybill, who is also the conservator of the Casavant organ, is a one-woman orchestra whose renditions of Wagner, Tchaikovsky,…
Nadia Shpachenko Presents The Poetry of Places Release Concert on June 18, 2019
June 18, 2019 at San Francisco’s Center for new Music, pianist Nadia Shpachenko presents works from her recording The Poetry of Places and more. Details What: The Poetry of Places Album Release Concert When: June 18, 2019 at 7:30pm Where: Center for New Music, 55 Taylor St, San Francisco, CA 94102 How: Tickets at CenterForNewMusic.com Program Harold Meltzer: “In Full Sail” for solo piano San Francisco Premiere Jack Van Zandt: “Sí an Bhrú” for piano…
Audiophile Audition Reviews the Thrilling Orchestral Organ Recording from Jan Kraybill
“Organist Jan Kraybill is up to the task of performing these transcriptions. She is a musical leader, performer, educator, organ consultant, and enthusiastic advocate for the power of music to change lives for the better… I listened to the 5.1 rendering of these tracks and the sound was thrilling. The organ is big and brawny, the performances are precise and committed, and Reference Recording has done their usual audiophile magic. The lower pipes of the…
MusicWeb Review for the Excellent Recording of Kurt Sander’ Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
John Quinn reviews the PaTRAM Institute Singers recording of Kurt Sander’s Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrystostom for MusicWeb International: “The performance is conducted by Peter Jermihov who, so far as I’m concerned, has excellent credentials when it comes to Orthodox church music… This is, I understand, the first complete musical setting of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in English and it’s a considerable achievement. … The singers taking part are, I believe, all…
Positive Feedback’s David Robinson: You Must Not Miss Jan Kraybill’s “The Orchestral Organ”
Positive Feedback‘s David W. Robinson offers a rare album review for Jan Kraybill’s new recording, The Orchestral Organ: “While I don’t do music reviews on a regular basis, there are times when a particular album really strikes me, and I have to say something…usually brief, but definite. This is one of those times. … This is a wonderful collection of music. I was quite pleased by all of them, but can give a special tip…
Now Available: The Orchestral Organ
Sonic Splendor! Amazing organ performances give new dimensions to beloved orchestral favorites. In the 19th and early 20th century, organists of exceptional artistic skill developed organ transcriptions of orchestral music into a true art form. Each of the works on this disc is spectacular in its original form. To create The Orchestral Organ, we have chosen works of many different composers, adapted into organ transcriptions of the highest artistic order. These transcriptions are not intended for…
Kurt Sander’s Divine Liturgy is an “unprecedented phenomenon”
The Orthodox Arts Journal‘s Vladimir Morosan reviews the PaTRAM Institute Singers and Peter Jermihov’s Kurt Sander: The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom recording: “The results are nothing short of breathtaking! Attempts to describe music in words can never successfully convey what ultimately can only be expressed by musical sounds. Nonetheless, Kurt Sander’s new Divine Liturgy is a musical phenomenon that merits being written about if for no other reason than to entice you, as the reader…
The New York Times Profiles Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Live Series
The Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck perform at Lincoln Center on May 19, and the New York Times is previewing the performance with an in-depth look at their Pittsburgh Live! recording series! “Good barely covers it. All eight of the releases that the Pittsburgh forces have brought out on Reference Recordings, with the aid of microphone whizzes from Soundmirror, come with the highest of recommendations.… Four have received nominations for the Grammy for best orchestral performance. One,…
Reference Recordings Presents: Up Close and Personal!
Friday, May 10, 2019, Reference Recordings Presents: “Up Close & Personal”, a special showcase featuring our award-winning recording artists Fiona Boyes and Doug MacLeod as part of the Beale Street events schedule celebrating the 2019 Blues Music Awards Nominees! Details Date: Friday, May 10, 2019 Time: 4:30-6:00pm Location: Silky O’Sullivan’s – 183 Beale Street, Memphis, TN
Now Available – Kurt Sander: The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
Reference Recordings is very pleased to present the second release in our series from the PaTRAM Institute, rising stars whose debut album on our label, Chesnokov: Teach Me Thy Statutes (FR727SACD), has recently garnered a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Choral Performance. The music performed on this new recording of Russian Orthodox choral music in the English language was written by Dr. Kurt Sander. Conductor Peter Jermihov writes: “The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by Kurt Sander is unique in several respects. Within the…
You Really Shouldn’t Miss The Poetry of Places
Nadia Shpachenko’s The Poetry of Places has been added a SECOND time to Fanfare Archive’s “Not To Be Missed” section of their website after the publishing of a new review by Peter Burwasser: “As was the case with Nadia Shpachenko’s previous Reference Recordings project, Quotations and Homages, this release features a broad range of contemporary voices, with a scintillating mix of daring sound, genuine beauty, and a commodity too often missing from the new music world:…
Textura Sees Nadia Shpachenko Recordings as Trilogy
Textura Magazine’s new review of Nadia Shpachenko’s The Poetry of Places places it in context with her previous FRESH! From Reference Recordings releases: “The Poetry of Places could easily pass for the final part of a trilogy, so complementary is it to Nadia Shpachenko’s previous Reference Recordings releases, Woman at the New Piano (2014) and Quotations & Homages (2018). In all three cases, the intrepid pianist tackles challenging new works by a host of innovative composers, and while the…
SF Chronicle Reviews The Poetry of Places
Critic Joshua Kosman reviews Nadia Shpachenko’s The Poetry of Places in the San Francisco Chronicle Datebook: “In ‘The Poetry of Places,’ the gifted and versatile pianist Nadia Shpachenko premieres a remarkable lineup of 10 new works… It’s a winningly loose concept, and the music that results covers a wonderfully diverse stylistic range, from the disruptive shifts of tone in Andrew Norman’s ‘Frank’s House’…to the psychedelic whizzing and swooshing of Lewis Spratlan’s ‘Bangladesh.’ In between come…
The Poetry of Places is an Engaging Disc
The Whole Note‘s April 2019 “Keyed In” section of reviews for piano releases by critic Alax Baran features Nadia Shpachenko’s The Poetry of Places recording: “The variety of this repertoire is remarkable. Shpachenko performs a veritable tour of structures ancient and modern, producing extraordinary colours and textures from her Steinway D. Her composers sometimes add a second piano, voice, a toy piano, percussion and electronics to build their works. … Each composer provides a few…
The Poetry of Places is a Celebration of New Music!
Rafael’s Music Notes reviews Nadia Shpachenko’s The Poetry of Places recording: “The Poetry of Places…is a celebration of new music featuring a formidable pianist in the company of top practitioners in the field. … Throughout The Poetry of Places, Nadia Shpachenko valiantly navigates the now tranquil, now tumultuous waters of eight new works, six of them commissioned by and dedicated to her. … Set aside for a moment the technique and musicianship it takes to learn…