Author Archive for Reference Recordings – Page 21
Fanfare Says The Poetry of Places is “Not To Be Missed”
Fanfare Magazine highlights Nadia Shpachenko’s The Poetry of Places recording in their online “Not To Be Missed” section: “The idea of reacting to spaces is the thread that snakes through this fascinating recital. Programming is clearly a strength of Shpachenko, as her disc Quotations & Homages spoke of a similarly adventurous spirit. The superbly produced booklet gives fine background information to the pieces and composers, in tandem with a selection of photographs worth the price of…
RR at AXPONA 2019
Heading to the 2019 AXPONA Show April 12-14? Make sure to keep an eye out for the Elusive Disc booth in The Marketplace – they’ll have a good selection of RR CDs, SACDs, and LPs available for purchase at the show! AXPONA 2019 April 12 – 14, 2019Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel & Convention CenterSchaumburg, IL More Info
Fiona Boyes’ “Party At Red’s” an International Songwriting Competition Finalist
The International Songwriting Competition announced its 2018 Finalists, and Fiona Boyes’ song ‘Party at Red’s’ from Voodoo In The Shadows is a finalist in the Blues category of the International Songwriting Competition. The official judging round is underway, but there is also a ‘People’s Choice’ award for each category selected solely by a public vote. Simply an email address is required and you can vote once-per-day. Click the button below and scroll through the list…
Break The Chain Vinyl in Stereophile
Doug MacLeod and the LP release of Break the Chain got a nice mention from Stereophile‘s Michael Fremer as part of a review of the Audia Flight FLS1 Pre-Amp/DAC in the April 2019 issue: “Bluesman Doug MacLeod hasn’t put out one bad record in his long career…His latest, Break the Chain (2 45rpm LPs, RM-2519), recorded live at Skywalker Sound by Keith O. Johnson and Sean Royce Martin, with no edits or overdubs, is yet…
Cinemusical Review for The Poetry of Places
The Cinemusical blog gives full marks to Nadia Shpachenko’s The Poetry of Places recording: “The Poetry of Places is a truly fascinating collection of original music for piano that demonstrates a great variety of approaches. The thematic thread that runs through the album helps create a secondary connection to the music and invites the listener in on a journey through these different spaces. Shpachenko’s technical virtuosity is on display throughout here. She is very adept…
Sequenza 21 Reviews The Poetry of Places
Paul Muller reviews Nadia Shpachenko’s new recording, The Poetry of Places for Sequenza 21: “The playing here is crisp and seamlessly coordinated, even as the rapidly complex phrases seem to explode into motion at every moment. Frank’s House is a wild musical ride through an artistic mind unburdened by limitations. … Harold Metzer’s In Full Sail for solo piano … smoothly alternates between the serious and the sprightly, with lighthearted stretches bubbling up from under the darker…
The Poetry of Places is “Marvellous”
Critic Dean Frey reviews Nadia Shpachenko’s The Poetry of Places recording on his Music for Several Instruments blog: “…this marvellous disc from pianist Nadia Shpachenko…music [interacts] with a wide range of human activities: fine and applied arts (architecture and design), the heritage arts and the natural world. … I happen to share a fondness for and a deep admiration of some of the architects of these special places, especially Frank Gehry and Louis Kahn. But…
The Poetry of Places is Now Available!
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 and places. The eight compositions monumentalize places as wildly diverse as the Copland House in Cortlandt, NY, The American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, Louis Kahn’s National Assembly Buildings in Bangladesh, Newgrange Ancient Temple in Ireland, and Frank Gehry’s House in…
The Poetry of Places – Harold Meltzer: In Full Sail
Harold Meltzer: In Full Sail for solo piano (2016) For years I have been taking walks in Manhattan through Chelsea, along the High Line park, or to take my son to summer camp by the Hudson River. Regularly they bring me past the curved white glass facade of Frank Gehry’s IAC Building, which, according to a critic, “gives the appearance of a tall ship in full sail.” I began to imagine the building launching from…
Blues Blast Magazine Reviews Voodoo In The Shadows
The January 31st issue of Blues Blast Magazine features a grand review for Fiona Boyes’ multiple award-nominated Voodoo In The Shadows recording: “Fiona Boyes is the standard bearer for Australian Blues. A guitarist of unique and distinctive style, she is the spiritual love child of Hubert Sumlin and Ry Cooder. A dramatic and stylized singer, she channels the old school bombast and laissez-faire of Bessie Smith and Memphis Minnie with a sprinkling of Wolf grit.…
A QSF Journey In American Record Guide
The January/February 2019 issue of American Record Guide features a review of Quartet San Francisco’s A QSF Journey recording: “The arrangements…by first violinist Jeremy Cohen…[range] From the delightfully optimistic Fiesta that reminds me of Yo-Yo Ma and Edgar Meyer’s Goat Rodeo Sessions album to the morose Tango Carnevale, to Rhapsody in Bluegrass, this album keeps pleasantly surprising us with each song. … This group deserves commendation for bridging the gap between classical and popular music…
Fono Forum Reviews “Phenomenal” Pittsburgh Symphony Beethoven & Strauss Recording
Germany’s Fono Forum critic, Holger Arnold, gives five stars to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck’s GRAMMY®-nominated recording of Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 and Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1: William Caballero, the principal horn player of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, gives the piece an extraordinarily differentiated and colorful interpretation. It is admirable, how he makes some passages appear in a completely new light through dynamic nuances. His brilliant technique and velvety tone are just…
Teach Me Thy Statutes is “Intensely Moving”
The PaTRAM Institute’s Teach Me Thy Statutes recording continues to receive praise in Fanfare Magazine, and even gets shortlisted for a “Want List” Award: “the 15 movements presented on this disc, although selected from different Chesnokov works, form a convincing whole and offer music of extraordinary beauty and depth of feeling, generating a sense of profound exaltation and devotion to something beyond the limitations of one’s own life. Even a non-religious person…can find this glorious…
Voodoo in the Shadows Casts a Seductive Spell
The December 2018 issue of Living Blues reviews Fiona Boyes’ multiple-award-nominated Voodoo In The Shadows recording: “For her latest album, [Fiona Boyes] turns her focus to the Mississippi Delta and New Orleans, and Voodoo in the Shadows delves into the sound, textures and cultures of the region. Boyes serves as her own producer on this collection, and as the album’s title suggests, matters of the spirit are a going concern. … She threads the ode…
Fanfare Reviews The Pittsburgh Symphony’s Vivid and Exciting Eroica
Steven Kruger reviews Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 and Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 recording in the January/February 2019 issue: “Manfred Honeck certainly knows how to make a good record. … [this] new release from Reference Recordings demonstrates again how reliably Honeck supplies us with a vibrant performance and the most interesting liner notes you will read anywhere. … This is the most vivid modern ‘Eroica’ I know… It’s…