Archive for Featured – Page 6
InfoDad Reviews the “Splendid” Hermitage Piano Trio Rachmaninoff Recording
The InfoDad blog gives a top-rating to the Hermitage Piano Trio’s new Rachmaninoff recording: “The two [piano] trios receive absolutely splendid readings, filled with warmth and passion and presented in exceptionally full and elegant sound, on a new Reference Recordings SACD featuring the Hermitage Piano Trio. … the group’s impassioned, deeply involving beauty of phrasing and cooperation is worthy of trios that have been around far longer. … [Trio élégiaque No. 2 ] is a brooding,…
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,…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
Fiona Boyes is a 2019 Blues Music Foundation Koko Taylor Award for Traditional Blues Female Artist Nominee!
Fiona Boyes has just received The Blues Foundation’s 2019 Blues Music Award nomination for the prestigious Koko Taylor Award for Traditional Blues Female Artist. This is Fiona’s 8th BMA nomination, her 3rd in this category. Voting is open to all Blues Foundation members and ends February 28th. Membership is open to all, simply click the Join button on the Blues Foundation website. The awards ceremony takes place May 9 in Memphis, TN. Fiona was also…
Fiona Boyes Nominated for Four 2019 Australian Blues Music Awards!
The 2019 Australian Blues Music Awards finalists were announced by the Australian Blues Music Festival, and Fiona Boyes and her Voodoo In The Shadows recording were nominated in four categories: Album of the Year Song of the Year – “Call Their Name” Artist of the Year Duo or Group of the Year – Fiona Boyes Band See the full list of nominees and awards categories on the Australian Blues Music Festival Facebook Page, and keep…
Doug MacLeod’s Break The Chain Vinyl is a Hi-Fi News Album Choice!
UPDATE: Hi-Fi News has selected Break The Chain as a Top Audiophile Vinyl Album of 2019! Hi-Fi News features Doug MacLeod’s Break The Chain recording as their December 2018 “Album Choice” in the Audiophile: Vinyl section: “Vintage LPs…have been audiophile totems for decades, but rare are new titles. MacLeod’s third for Reference ticks all the boxes: higher-speed playback, 180g vinyl and half-speed mastering.… [It has a] sound that’s massive, visceral and weighty. The content? As…
Pittsburgh Symphony’s Beethoven A New York Times Best Track of 2018
The New York Times has released its “25 Best Classical Music Tracks of 2018” and the GRAMMY-nominated Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck recording of Beethoven’s “Funeral March” from Symphony No. 3 made the list! “The most interesting and innovative Beethoven recording since these forces set down the Fifth and Seventh, this intense “Eroica” nods in the direction of tradition but sounds completely new, rethought from the ground up.” —David Allen, The New York Times See the…
FIVE 2019 GRAMMY Nominations!
Reference Recordings is excited to announce five GRAMMY® Nominations for the 2019 GRAMMY® Awards! John Williams At The Movies Best Engineered, Classical & Best Classical Compendium 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…
Teach Me Thy Statutes Is MusicWeb International’s 2018 Recording of the Year
The PaTRAM Institute’s Teach Me Thy Statutes recording has been named the 2018 MusicWeb International Recording of the Year! “In this twelve month period, we published more than 2400 reviews. There is no easy or entirely satisfactory way of choosing one above all others as our Recording of the Year, but this year the choice was a little easier than usual. … none stood as deserving of this accolade as much as the choral works of…
Manfred Honeck Joins New Classical Tracks to Talk Strauss and Beethoven
Manfred Honeck joined YourClassical‘s New Classical Tracks® program to talk about his new recording of Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 and Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 with the Pittsburgh Symphony. The recording is the featured CD of the week on New Classical Tracks, which means you have a chance to win the recording! “Because I was a member of the Vienna Philharmonic as a viola player, I could watch all of the best conductors in the…
Culture Spot LA Reviews A QSF Journey
Culture Spot LA‘s Henry Schlinger has a new review for Quartet San Francisco’s new recording, A QSF Journey: “The new CD on Reference Recordings by the Quartet San Francisco (QSF), A QSF Journey, is a wonderful addition to the string quartet catalogue. The CD contains 12 tracks, many of which were either composed or arranged by the quartet’s founder and first violinist Jeremy Cohen and played to perfection by the quartet whose other members include…
Voodoo In The Shadows Nominated for Music Victoria Award
Fiona Boyes follows up her 2017 Music Victoria Award for Professin’ The Blues with a “Best Blues Album” nomination for her new Voodoo in the Shadows recording! Australia’s largest publicly voted music awards The Age Music Victoria Awards is back for its 13th year in 2018. Boasting a massive night of live music and accolades, the 2018 Awards will take place on Wednesday 21 November during Melbourne Music Week. The “Best Blues Album” is an…