Archive for News
Doug MacLeod Wins 2026 Blues Music Award!
The Blues Foundation Announced its 47th Annual Blues Music Awards in Memphis on May 7, 2026, and Reference Recordings is thrilled to share that Doug MacLeod was announced as the winner of the 2026 Acoustic Album of the Year Award for his album, Between Somewhere and Goodbye! Congratulations to Doug MacLeod! Celebrate by saving up to 30% on the Reference Recordings Doug MacLeod Collection!
Sergei Kvitko Nominated for 2026 GRAMMY® Award
Reference Recordings is thrilled to celebrate producer and pianist Sergei Kvitko on his 2026 GRAMMY® Awards nomination for Producer of the Year, Classical! His nominated portfolio includes his work as the producer of Anastasiia Larchikova and Mykhailo Diordiiev’s Four Hands. Two Hearts. One Hope: Ukrainian and American Music for Piano Duo. In celebration, we’re offering the three recordings featuring his work, including his own Schubert by Candlelight, on sale for 20% off through Tuesday, November…
Fanfare Interviews Marcia Martin before RR’s 50th Anniversary!
Re-printed from the November/December 2025 Issue of Fanfare Magazine. Available for subscribers online at fanfarearchive.com Marcia Martin joined Reference Recordings (“RR”) as a vice president in charge of business and finance back in 1980. The company had been founded four years earlier by John Tamblyn (“Tam”) Henderson, who had studied music at the University of Georgia and then worked first as Music Director for KSFR radio and subsequently as the owner of two record stores…
Between Somewhere and Goodbye “Outshines the Dark”
Beautiful review for Doug MacLeod’s Between Somewhere and Goodbye from Huntsville, Alabama’s WLRH FM/WJAB FM Radio’s Dave Gallaher: “With much gratitude I opened the CD of Between Somewhere and Goodbye — first noticing that packaging this good is an extinct luxury in contemporary blues recordings in this first quarter of the 21st century. Choosing to open this radio feature with the mysterious mysticism of I Ain’t No Stranger (a glistening addition to Doug’s “ain’t no” songs) may be asking…
Fanfare Declares Roberto Moronn Pérez’s Grand Finale “Not To Be Missed”!
“Something special happens when musicology comes to vibrant life. Such is the case here: guitarist Roberto Moronn Pérez has released three previous albums concentrating on unknown (or barely known) music from the Segovia Archive. Here, he presents better-known works and, where possible, uses the manuscripts found among Segovia’s papers. … Tansman’s award-winning 1950 Cavatina is no occasional work… Segovia recorded Cavatina along with the final Danza Pomposa, which was added in 1952… I actually prefer Moronn Pérez to Segovia here;…
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 & Bates: Resurrexit Wins 2025 GRAMMY® Award!
2025 GRAMMY® Award Winner – Best Engineered, Classical Bruckner: Symphony No. 7; Bates: Resurrexit Mark Donahue & John Newton, engineers; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Manfred Honeck & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) REFERENCE RECORDINGS® proudly presents Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7, in a new interpretation from conductor Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. It is coupled with the first recording of Mason Bates’ Resurrexit, which was composed in 2018 on a commission from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra to celebrate the sixtieth birthday…
2025 GRAMMY® Nominees!
We are thrilled to share three nominations for the 2025 GRAMMY® Awards! Congratulations to all involved in these two fantastic recordings. Best Engineered Album, Classical Bruckner: Symphony No. 7; Bates: Resurrexit Mark Donahue & John Newton, engineers; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Manfred Honeck & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) Producer of the Year, Classical Dirk Sobotka: Bates: Resurrexit (Manfred Honeck & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) Best Choral Performance “A Dream So Bright – Choral Music of Jake Runestad” Eric…
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 & Bates Resurrexit in The New York Times
The New York Times‘ “5 Classical Music Albums You Can Listen to Right Now” column features Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 & Bates Resurrexit recording: “simply excellent… the effect in practice is magical… Even more than in his terrifying account of the Bruckner’s Ninth, you get the sense that he holds the composer in awe. And it’s difficult not to feel a similar reverence for the players of the Pittsburgh…
Gramophone Praises Kansas City Symphony’s Brahms Reimagined Orchestrations
Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony’s Brahms Reimagined Orchestrations recording receives a strong recommendation from Gramophone Magazine in the August 2024 issue: “Listening to these polished performances, I marvel that the Kansas City Symphony was founded as recently as 1981. Kudos, then, to Michael Stern, who’s stepping down as music director after 19 seasons, for helping to make the KCS a worthwhile destination on the musical map. Indeed, given Reference Recording’s crystalline sound (courtesy…
David Hurwitz Reviews Kansas City Symphony’s Brahms Reimagined Orchestrations
Thank you to ClassicsToday.com’s David Hurwitz for this wonderful recommendation of the Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern’s Brahms Reimagined Orchestrations recording!
Celebrate Earth Day with Jake Runestad’s Earth Symphony
In celebration of Earth Day 2024 on April 22nd, we are offering an early opportunity to pre-order our upcoming release with True Concord Voices & Orchestra featuring Jake Runestad’s “Earth Symphony”. Earth Symphony is part of their album with director Eric Holtan and pianist Jeffrey Biegel, A Dream So Bright: Choral Music of Jake Runestad, which will be released on FRESH! From Reference Recordings this July. As part of the Earth Day celebrations, you can…
Wishing Dick Hyman A Happy 97th Birthday!
Join us in wishing the Jazz Master pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and composer Dick Hyman a happy 97th birthday today! We’re celebrating with a 20% off sale on our entire catalog of his recordings throughout his birthday weekend! Dick Hyman Throughout a busy musical career that got underway in the early ’50s, Dick Hyman has functioned as pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in…
Doug MacLeod Nominated for TWO Blues Music Awards!
Join Reference Recordings in congratulating Doug MacLeod on his two nominations (Acoustic Artist of the Year, and Acoustic Album – Raw Blues 1) for the 2024 Blues Music Awards presented by the Blues Foundation! The Blues Music Awards brings together Blues performers, industry representatives, and fans from all over the world to celebrate the best in Blues recordings and performances from the previous year. The BMAs are generally recognized as the highest honor given to…
Reference Recordings is on the Scene in Boulder
We thought you might enjoy a look behind the scenes from the Reference Recordings team first day setting up for recording sessions with the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra at the University of Colorado, Boulder’s Macky Auditorium.
Pacifica Tribune Highlights Reference Recordings and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s GRAMMY® Nomination
Thank you to Pacifica Tribune‘s Peter Tokofsky for this kind feature: