Archive for News
Doug MacLeod’s A Soul to Claim is a Downbeat Magazine Album of the Year!
Downbeat Magazine‘s January 2023 issue has a list of their 2022 Albums of the Year, and Doug MacLeod’s A Soul To Claim has made the list! “Doug MacLeod’s A Soul To Claim, like many of his 21 previous albums, makes it clear that he’s an archetype of the top-level blues storyteller: wry, sharp-witted, virile, inclined to poke fun at sentiment.… MacLeod bestows his music with a human intimacy that’s a function of his affable personality…
Doug MacLeod is a 2023 Blues Music Award Nominee!
The Blues Foundation announced its 2023 Blues Music Awards Nominees and Reference Recordings is excited to share that Doug MacLeod has been nominated for his 22nd Blues Music Award with a 2023 nomination for Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year! Doug MacLeod Recordings on Reference
Gramophone Reviews Nadia Shpachenko’s Invasion Release
The January 2023 issue of Gramophone Magazine features a review of Nadia Shpachenko’s recording of Invasion: Music and Art for Ukraine: “Lewis Spratlan’s Invasion is a raucous, volatile tone poem for a sextet of piano, saxophone, horn, trombone, percussion and – I assume to provide some local Ukrainian colour – mandolin, written at speed in March this year.… Invasion is the music of indignation and outrage, its combative nature (it does have a more contemplative central section) mirrored…
Pittsburgh Symphony’s Brahms Symphony No. 4 and MacMillan Larghetto a 2022 Recording of the Year Nominee
Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s Brahms: Symphony No. 4 and James MacMillan Larghetto for Orchestra is a MusicWeb International 2022 Recording of the Year Double-Nominee! “Indisputably the finest – and possibly the most important – recording to emerge in 2022 was this release of Brahms’ Fourth Symphony by Manfred Honeck. In an age where recordings of the old war-horses are not universally welcomed, the general thought being that everything that has been said about the…
Fiona Boyes Inducted into Blues Music Victoria Hall of Fame
Congratulations to Fiona Boyes! On November 23, 2022, Fiona will be inducted into the Blues Music Victoria Hall of Fame! She also has the distinction of being the first woman inducted into the Hall of Fame. “Fiona Boyes will be the first woman even to be inducted into the Blues Music Victoria Hall of Fame on Wednesday November 23. Extraordinarily talented blues guitarist and vocalist Fiona Boyes will this month be inducted into the Blues…
Doug MacLeod and Jim Gaines Nominated for 2022 Blues Blues Blast Music Awards
In June 2022, a group of music critics, journalists, festival promoters, music venue managers, musicians and other Blues music industry professionals nominated the best in Blues music in twenty-two categories for the 15th Annual Blues Blast Music Awards. We are thrilled to share that Doug MacLeod has been nominated for the Acoustic Guitar Award, and Jim Gaines (A Soul to Claim) has been nominated for the Producer Award! Voting begins Tuesday, July 12th at BluesBlastMagazine.com!…
Remembering Richard Freed
Esteemed music critic and writer Richard Freed passed away on New Year’s Day, a few days after his 93rd birthday. Reference Recordings is incredibly fortunate that he provided superb music notes for 17 of our albums in the last thirty years. For decades, Mr. Freed corresponded frequently with our founder Tam Henderson. We will miss him, and the classical music world has lost a great soul. —Marcia Martin Richard Freed (1928 – 2022) Richard Freed, distinguished…
Brahms & MacMillan a NativeDSD Album of the Year
NativeDSD.com released their 2021 albums of the year, and the Orchestral winner is Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Brahms: Symphony No. 4 and Macmillan: Larghetto for Orchestra! “Athletic! I see that word applied to many of Honeck’s recordings – strong, emphatic performances! Sometimes he has been accused of being a bit over the top, but I find this Brahms Fourth to be excellent in every way. If I had to choose…
2022 GRAMMY® Nominations!
Reference Recordings is excited to announce multiple nominations for the 2022 GRAMMY® Awards! Best Orchestral Performance Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 Manfred Honeck, conductor (Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) Best Engineered Album, Classical Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 Mark Donahue, engineer; Mark Donahue, mastering engineer (Manfred Honeck, Mendelssohn Choir Of Pittsburgh & Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) Congratulations to all involved in this double-nominated album!!! Producer of the Year, Classical David Frost Congratulations to producer David…
Remembering Carlisle Floyd
We were saddened to hear of the death of Carlisle Floyd, considered the “Father of American Opera”, yesterday, September 30, 2021 at the age of 95. Reference Recordings was proud to have released recordings of two of his operas, “Wuthering Heights” and “Prince of Players”. “Prince of Players” garnered his first ever GRAMMY® nomination for Best Contemporary Classical Composition. In the liner notes of Prince of Players, Floyd wrote, “having this outstanding performance recorded for…
Fiona Boyes and Blues In My Heart Nominated for Blues Blast Music Awards!
In June 2021, a group of Blues music industry professionals including music critics, journalists, festival promoters, music venue managers, producers, musicians and other Blues music industry professionals nominated the best in Blues music in twelve categories. We are excited to share that Fiona Boyes was nominated for Female Artist of the Year and her Blues In My Heart album was nominated for the Historical/Vintage Recording of the year! Fan voting for the award is open…
Manfred Honeck Discusses Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with The New York Times
Don’t miss this incredible look at Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Manfred Honeck and New York Times critic David Allen! See it on nytimes.com “Manfred Honeck is one of today’s leading Beethoven conductors. As music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, he has created notably exciting recordings of the Third, Fifth and Seventh Symphonies. Now he and the orchestra, founded 125 years ago this month, are releasing their interpretation of the mighty Ninth. What makes Honeck’s approach so…
Carlisle Floyd: Prince of Players Receives Two 2021 GRAMMY® Nominations
The 2021 GRAMMY® Award Nominations were announced today and Reference Recordings releases appeared on four nominations! 2021 GRAMMY® Nominations for RR releases: Best Opera Recording Carlisle Floyd: Prince Of Players — William Boggs, conductor; Keith Phares & Kate Royal; Blanton Alspaugh, producer (Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra; Florentine Opera Chorus) Best Contemporary Classical Composition Carlisle Floyd: Prince Of Players — Carlisle Floyd, composer (William Boggs, Kate Royal, Keith Phares, Florentine Opera Chorus & Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra) Producer of the Year, Classical…
Available NOW: Leshnoff Symphony No. 3 & Piano Concerto!
Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony’s Leshnoff World Premiere Recordings are available today! Reference Recordings® proudly presents two new works from leading American composer Jonathan Leshnoff. Distinguished by The New York Times as “a leader of contemporary American lyricism,” Leshnoff is renowned for his music’s striking harmonies, structural complexity, and powerful themes. These world premiere recordings showcase the Kansas City Symphony performing his third symphony, inspired by World War I letters home, with texts sung by baritone Stephen Powell.…
Pittsburgh Symphony’s Tchaikovsky & Leshnoff Recording Nominated for 2021 ICMA
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck’s Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 and Leshnoff: Double Concerto recording has been nominated for the 2021 International Classical Music Awards in the Assorted Programs category! See the full list at icma-info.com Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 & Leshnoff: Double Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon Reference Recordings® proudly presents Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in an exquisite interpretation from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. It is coupled with a World…