Archive for Review – Page 16
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…
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…
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…
Teach Me Thy Statutes is “Exquisitely Beautiful”
Henry Fogel offers a new review for the GRAMMY®-nominated Teach Me Thy Statutes recording from PaTRAM in the January/February 2019 issue of Fanfare Magazine: “this is the first disc I have encountered devoted entirely to [Pavel Chesnokov’s] music. I found it exquisitely beautiful. This kind of music is particularly dependent on performance quality, and Chesnokov has ben fortunate here. … [The PaTRAM Institute Male Choir sings] with a remarkably even blend while still retaining clarity.…
John Williams At The Movies Gets Five Stars from The Absolute Sound
The Absolute Sound‘s Arthur Lintgen gives a 5-star Sonic Rating to the GRAMMY® Award-nominated Dallas Winds and Jerry Junkin recording John Williams At The Movies: “give this spectacular recording a serious audition. The principal reason for the recording’s success is that Williams composed so effectively for brass and percussion. …all of the arrangements are spectacular, including the lengthy excerpts from Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and E.T. Much of the album’s success is also due to the…
A QSF Journey in Boston Concert Reviews
Boston Concert Reviews is exploring “The Glory of the String Quartet” in a new series on Classical Music Concerts and includes a great review of Quartet San Francisco’s A QSF Journey recording: “A beautiful, spacious recording from this eminent audiophile label and its brilliant recording team, ensnaring all of the sparkle, flair and tactile glory of this intrepid string quartet in flight in their eclectic global program. The arrangements are opulent and colorful. … The…
Classical Candor Review for A QSF Journey
John J. Puccio calls Quartet San Francisco’s A QSF Journey recording one of his favorite albums of 2018 in a new review on his Classical Candor blog: “It’s always good news when Reference Recordings releases a new album. It’s doubly good news when their chief engineer, Keith O. Johnson, does the recording. It’s triply good news when they make it a studio production. And it’s quadruply good news when the studio they make it in…
Fiona Boyes’ Voodoo in The Shadows in Blues Music Magazine
Blues Music Magazine reviews Fiona Boyes’ Voodoo In The Shadows Recording in their January 2019 issue: “Fiona Boyes has made her mark in the blues world… Case in point: her latest release, which stresses her spiritual connection with the blues music and traditions of Mississippi and Louisiana. … The set commences splendidly with “Call Their Name,” a take-off on Blind Willie Johnson’s “The Soul Of A Man.” The rhythm section takes a subtle back seat as Boyes displays her…
Fiona Boyes’ Voodoo In The Shadows in Downbeat Magazine
The February 2019 issue of Downbeat Magazine has a great Blues section feature on Fiona Boyes and her Voodoo In The Shadows recording: “Riding a successful career since the 1990s, Australian Fiona Boyes sustains the vitality of her love of the music found in America’s Deep South on [Voodoo In The Shadows]…Boyes’ blues composing has a revealing immediacy, as with ‘Tell Your Story Walking’ and ‘I Ain’t Fooling,’ both scrupulous in conveying the understated ebullience…