Archive for Review – Page 17
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…
Gramophone Reviews the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s Beethoven and Strauss
Gramophone Magazine reviews the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s GRAMMY-nominated recording of Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 and Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 in the January 2019 issue: “There’s nothing even remotely studied about Honeck’s performance…He pays unusual attention to detail, yes – note straight away the gently blossoming (and unmarked) crescendo on the ascending E flat major triad of the opening theme – but this never inhibits the music’s momentum or trajectory. The first movement…
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…
MusicWeb International Continues Praise of Pittsburgh Symphony’s Beethoven and Strauss Recording
MusicWeb International has published a second review of the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s GRAMMY-nominated Beethoven: Symphony No. 3; Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 recording: “In this Heinz Hall, Pittsburgh recording, it’s evident that Manfred Honeck entirely acknowledges that this progressive score is music of extensive concentration, intensity and, as the designation might suggest, heroic power. Bold and focused, naturally flowing and stimulating with an undertow of mystery in the Allegro, this performance from the Pittsburgh…
Voodoo in the Shadows in Living Blues
After coming in at #4 on the Living Blues October Charts, Fiona Boyes’ Voodoo in the Shadows was up to #3 for November! The album also received a review in the December 2018 Living Blues Magazine: “Guitarist and singer-songwriter Fiona Boyes draws musical inspiration from a variety of influences, displaying a prowess unbound by style or genre. … With excellent musicianship and a spirited atmosphere throughout, Fiona Boyes’ Voodoo in the Shadows casts a seductive…
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…
Textura Reviews A QSF Journey
Textura features Quartet San Francisco‘s A QSF Journey recording in their November 2018 reviews: “…many of this eclectic recording’s pieces eschew conventional classical style for others, specifically tango, bluegrass, and folk music from around the world. Such choices lend the recording a highly personalized quality that, paired with the excellence of the quartet’s playing, makes the hour spent in this group’s company time well spent. … the album upholds the group’s crossover reputation in its set-list,…
Classical Candor on Pittsburgh’s “Dynamic” Beethoven Symphony No. 3
“Dynamic. That’s the best word to describe Manfred Honeck’s performance of the Beethoven Third. It’s dynamic in terms of Honeck’s interpretation and in terms of Soundmirror/Reference Recordings’ sonics. Of course, if “dynamic” is not the first thing you want from a Beethoven symphony, you might not appreciate Honeck’s way with it. But there is no questioning the excitement the recording generates. … The first movement Allegro con brio contains the usual complement of rhythms and harmonies we expect of…
The Absolute Sound Gives High Marks To John Williams At The Movies
The Dallas Winds and Jerry Junkin‘s new John Williams At The Movies recording receives high marks (4 Stars for Music, 5 Stars for Sonics) in the December 2018 issue of The Absolute Sound: “The principal reason for the recording’s success is that Williams composed so effectively for brass and percussion. The sonority here is frequently different from the original orchestrations, but in most cases it works very well. … all of the arrangements are spectacular,…
A QSF Journey in The Whole Note
The Whole Note features Quartet San Francisco’s A QSF Journey recording in their November 2018 issue: “The boundaries between music genres are fluid and constantly moving these days, with many musicians experimenting and combining elements of different styles in both new compositions and interpretations of the traditional ones. Classical music seems to be an especially productive foundation for such crossovers, breeding many exciting projects. One of them is the latest release by Grammy-nominated Quartet San…
Cascade Blues Association Reviews Voodoo in the Shadows
The Cascade Blues Association highlights Fiona Boyes and her latest recording, Voodoo in the Shadows: “The new release, “Voodoo In The Shadows,” continues on pace with her penchant for the music of the American South, with a special focus on the sounds of Louisiana and Mississippi that have influenced her playing greatly over the course of her career. … There is a dark and boding atmosphere with the start-off number “Call Their Name,” as she…
Hi-Fi+ Reviews Doug MacLeod’s Break The Chain
Jason Kennedy of Hi-Fi+ has a new review for Doug MacLeod’s Break the Chain: “Reference Recordings has a long history of making fabulous recordings, and engineer Keith O. Johnson apparently has a knack for capturing both the sound of the room and the musicians and producing releases that combine naturalness with dynamics in a highly convincing manner. … one of the label’s greatest assets is contemporary blues singer Doug MacLeod. … On this album he’s…
Audiophile Audition Gives Four Stars to A QSF Journey
Audiophile Audition gives four stars to Quartet San Francisco’s new recording, A QSF Journey: “…is this stuff on this recording any good? The answer is a resounding “yes”. This is not Beethoven or Bartok, so don’t expect that. It is entertainment, though at a very high level, and the music itself is ingratiating and relaxing, the latter in the sense of pleasurable, not sleep-inducing. We get a wide variety of compositions and arrangements, from Gershwin…
American Record Guide Reviews Teach Me Thy Statutes
American Record Guide reviewed the PaTRAM Institute’s Teach Me Thy Statutes recording in their November/December 2018 issue: “the PaTRAM ensemble has lived up to every element of its creed. And they’ve done so in service to the music of Pavel Chesnokov, one of the most revered of all Mother Russia’s choral composers. … It’s a lovely sound that fits these sacred works perfectly. Chesnokov is one of those composers who can have his singers plumbing…