Archive for Review – Page 22
Blues Music Magazine Review for Break The Chain
Order Now What connects the Blues, Star Wars, and “The Golden Record”? Blues Music Magazine makes the connections in Doug MacLeod’s Break The Chain in their October 2017 issue: “Doug MacLeod’s new album — the 17th according to the All Music Guide — has at times…that spatial sound of desert nights in the far Out-Beyond. It’s a world where MacLeod’s array of National Reso-Phonic guitars produce a feeling so haunting you can almost hear the…
The Best Shostakovich 5 of the Century
Order Now Kalman Rubinson has an absolute rave review for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck‘s Shostakovich & Barber recording in the November 2017 issue of Stereophile Magazine: “I eagerly await every new Reference Fresh! release from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Each has been an artistic and sonic delight, and this one is no exception. The PSO is a magnificent, world-class orchestra, Honeck is a mature and innovative leader, and through…
October Living Blues Review for Break The Chain
Order Now “Like all good blues storytellers, Doug MacLeod sings and speaks the truth. Indeed, the blues as a medium of truth telling appears throughout his latest release, Break the Chain. In the liner notes, MacLeod reveals that his son, Jesse, who plays guitar on the disc, was diagnosed with spindle cell melanoma at the time of the recording (the cancer has since been removed). The title song speaks to the issue of family abuse,…
AllMusic Highly Recommends Shostakovich Barber
Order Now AllMusic rates the new Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio recording a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ rating: “… an excellent contribution to the Shostakovich discography, even in the face of all the other versions of this work on the market. … masterful, deliberate, but never plodding performance by Honeck, with the Pittsburgh brasses sounding as good as they have in years. The Barber Adagio for Strings is an inspired note…
Blues Blast Magazine Reviews Break The Chain
Order Now “Beloved acoustic bluesman Doug MacLeod is an anachronism in the modern world, a troubadour in the songster tradition who delivers extremely personal tunes that vary from insightful and intimate to humorous or soulful, as he proves once again in this 12-tune, all-original collection that feels like he’s playing in your living room and just for you. … His homespun vocal delivery belies his birthplace and hints at other lengthy stops along the way,…
The Guardian Features Fiona Boyes
Order Now Fantastic new feature and interview with Fiona Boyes about her Professin’ The Blues recording in The Guardian! “Fiona Boyes, one of the world’s best fingerpicking blues guitarists, had wanted to record an album with engineer and recording alchemist “Professor” Keith O Johnson for ages. She didn’t expect it would involve rubber chickens. … The result? That album, Professin’ the Blues, has just won best acoustic album for 2017 at the Blues Blast music…
Downbeat Magazine Gives ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to Break The Chain
Order Now Downbeat Magazine gives Doug MacLeod and Break The Chain a four-star rating in the November 2017 Issue! “Doug MacLeod, a craftsman of rare skill and sagacity, share more than a few dramatic affinities with past greats as he offers his own creative parameters to the common 12-bar language. … distinctive, well-regulated singing and note-bending on classic guitars stimulate the keening hopefulness… [performed] with five assured sidemen, including his son Jesse on guitar. One…
Classical Music Sentinel Highly Recommends Pittsburgh’s Shostakovich
Order Now “But with his Fifth Symphony, which retains [Shostakovich’s] emblematic proclivities but goes straight for the heart, he established his reputation not only in the Soviet Union, but around the world. And straight for the heart is obviously what conductor Manfred Honeck was aiming for in this gripping account. I could enumerate all the distinctive touches that he brings to the score, but then this review would turn into an extra long essay. Let…
MusicWeb International Reviews ¡Viva Segovia!
Order Now Great breakdown and review of the latest recording in Roberto Moronn Pérez‘s Andrés Segovia Archive Series from Rob Barnett on MusicWeb International: “This is a successor to the two earlier sievings by Roberto Moronn Pérez of works accumulated in the Segovia Archive: works dedicated to Segovia or commissioned by him. There have already been some surprises and this collection serves up some more. … The English-only booklet is very well designed and substantially…
Break The Chain in The Absolute Sound
Order Now Doug MacLeod’s new Break The Chain recording receives ratings of 4/5 in Music and 5/5 in Sonics from The Absolute Sound: “Singer, songwriter, and skilled guitarist Doug MacLeod has won four Blues Music Awards, including 2017’s Acoustic Artist of the Year. Break the Chain offers 12 blues originals that ponder Saturday night rituals, lost dreams, politics, and aging. But MacLeod is first and foremost a keeper of the torch who celebrates Tampa Red…
Pittsburgh Symphony a Best of Proms!
Order Now The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s BBC Proms Performance during their European Festival Tour Makes The Telegraph’s “Best of Proms” list: “If you think orchestras have become blandly over-refined and anonymous, you clearly haven’t heard the Pittsburgh Symphony, who wowed a packed house at the Albert Hall through sheer force of personality and sound. The brass section especially was a marvel. … But it wasn’t all about sheer force. Oboist Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida made a…
Arts Desk Reviews Marvelous New Pittsburgh Symphony Recording
The Arts Desk reviews the new Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio recording in their Classical CDs Weekly feature: Order Now “This is the sort of performance you want to press into the hands of someone who’s never heard the piece. It’s marvellous, in so many ways, Honeck steering a near-ideal course between hysteria and sobriety. Lower strings are impressive from the outset, their sound pungent and full of weight.…
HiFi News Gives Break The Chain an Audiophile Digital Feature
Order Now The “Audiophile: Digital” section of HiFi News Magazine has a great review for Doug MacLeod’s new Break The Chain recording: “MacLeod’s third for Reference ticks all the boxes for arch purists — both blues devotees and hard-core audiophiles. For the former, the 12 new songs are undiluted, unapologetic paeans to the genre, some with a bit of spleen. … authenticity is the order of the day. This, too, informs the audiophile element: no…
Break The Chain a Superb Release
Critic Iain Patience offers a rave review for Doug MacLeod’s Break The Chain recording in Cashbox Canada Magazine: Order Now “‘Break the Chain’ is the latest, twelve-track offering from leading US steel-guitar and slide master, Doug MacLeod. Recorded once again with Reference Recordings and Prof Johnson’s crystal-clear 24-bit set-up, this is an album that is bound to create enormous interest as is often the case with this guy’s music. MacLeod is a regular award-winner; indeed,…
BBC Radio Three Record Review for Shostakovich/Barber
“…it’s impossible not to be impressed by the quality of the orchestral playing and the immersive depth and dynamic range of the recording.” —Andrew McGregor, BBC Radio 3 Summer Record Review Listen via BBC Radio 3 Order Now Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio for Strings Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Pittsburgh LIVE! Reference Recordings proudly presents Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 and Barber’s Adagio for Strings in definitive interpretations from Manfred Honeck and…