Archive for Review – Page 25
Strauss Opera Suites a Showcase for Pittsburgh Symphony
Gramophone Magazine features the new Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck Strauss: Elektra/Rosenkavaalier recording in the January 2017 issue: The recording packs a mighty punch from the initial Agamemnon motif, scything brass braying Elektra’s revenge theme. There is percussive glitter for Klytemnestra, whip cracks marking the arrival of her entourage. The full barbarism of Strauss’s score makes a searing impact, Orest’s murder of Klytemnestra especially brutal, yet there are moments of great tenderness too. Reference…
More Best of 2016 Honors for Fiona Boyes!
Order Now The Best of 2016 honors for Fiona Boyes’ new Professin’ The Blues release continue to roll in! The Professor’s Honor Roll of 2016 “I hereby dub Fiona Boyes, The Queen of Old School. She has a great sound and manages to pour more blues into her stripped-down approach than just about anybody else. Her guitar work is top notch, and her vocals are dead on. If you like that sound, you will love…
Making A Scene on Professin’ The Blues
Order Now Making A Scene reviews the new Fiona Boyes release, Professin’ The Blues: “Fiona Boyes has a new album release, Professin’ The Blues, and on it, she does just that. Produced by the legendary Professor Keith O. Johnson of Reference Records and recorded at Skywalker Sound studios in California, this is a perfect match of space, producer and artist. Also, Boyes is joined by two master musicians, drummer Jim Bott and bassist Danny Croy.…
Living Blues Reviews Professin’ The Blues
Order Now Living Blues Magazine reviews Fiona Boyes’ new Professin’ the Blues recording in their latest issue: “Fiona Boyes continues to make superlative music grounded in the various styles of the blues. … A master of audio engineering, [‘Prof’ Keith O.] Johnson creates a sound that is warm, present and balanced so that the instruments and vocals can be heard clearly and distinctly. Boyes uses four different guitars throughout the album’s 16 songs…and she coaxes…
ClassicsToday Reviews “Thrilling” Pittsburgh Symphony Recording
“This is juicy. I’m sure that many music lovers have wished that Strauss had made a suite from Elektra. It is, after all, one of his most exciting scores, as well as one of his most symphonically cogent. Well, here it is, courtesy of Manfred Honeck and Tomas Ille, and it’s a doozy. You get all of the major bits: Elektra’s opening monologue, the entry of Klytaemnestra, the recognition scene, the two murders, and of…
Fiona Boyes Will Knock You Off Your Chair
Order Now “Out of Australia comes the devastating, gorgeous acoustic blues of Fiona Boyes, a women who has garnered countless Blues Foundation nominations and now confidently hits us between the ears with her new release, Professin’ the Blues, on the venerable Reference Recordings (“RR”) label.… Fiona’s “Professin’ is nothing short of a sonic spectacular from the Prof and the RR team.… Boyes’ music speaks in tough, switchblade sharp fashion (of craggy hard times in love…
New MusicWeb International Review for Pittsburgh Tchaikovsky/Dvořák
Brian Reinhart pens the third MusicWeb International review for Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 and Dvořák Rusalka Fantasy recording: “The Pittsburgh Symphony is one of the world’s great orchestras, here displaying rich, lush old-world strings which bring to mind conductor Manfred Honeck’s experience in Vienna. The brass section is thrillingly punchy and forward, as is the timpanist. Honeck has good ideas about the symphony, like occasionally dialing back the…
Gramophone Reviews San Francisco Ballet Moszkowski
Gramophone Magazine reviews San Francisco Ballet Orchestra’s Moszkowski: From Foreign Lands recording in the November 2016 issue: “Why concert promoters and record labels have such trouble with Moszkowski I’ll never know, especially his once-celebrated orchestral music. For instance, not a single item from this disc ever featured in the BBC’s wide-ranging, inclusive Proms, with the exception of the work that made Moszkowski’s fortune, the five Spanish Dances, Op. 2…it is a pleasure…to have the repertoire…
American Record Guide Reviews Florentine Opera Company’s Wuthering Heights
The Florentine Opera Company’s Carlisle Floyd: Wuthering Heights receives a new review in the November/December 2016 issue of American Record Guide: “…there is a lot of interesting music, enough to make this an enjoyable theatrical experience…The performance is quite good. George Jarman and Kelly Markgraf make a very good Cathy and Heathcliff, Jarman with her clear, secure soprano and Markgraf with his rich, wide-ranging baritone. … The veteran Suzanne Mentzer makes a wonderful Nelly, and…
New Pittsburgh Symphony Recording Gets Five Stars from HRAudio!
HRAudio’s Graham Williams gives five stars for performance and sonics to our upcoming Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck release, Strauss: Elektra/Rosenkavalier! “All Straussians will be intrigued by this latest release from Manfred Honeck and his marvellous Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra of orchestral suites from what many would regard as the greatest of the composer’s fifteen operas – Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier… Honeck has already demonstrated his mastery of the Strauss idiom in his previous fine…
Pittsburgh Symphony’s Tchaikovsky & Dvořák a “Winner”
“Manfred Honeck has a winner here again with the Pittsburgh Symphony. It would be hard to praise this recording too much. Not only does he bring us the most exciting recorded Tchaikovsky “Pathetique” I know—plus arrange a fine unified suite from Dvořák’s Rusalka—he’s taken trouble to pen the best CD program notes I recall reading anywhere, complete with audio index points and examples of what he’s trying to accomplish. Honeck’s observations about Tchaikovsky’s life and…
Culture Spot LA Reviews Pittsburgh Symphony’s Tchaikovsky/Dvořák
“The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Reference Recordings are on a mission: to record some of the world’s greatest symphonic works under the unique direction of its music director Manfred Honeck. The latest offering is a recording of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Op. 74, “Pathétique.” And just as with the previous recordings by Honeck and the PSO, Honeck takes the listener on a musical journey with the Tchaikovsky. Not content to just play…
“Go Get ‘Professin’ the Blues’ Right Now”
Order Now “Fiona has been around for a long time, her credits are well known. Nevertheless, it is always good when an established artist doesn’t loose momentum and hits the jackpot again.…Masterful execution of acoustic Blues guitar, all styles and then some. Vocals that range from soulfoul to spooky. Lyrics sometimes dead serious, turn into open satire on occasion. Blues, gospel, rock ‘n’ roll, the woman does it all. …Professin’ The Blues is a great…
Moszkowski Scores Four/Five from ClassicalEar
“Martin West and his excellent San Francisco Ballet Orchestra[‘s]… affable and lively performances, always well played, fall very happily on the ear, and the sound is superb. … the programme is well worth hearing, especially the polonaise-style Torch Dance, Habanera, Six Airs de Ballet and the Gondoliera, all of which are here given their world première recordings. And what to expect, musically? Think of the lighter side of Elgar and that will give you some…
Midwest Record Reveals A Fiona Boyes Secret
Order Now “With her latest release we can now let the cat out of the bag. Fiona is Boyes middle name, her first name is The Great.… Boyes is sounding like she’s on the run from Piedmont and the delta with hell hounds on her tail and they think she’s a steak. With an audio team that puts her front and center in your face… using her amazing command of all the authentic, traditional moves,…