Archive for Review – Page 27
Wuthering Heights Is Carlisle Floyd At His Prime
Planet Hugill celebrates Carlisle Floyd’s Wuthering Heights “on disc at last.” “This new recording from Reference Recordings finally brings Carlisle Floyd’s 1958 opera Wuthering Heights to disc. … Floyd’s music is intense and dramatic, in a form of continuous arioso as the libretto is more poetic prose than poetry, with individual speeches standing out aria-like, including the one which gave rise to the piece in the first place. … The recording was made at a…
Guitarra Reviews Fiona Boyes
Argentina’s Guitarra Magazine reviews Fiona Boyes Box & Dice: “Recently, the guitarist, singer-songwriter Fiona Boyes was nominated for USA 2016 Blues Music Awards, and Box & Dice won best blues album at The Victoria Age Music Awards. On this album, fans of country or acoustic blues find the guitar and hoarse voice of this Australian creating a healthy mix of traditional with contemporary.” —Guitarra Vote For Fiona in the Blues Blast Magazine Awards! Fiona Boyes:…
Macallè Blues Reviews Box & Dice
Italian blues outlet, Macallè Blues reviews Fiona Boyes’ Box & Dice: “In recent years Australia has expressed some real blues talent…One of these talents is surely Fiona Boyes.… Box & Dice represents an instrumental experiment that, besides her usual guitars, let some handicraft cigar-box guitars (built by Shayne Soall from Oz Blues and Roots Music Store) step out front. Boyes plays those guitars using bottlenecks drawn by different small liqueur bottles. And, above all, she…
Pittsburgh Symphony Tchaikovsky/Dvořák “Once In A Lifetime”
“I want to suggest listening to what I believe to be a one in a lifetime audition: the newest record of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, conducted by its music director, the Austrian conductor Manfred Honeck.… However, more than the high technical quality, I was deeply moved by the artistic quality when performing Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6. It is one of my favourite works, one I have listened to again and again performed by various orchestras. It…
Dawn To Dust “A Valuable Addition”
Classical Voice North America are fans of Andrew Norman and his new work Switch recorded by the Utah Symphony and Thierry Fischer on Dawn To Dust: “[Dawn To Dust] sets off into new territory with three commissioned pieces that the Utah Symphony performed and recorded last year.…Switch, by the omnipresent Andrew Norman, is the longest and most interesting piece here, virtually a percussion concerto for the nimble hands of Colin Currie, who is kept very…
The Wall Street Journal Features Utah Symphony and “Switch”
The Wall Street Journal published a double-review of recent percussion concerto performances and featured the Utah Symphony and Colin Currie’s performance of Andrew Norman’s Switch at Carnegie Hall: “…the Utah Symphony and its music director, Thierry Fischer, presented Mr. Norman’s “Switch,” with Mr. Currie as the intrepid, energetic soloist. When the concerto began, the percussionist was nowhere in sight. A few minutes later, he bounded onstage from the auditorium and began his solo perambulations, moving…
Pittsburgh Symphony Tchaikovsky/Dvořák is “electrifying”
“I believe most of you would agree that not many composers quite match Tchaikovsky when it comes to conjuring up a sense of ‘drama’ in music. And especially the way he applies some of the most beautiful melodies to emotionally passionate moments is quite gripping. Include his preponderance for extensive tension escalation and perfectly timed release, and you have the perfect recipe for electrifying music. He certainly knew how to create vivid images in music.…
Utah Symphony’s Dawn to Dust in July issue of Gramophone Magazine
Kate Molleson reviews the Utah Symphony’s Dawn to Dust recording in the July issue of Gramophone Magazine: “This disc contains premiere recordings of the three works commissioned by the Utah Symphony to celebrate its 75th birthday, and as a bright and upbeat showcase for the orchestra it does its job nicely.…First comes the five-movement EOS (the goddess of the dawn) by Augusta Read Thomas, who knows what she wants from an orchestra…This is neat, well-crafted…
Pittsburgh Symphony’s Tchaikovsky/Dvořák in Klassisk Musikkmagasin!
The Norwegian Klassisk Musikkmagasin‘s 2016 Issue Number 2 features a rave review for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck’s latest release: “Manfred Honeck’s reading of Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony – the so-called (not by Tchaikovsky) ‘Pathétique’ – will send shivers down your spine: not only is the interpretation fiercely driven and the playing thrilling, but the recorded sound has a visceral physical impact. And if that weren’t already enough, Honeck adds a 20-minute fantasy on…
ClassicalEar Reviews Dawn To Dust
ClassicalEar‘s Colin Anderson gives a four-star rating to the Utah Symphony’s new Dawn To Dust recording: “One thing is certain, that the Utah Symphony and music director Thierry Fischer are going places. This superbly recorded anthology reports a top-drawer orchestra. Augusta Read Thomas’s EOS (Goddess of the Dawn) pulsates with life and suggestion, orchestrated with colour, a gleaming score conveying very likeable music to the ears.… Much is promised at the beginning [of Andrew Norman’s…
Pittsburgh Symphony’s “Tchaikovsky” a “Monument”
“This recording of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Pathétique’ is a ‘monument’ in every sense of the word. … Conveying ideas to an orchestra is one thing, but letting an orchestral body of around 100 musicians carry them out like clockwork, as if holding everyone on a personal string, can only be done if musicians believe in their master and have confidence in what he is asking them to do. This makes a Chef stand out from the crowd.…
Carlisle Floyd’s Wuthering Heights a “Powerful Representation”
“Wuthering Heights is one of the few operas by Carlisle Floyd that isn’t based on an explicitly American story. Emily Brontë’s novel is set in Yorkshire, amid the moors that give the tale its famous atmosphere. But whether it’s English gothic or Southern (American) gothic, Floyd has a way with stories drenched in melodrama and mysticism. … But the real star here is conductor Joseph Mechavich, who guided the orchestra and voices through Floyd’s often…
TheaterByte Reviews Wuthering Heights!
Lawrence Devoe reviews the upcoming Florentine Opera recording of Carlisle Floyd’s Wuthering Heights: An Opera In Three Acts: “Maestro Joseph Mechavich leads his Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the choral forces of the Florentine Opera Company, one of America’s oldest such vocal organizations, in a precedent setting performance that will make listeners unfamiliar with this work sit up and take notice. Composer Floyd writes beautiful vocal lines and the cast led by stunning soprano Jarman takes…
Wine Dark Sea in Gramophone!
Gramophone Magazine’s June 2016 issue features a new review for Jerry Junkin and the University of Texas Wind Ensemble’s Wine Dark Sea recording! “The repertoire for wind ensemble is vast and colourful. On their dynamic new release, The University of Texas Wind Ensemble and conductor Jerry Junkin take up four recent, worthy examples. Along with superbly balanced and vibrant playing, the performances confirm that American composers have no shortage of imagination when writing for wind,…
Pittsburgh Symphony “Stunning” new Tchaikovsky & Dvořák Recording
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review offers a fantastic new review for Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony before they head to Europe tomorrow! “The new recording by Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, released May 13, is worth acquiring for many reasons including individual and compelling performances of both familiar and novel repertoire and stunning quality of recorded sound. … Honeck sets the context for and explains many details of his interpretation of “Pathetique” in his…