Archive for Review – Page 29
ClassicsToday Calls Far In The Heavens “Powerful & Poignant”
ClassicsToday critic David Vernier gives a 9/10 rating to True Concord Voices & Orchestra’s new Far In The Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus recording: “Paulus wisely sought in this work to honor the victims while addressing the universal experience of those grieving and healing from loss of loved ones–in his words… Indeed, he accomplished that, with music that projects a concert-hall-scale grandeur (including some savvy orchestration) while embodying a style reminiscent of what can…
HR Audio Reviews Pittsburgh Symphony BEETHOVEN!
Critic Graham Williams has a new review for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck’s BEETHOVEN: Symphony Nos. 5 & 7 recording: “The refreshingly vivid interpretations of works by Richard Strauss, Dvorak, Janacek and Bruckner that have appeared over the last few years on the Reference Recordings ‘Fresh’ label from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra have convincingly demonstrated the ability of this partnership to deliver new and often remarkable insights into some of…
Fiona Boyes: Box & Dice is “truly excellent”
Blues Magazine features Fiona Boyes: Box & Dice in a new review by critic Iain Patience: “Fiona Boyes is that rare thing, a female blues guitarist/singer/songwriter and an Australian. ‘Box and Dice’ is her first release under the US Bay-area Reference Recordings label where she’s in good company alongside the likes of Doug MacLeod, Lloyd Jones and others. And, like most Reference recordings, the studio quality is high with a splendid warm, empathic sound and…
Joel Fan: Dances for Piano and Orchestra HRx Review
Blu-RayDefinition.com gives a top rating to Joel Fan: Dances for Piano and Orchestra! “Pianist Fan endows each selection not only with his fabulous technique but his knowing musicianship. Maestro Christophe Chagnard, founding director of the Northwest Sinfonietta, supplies sensitive accompaniment that partners the piano perfectly in each of these true showpieces for the keyboard. … I happened to have on hand an HDCD version of this program that Joel gifted me last Christmas. While it…
Making A Scene Says To “Seek Out” Fiona Boyes
The new Fiona Boyes release, Box & Dice, gets a rave review from Making A Scene‘s Richard Ludmerer: “Coming from Australia didn’t hold Fiona Boyes back. Perhaps the distance served to filter out the mediocre; so that she only listened to and learned from the very best. … Boyes was nominated for a Blues Music Award every year between 2007 and 2010. … Boyes raspy voice is highly expressive. If you haven’t heard her lately,…
Box & Dice is a “guitar fest”
“I just received the newest release, Box & Dice, from Fiona Boyes and it’s a gritty, bluesy guitar fest. Opening with Juke Joint on Moses Lane, Boyes gets a thick, rudimentary sound from a resonator guitar with superior sliding technique. Her voice is raspy and well suited to this polished form of primitive blues. I’m A Stranger Here has a pure delta sound played only on a 6 string cigar box and she handles it…
Far In the Heavens “A Must”
Critic Rad Bennett says Far In the Heavens is “a must” have release! “The overall spirit [of Prayers and Remembrances] is conciliatory, espousing hope through remembrance across many spiritual paths. I was especially moved by the setting of The Prayer of St. Francis and the a Capella anthem When Music Sounds to the verse of Walter de la Mare (“When music sounds, all that I was I am”). The performances are excellent and the recorded…
Classical Candor Reviews Utah Symphony’s Mahler Symphony No. 1
John J. Puccio reviews the new Mahler Symphony No. 1 “Titan” recording from the Utah Symphony and Thierry Fischer on his Classical Candor blog: “The sound is good…here [the miking] is not so close as it is in many other live recordings. The result is a fairly natural perspective… the sonics are round, warm, detailed, and natural, as though heard from a moderate distance instead of so close up.” Full Review Order & Listen Now:…
Opera Today Reviews Far In The Heavens
Far In The Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus receives a strong review in Opera Today: “Stephen Paulus provided the musical world, and particularly the choral world, with music both provocative and pleasing through a combination of lyricism and a modern-Romantic tonal palette. … Like his other large scale oratorios, [Prayers and Remembrances] covers the full range of his expressive and accessible style. … The performance of True Concord Voices and Orchestra is excellent. Paulus’…
BlogCritics Review Fiona Boyes: Box & Dice
Fiona Boyes new FRESH! From Reference Recordings release Box & Dice gets five stars from BlogCritics.org! “Fiona Boyes is an amazing blues performer from Australia with a great husky voice and a love for unusual instruments. This self-produced album features simple but effective arrangements. … These unusual instruments ensure a different and interesting sound, but do not think of this album as a novelty. It’s not that at all. The songs include nine great originals…
Utah Symphony’s Mahler a “Stunning SACD”
Audiophile Audition‘s Steven Ritter gives a four-star review to the Utah Symphony’s Mahler: Symphony No. 1 “Titan” recording before its official release tomorrow (9/11/15): “This recording celebrates 75 years of superb orchestral work from the Utah Symphony and it is nice to see them back on record. It’s also nice to see an SACD from that bastion of audio excellence, Reference Recordings… Young conductor Thierry Fischer also proves himself a fine Mahlerian…this is a very…
Macallè Blues Reviews There’s A Time
Italian blues outlet, Macallè Blues reviews Doug MacLeod’s There’s A Time: “…Accompanied by the devoted rhythmics of Jimi Bott and Danny Croy, already present in the previous There’s A Time, here the piano skills of Michael Thompson are added, also him back to family with MacLeod after the recent tours with the Eagles. The program that develops along the eleven tracks of the disk, moves from Rock ‘Till The Cows Come Home, homage to the…
Kansas City Symphony Saint-Saëns a Gramophone Editor’s Choice!
Gramophone Magazine names the new Kansas City Symphony Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 “Organ” recording a September Editor’s Choice! “…the crucial test is not so much the volume of the organ but the way in which the orchestral context of the symphony as a whole is established. Here Michael Stern impressively injects impetus into the first section’s sinewy fabric, alert to instrumental colour and the contrapuntal discipline and intrigue of the writing. The organ, making its…
The Arts Desk Recommends Kansas City Symphony’s Saint-Saëns
Graham Rickson of The Arts Desk listens to the new Kansas City Symphony Saint-Saëns recording: “Saint-Saëns’s La Muse et le Poéte is the rarity here, a 15-minute piece for violin, cello and orchestra. A mixture of symphonic poem and concerto, it’s a real find. Muse and poet are represented by rhapsodic violin solo and an earthier cello, and the two voices slowly find a way to work together. It’s impeccably structured, brilliantly orchestrated and highly…
Minnesota Orchestra’s Copland a Triumph
Celebrate #ThrowbackThursday with a 2013 review of our Minnesota Orchestra: Copland 100 CD, and buy the newly released LP today! “The Minnesota Orchestra has a rich history of excellence when it comes to Copland, both on record and with the various music directors who have led the ensemble. That tradition is gloriously upheld in this 2000 tribute program. As always, Oue leads his marvelous players with distinction, and the sound is top notch. If you’re…