Archive for Review – Page 30
ClassicalEar Gives Four Stars to Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner
The ClassicalEar iPhone Review App has a new review for Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner recording: “Manfred Honeck distils a truly awesome hush and mystery at the outset of this bracingly alive and exceedingly stimulating account of Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony (‘The Romantic’), the stunningly eloquent horn solo serving notice that his superb Pittsburgh band can boast players of the highest international calibre. What follows is a reading rich in arresting drama, recreative spark,…
Audiophile Audition Gives Tempo do Brasil Five Stars
Steven Ritter gives Marc Regnier’s Tempo do Brasil recording five stars in Audiophile Audition magazine: “[Marc Regnier’s] carefully selected recital works in favor of chamber ecstasies that are just not heard that often in this sort of music. …for a quality classical experience the multi-instrumental soiree is enlightening as well as enlivening. Considering Regnier’s gorgeous tone and flexible technique, equally present in his guest’s fingers as well, we come away with a refreshing splash on…
Rad Bennett Listens to Minnesota Orchestra’s Strauss
Audiophile critic Rad Bennett has a new review of an HDtracks download of our Minnesota Orchestra recording of Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben with Eiji Oue: “… the orchestra covered itself in glory. Lush, detailed, exciting, and heroic are all words that come to mind to describe this performance. The download also included a suite of interludes from the opera Die Frau Ohne Schatten, which is awesome, dramatic, and romantic music we should hear more often! ……
Kansas City Star Recommends Saint-Saëns
The Kansas City Star‘s Patrick Neas makes his suggestions for music to listen to this summer and the Kansas City Symphony’s Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 “Organ” is on the top of his list: “There are many recordings of Camille Saint-Saens’ Organ Symphony on the market, but Reference Recordings has just released a CD by the Kansas City Symphony that can take its place with the best of them. The KC Symphony, with superb direction from…
Woman at the New Piano a “New Favorite”
Critic Don Clark has “a new favorite” in Nadia Shpachenko’s Woman at the New Piano recording: “Woman at the New Piano is an album with a surely cosmic purpose… this prodigiously talented, California-based pianist and teacher, has recorded a delightful and diverse program of brand new works she commissioned in 2013 from four outstanding composers, Tom Flaherty, Peter Yates, Adam Schoenberg and James Matheson. … Shpachenko makes a most convincing case for [Adam Schoenberg’s “Picture…
Manfred Honeck and Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner Symphony No. 4 an “Excellent Choice”
Arthur Lintgen reviews Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s new Bruckner recording for Fanfare Magazine: “What Honeck does accomplish, perhaps better than any other conductor, is to move the music along and even lighten instrumental textures as in the relaxed and faster second subject of the first movement without detracting in any way from the solemnity of the opening horn call and the power of the massive brass climaxes. In other words, Honeck’s flexible tempos…
ClassicsToday: A “Remarkably Good” Saint-Saëns from Kansas City
ClassicsToday‘s David Horowitz reviews the “remarkably good” Kansas City Symphony recording of Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3: “…this is an unusually vivacious and texturally transparent reading, recorded with welcome clarity in an acoustic that never permits detail to get obscured by excessive reverberation. The balance between organ and orchestra in the finale, even when everyone is blasting away, could not be more perfect. In the serene Adagio too, which flows with impressive poise, the soft tones…
Joel Fan: Dances For Piano and Orchestra “Sparkles”
ClassicalNet critic Brian Wigman has a new review for Joel Fan and the Northwest Sinfonietta’s Dances for Piano and Orchestra recording: “This diverse and engaging program of works for piano and orchestra reflects Joel Fan’s ongoing commitment to international music. … There is…a real sense of intelligence and enjoyment. Captured in excellent sound, this program has a wide potential audience, from piano students and teachers to the adventurous listener. … I can’t imagine any piano…
Kansas City Symphony Saint-Saens an AllMusic Editor’s Choice
AllMusic names Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony’s Saint-Saëns recording an Editor’s Choice! “Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony deliver this celebrated Romantic symphony with extraordinary vitality, crisp articulation, and brilliant sonorities, and their performances of the two filler pieces are equally vivid and exciting. Of special note are the soloists, organist Jan Kraybill in the symphony, violinist Noah Geller in the Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, and the duo of Geller and cellist…
Bruckner featured in Australian Hi-Fi
Australian Hi-Fi magazine features a John Sunier review for Manfred Honeck and Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner Symphony No. 4 recording: “Honeck’s score section is the 1878/80 version, to my mind the most solid of the myriad choices available…There have been many fine recordings of this work, but Honeck and the superb Pitssburghians have given us a performance in phenomenal—underline that—surround sound that launches this rendition to the absolute top of the pile. The extraordinary caressing of…
Kansas City Symphony’s “Gutsy” Saint-Saëns Organ Symphony
Pictures on Silence blogger Don Clark has a new review for next week’s (6/12/15) Kansas City Symphony Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 “Organ” recording: “In addition to being uniformly excellent, the Kansas City Symphony can also be called ‘gutsy’. …This disc from Reference Recordings is a blend of the familiar and rare: an all Saint-Saëns disc featuring the less known “La Muse et le Poete”, op 132 for Violin, Cello and Orchestra combined with the popular…
Blues Blast Magazine Calls Exactly Like “This Superior Traditional Blues”
Blues critic Rainey Wetnight says if you better be dancing to Doug MacLeod’s Exactly Like This: “[Doug MacLeod] wants listeners to know that great acoustic blues sounds Exactly Like This – crisp, original, and engaging. … Nearly three decades have refined him into a renowned blues master. Performing alongside him on this album are drummer Jimi Bott, bassist Denny Croy, and pianist Michael Thompson. They all prove that music in this genre doesn’t have to…
Dances for Piano And Orchestra in American Record Guide
The April/May issue of American Record Guide features a wonderful new review for Joel Fan and the Northwest Sinfonietta’s Dances for Piano and Orchestra recording: “Very enjoyable! A program of short showpieces for piano and orchestra, some well known and some not so well known, like the works by Ricardo Castro Herrera and Charles Wakefield Cadman. It sure beats another disc of standard romantic concertos, though it is every bit as exciting as the best…
Pizzicato Magazine Features the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner Recording
Luxembourg based Pizzicato Magazine has high praise for the new Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck Bruckner recording: “Blending modernism and tradition, opulent sound and chamber music like refinement, Manfred Honeck can fully count on the highly motivated Pittsburgh Symphony. The result is a superbly balanced and musically rich performance of Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony.” —Alain Steffen, Pizzicato Read the full rave review in German www.pizzicato.lu! Buy Now!
Doug MacLeod and RR in Oregon Music News
Doug MacLeod’s Exactly Like This and RR’s own Jan Mancuso got nice mentions in the February issue of Oregon Music News: He doesn’t record other people’s tunes. The masterful acoustic Blues guitarist and singer only records his own. He has done that again on this album which follows up his award-winning There Is a Time from 2013, which won Blues Music Awards’ Best Acoustic Album. He won Best Acoustic Artist Award that year, too. Co-produced…