Archive for Review – Page 43
ClassicsToday Raves about new Horns for the Holidays CD
ClassicsToday.com reviewer David Vernier gives new Dallas Wind Symphony release Horns for the Holidays a 9/10 for artistic quality and a 10/10 in Sound Quality in his rave review “A Merry, Windy Christmas.” “If you are a lover of Christmas music—carols, popular songs, and all manner of medleys and clever arrangements of such—and you miss this extraordinary recording by the first-rate Dallas Wind Symphony, then your holiday listening stands to be just a bit more…
Audiophile Audition Gives Five Stars to Playing With Fire
Audiophile Audition‘s John Sunier gives new Dallas Wind Symphony release Playing With Fire Five Stars! “Playing With Fire is not only the title selection here but the main interest… The fact that the Jim Cullum Jazz Band is basically a trad jazz ensemble makes this one a bit different, and actually seems to make the mix of the classical and jazz approaches to blend a little more smoothly. … The other four works illustrate the…
Audiophile Audition reviews Exotic Dances from the Opera LP
“The sonics are rich and full, with the added ‘air’ around the orchestra’s sections as heard with the best vinyl recordings.” — John Sunier, Audiophile Audition Above is the ending of a new Audiophile Audition rave for our latest LP release – Exotic Dances from the Opera. In the review, Sunier raves about the “sensitive phrasing and generally great pizazz” of the Minnesota Orchestra. He also raves about the repertoire itself, calling the release “an…
Positively Entertainment Ranks Lloyd Jones with Best of Blues Legends
Jeff Shivers of Positively Entertainment ranks Lloyd Jones with the best of the blues legends, and other legends… “Ah, The great Northwest and the legends it provides. There are the classic legends of the past, like Paul Bunyan with his blue ox Babe. There are other blue legends living among us now and Portland, Ore. seems to have quite a few… “Then there’s the most revered of blues legends, the six-string gunslingers, guitar pickers and…
Audiophile Audition Features Malcolm Arnold Overtures
John Sunier of Audiophile Audition takes a look at the HRx version of the Malcolm Arnold: Overtures recording, and compares it to other formats we’ve released in the past. “This may be the current No. 1 audiophile classical album today, in a similar place as were the Sheffield albums of Wagner and Prokofiev back in direct-to-disc days… “This was a different sort of comparison than I’ve ever done before: the standard CD vs. the vinyl…
Cascade Blues Reviews Lloyd Jones “Doin’ What It Takes”
The Cascade Blues Association has a nice feature on Lloyd Jones and his new Fresh! From Reference Recordings release Doin’ What It Takes! “Doin’ What It Takes is the credo by which Portland bluesman Lloyd Jones has been following throughout his career… “Lloyd Jones is referred to as “The Groove Merchant.” It is a fitting title because he is without question one of the funkiest, soulful artists ever to strap on a Fender. So much…
Blues Revue calls Doin’ What It Takes Tasteful and Refreshing
Blues Revue: The World’s Blues Magazine rates Lloyd Jones’ Fresh! From Reference Recordings release Doin’ What It Takes a 9/10 and calls it a “Tasteful and Refreshing” recording. Read an excerpt here and find the full review on www.BluesRevue.com! “I was turned on to this tasty disc back in January on Delbert McClinton‘s cruise by Delbert’s longtime sax player Don Wise, and have been patiently waiting for this one to come out. Now that I…
Exotic Dances from the Opera CD Press
With the new Exotic Dances from the Opera Reference Mastercuts LP available for pre-order, we’re taking a look at what some folks had to say about the original HDCD release: “…a sonic spectacular. The orchestra sounds full, natural, warm, and nicely spread out over the soundstage. There is none of the glare that still seems to affect many orchestral digital recordings; even the highest register of the violins sounds smooth and musical. Climaxes are never…
Doin’ What It Takes featured on AudiophileReview.com
New Fresh! From Reference Recordings release Doin’ What It Takes by Lloyd Jones gets a feature and quick review on AudiophileReview.com! “If blues with a funk edge is your thing, Doin’ What it Takes will have you jukin’ by the fourth measure of the opening tune, “Bend in The River.”… The recording quality is impressive, as you would expect from a Reference Recordings’ project.” — AudiophileReview.com Read the full review, rating, and more on AudiophileReview.com!…
Concord Chamber Music Society’s Brubeck/Gandolfi/Foss Release Gets a Rave Review
Concord Chamber Music Society‘s Brubeck • Gandolfi • Foss release gets a rave review from Canadian Audiophile‘s Jordan Richardson on Blinded By Sound: “Featuring two recordings from two of America’s most-commissioned composers and one recording from the fascinating Lukas Foss, the Concord Chamber Music Society’s release of Chris Brubeck and Michael Gandolfi’s Danza del Soul and Line Drawings, respectively, is a captivating and lovely release. All of the pieces were recorded at Mechanics Hall in…
Delibes Reviews Pour in over the weekend
Reviews for the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra’s Delibes: Sylvia/Coppélia came pouring in over the weekend! Check out a few quotes below: Gramophone: “…This pairing of suites from the composer’s ballets by the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the first and still arguably best-standing ballet orchestra in the US, avoids both extremes. Under current music director Martin West, the orchestra revels in the immediacy of the music without ever losing sight of the overall narrative. So too…
Audiophile Audition Reviews new Hot Club of San Francisco LP!
John Henry of Audiophile Audition with a thorough new review of The Hot Club of San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Bounce LP: Reference Recordings has gone out of their way to make this double album of special audiophile interest. First, both discs are 200 grams, rather than the usual 180 gram audiophile standard for vinyl reissues. Then each of the four sides ends in a couple minutes of quiet grooves so you won’t have to deal…
The Absolute Sound calls Delibes album an Instant Audiophile Classic
The Absolutes Sound hails our recent release Delibes: Sylvia & Coppélia an “instant audiophile classic.” From The Absolute Sound: “For 30 years, “Professor” Keith Johnson and reference Recordings have provided audiophiles with orchestral spectaculars to challenge high-end systems. This new CD of two perennially popular ballet favorites could be their best yet. The sense of individual instruments, or groups of instruments —say, four French horns— occupying their own space, is uncanny.The scaling of those instruments…
Simeon Sandiford Explores Britten’s Orchestra at The World’s Best Audio System 2012
Sanch Electronix director Simeon Sandiford (who we introduced here) published a wonderful account from “The World’s Best Audio System” 2012 convention in North Carolina, and in his wonderful chronicling, he takes readers inside the “Music Vault,” where he lends this account of listening to RR’s Britten’s Orchestra SACD on a system with Magico Q7 Loudspeakers: “…I (Simeon Sandiford) asked (Tim) Crable, who was manning the console, to regale us with Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide…
UK’s Blues and Rhythm reviews Brand New Eyes
The UK publication Blues & Rhythm has a new review of Doug MacLeod’s Blues Music Awards nominated release Brand New Eyes: “With over 25 years in the business, sixteen studio albums, several live records, and two DVDs, Doug MacLeod has steadily earned fulsome praise…He is an exceptional guitarist, with a rich and poignant voice, singing original songs that are based on his own life and experiences. This new album is acoustic, all original, and mostly…