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The Train of Change
The song “The Train of Change” was being born around 2007 in Costa da Caparica Portugal, before President Obama was elected. During this European tour I saw hope, love, joy, and a vision of peace just about everywhere I went. President Obama served two terms and this song slowly drifted from my awareness. Then with the killing of George Floyd, I saw America rise up and say ‘Enough Is Enough’! I watched as so many…
Gramophone Reviews Tchaikovsky and Leshnoff
Gramophone Magazine reviews the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s recording of Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 & Leshnoff: Double Concerto in the September 2020 issue: “Manfred Honeck… [in Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4] conveys a strong sense of structural integrity while simultaneously portraying the unfolding drama in vivid colours. … the playing itself is exquisite. In the Scherzo, Honeck is meticulous in his observance of piano and pianissimo markings, while the finale packs a wallop. Indeed, the symphony’s final moments are…
HR Audio Gives Five Stars to Pittsburgh Symphony’s Tchaikovsky/Leshnoff!
HR Audio‘s Graham Williams gives a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review for the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 & Leshnoff: Double Concerto SACD: “any new release from the award-winning team of Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony on the Reference Recordings label is worth investigating as, based on previous form, it is likely to yield a performance that brings new interpretive insights to even the most familiar staples of the classical repertoire. In addition,…
Doug MacLeod Wins 2020 Blues Music Award!
The Blues Music Awards hosted a virtual Blues Music Awards Show and Doug MacLeod was announced as the 2020 Acoustic Artist of the Year! The 2020 Blues Music Award was Doug’s 11th nomination and marks his fourth Blues Music Award in the past 5 years (2018 Acoustic Album of the Year, 2016 & 2017 Acoustic Artist of the Year)! Congratulations to Doug! Watch Doug’s Acceptance Speech from Home: Watch the awards ceremony: Doug MacLeod Recordings…
PaTRAM’s Kurt Sander: Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in Choral Journal
PaTRAM’s recording of Kurt Sander’s Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom received a three-page feature in the latest issue (Vol 60, No. 9) of the American Choral Directors Association’s Choral Journal: “The Reference Recordings album, most excellently sung by PaTram Institute Singers under the direction of Peter Jermihov, has garnered two 2020 GRAMMY® nominations, and deservedly so. It is a sublime recording, which expertly marries gorgeous choral performance with majestic, inspiring choral composition. … Sanders…
American Record Guide Reviews Kansas City Symphony’s New Holst Recording
The Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern’s Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool gets a great review in the March/April 2020 issue of American Record Guide: “This wonderful recording sounds better and better the more you increase the volume; and somehow, that glorious sound includes both great detail and great space. We seem to be hovering just above music director Michael Stern, so individual instruments are heard vividly, and yet we never seem too close.…
The Poetry of Places Wins 2020 GRAMMY® Award!
GRAMMY® Winner: Classical Compendium Reference Recordings would like to congratulate Nadia Shpachenko, producers Victor and Marina A. Ledin, and recording engineer Barry Werger-Gottesman on their 2020 GRAMMY® Award for Best Classical Compendium for The Poetry of Places! The Poetry of Places Nadia Shpachenko’s latest Reference Recordings release The Poetry of Places features World Premiere recordings of works for solo piano, for two pianos, percussion, electronics, voice, and toy piano in a fascinating mélange inspired by great architecture…
The Arts Desk Reviews Holst: The Planets
The Arts Desk’s Graham Rickson reviews Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern’s recording of Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool: “Michael Stern’s Kansas City Symphony version is a blast… An audiophile’s delight as well as a musical treat, Stern gets pretty much everything right. You’ll hear things in this recording that you’ll struggle to discern on starrier versions, the marvel being that nothing feels forced or artificially spotlit. There’s a sepulchral brass chorale a few…
Doug MacLeod Nominated for 2020 Blues Music Award
The Blues Foundation announced its 2020 Blues Music Awards Nominees and Reference Recordings is excited to share that Doug MacLeod has been nominated for his 11th Blues Music Award with a 2020 nomination for Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year! Become a Blues Foundation Member and Vote Full Nomine List Doug MacLeod Recordings on Reference
Richmond Symphony’s Bates & Vaughan Williams is an Opera News Critic’s Choice
The Richmond Symphony and Chorus and Steven Smith’s Mason Bates: Children of Adam; Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem recording is a December Opera News Critic’s Choice! “Richmond Symphony’s new album pairs works by prominent contemporary composer Mason Bates and twentieth-century master Ralph Vaughan Williams. Brimming with vitality, the performances of the orchestra and the Richmond Symphony Chorus, led by conductor Steven Smith, deftly reflect the strength of both composers’ choral writing while establishing a connection between…
Announcing Eleven 2020 GRAMMY® Nominations!
Reference Recordings is excited to announce eleven nominations across eight categories for the 2020 GRAMMY® Awards! The Orchestral Organ 2020 GRAMMY® Award Nominee: Best Immersive Audio Album Keith O. Johnson, immersive audio engineer; Keith O. Johnson, immersive audio mastering engineer; Marina A. Ledin & Victor Ledin, immersive audio producers (Jan Kraybill) Best Classical Instrumental Solo Jan Kraybill Producer of the Year, Classical Marina A. Ledin, Victor Ledin Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 2020 GRAMMY® Award Nominee:…
Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner Symphony No. 9 is Nominated for 2020 Symphonic Music ICMA!
The International Classical Music Awards have nominated the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 recording for a 2020 Symphonic Music Award. The International Classical Music Awards The ICMA – having taken the place of the Cannes Classical Awards (later known as MIDEM) – first awarded prizes in 2011, and has since taken its place as the leading pan-European competition for excellence in classical recording. Its jury of 16 distinguished classical critics and…
Arizona Daily Star Features Christmas With True Concord!
The Arizona Daily Star published a feature for True Concord Voices and Orchestra’s Christmas With True Concord recording! “True Concord knows how to do Christmas. With lush exquisite voices and sublime soulfully American interpretations, they take you beyond the cliche of “Jingle Bells” and “O Holy Night” to a singular somberly opening Mack Wilberg’s arrangement of “Away in a Manger.” The women’s voices, sans vibrato, deliciously replicate the sound of a children’s choir as the…
The Choral Stream Reviews Christmas With True Concord!
The Choral Stream‘s Brian Newhouse took a pre-release listen to Eric Holtan and True Concord Voices & Orchestra’s Christmas With True Concord: Carols in the American Voice: “They sure named the choir right. If you’ve never heard of them, and you celebrate Christmas, treat yourself. “Christmas with True Concord: Carols in the American Voice” spotlights an ensemble with a remarkable blend across all its voices. True concord indeed. Hold-your-breath moments? Several. The luminous solo soprano…
John Williams At The Movies – Now on LP!
2019 Best Engineered, Classical GRAMMY® Nominee2019 Best Classical Compendium GRAMMY® Nominee “a must for movie fans and audiophiles alike.” —Dan Morgan, MusicWeb International John Williams is a game changer. Early in his career he crossed the lines between music that was “art” and music that was “commercial,” and never looked back. He is one of the best known, most awarded and most successful composers in US history, and his name is inextricably connected to outstanding…