Archive for Uncategorized – Page 17
Multiple Blues Music Award Nominees!
The Blues Foundation announced the 37th Blues Music Award Nominees and Reference Recordings artists are well represented! Doug MacLeod Acoustic Album (Exactly Like This) Acoustic Artist Song: “You Got It Good (and That Ain’t Bad)” Fiona Boyes Koko Taylor Award (Traditional Blues Female) Jimi Bott Instrumentalist-Drums The 37th Blues Music Awards will be presented May 5, 2016 in Memphis, TN Final Ballot will be sent to MEMBERS December 22, 2015Become a Member TODAYPurchase the recordings…
Utah Symphony Mahler in the Washington Post
The Washington Post‘s tom Huizenga reviews the Utah Symphony’s Mahler: Symphony No. 1 “Titan” recording: “In Fischer’s hands, Mahler is well-balanced… the orchestra can be proud of this performance, with its brisk tempos and transparency in recorded sound. Winds are particularly expressive in the opening movement, where nature awakens in a haze of ethereal strings and chirps from oboes and clarinets before picking up the jaunty melody to one of Mahler’s own songs. … This…
Pittsburgh Symphony Beethoven “as an anti-depressant”
Graham Rickson reviews the new Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck Beethoven Symphony Nos. 5 & 7 recording for The Arts Desk: “These performances, though never sluggish, are huge. In the best possible way. Their grandeur is irresistible, reminding us just how rare large-scale, modern instrument performances are. We know that Beethoven preferred big orchestras. He’d presumably have loved this disc. … Glorious. As is this Seventh, the Vivace’s rhythms enunciated with impeccable clarity. ……
Pittsburgh Symphony in the New York Times Classical Playlist
The New York Times critic David Allen adds the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s Beethoven: Symphony Nos. 5 & 7 to the Arts Beat Classical Playlist: “Ninety seconds is all it takes to understand that Manfred Honeck’s is no sanitized Beethoven: the plethora of colorations, articulations and moods through which he forces the Fifth’s famous motto sees to that. Every phrase, every balance has been thought through in interventionist readings that are idiosyncratic but fully…
Pittsburgh Symphony Beethoven a Gramophone Editor’s Choice
Gramophone Magazine names Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s new Beethoven: Symphony Nos. 5 & 7 a December Editor’s Choice! “The Pittsburgh playing marries epic power with a revealing translucency of texture, something which the aptly named Soundmirror team catches in sound the provides generous levels of reverberation with crystal-clear detailing. Honeck has a wonderful ear for detail, be it quietly thematic or utterly bizarre, as in the piccolo’s crackerjack contributions to the finale of the…
SEVEN 2015 GRAMMY Nominations Announced!
The 58th GRAMMY Award Nominations Have Been Announced! Best Engineered Classical Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3, “Organ” Keith O. Johnson & Sean Royce Martin, engineers; Keith O. Johnson, mastering engineer (Michael Stern & Kansas City Symphony) Producer of the Year, Classical Marina A. Ledin, Victor Ledin Dances For Piano & Orchestra (Joel Fan, Christophe Chagnard & Northwest Sinfonietta) • Tempo Do Brasil (Marc Regnier) • Woman At The New Piano (Nadia Shpachenko) Best Orchestral Performance Bruckner:…
Four Stars for Fiona Boyes from Downbeat!
Downbeat Magazine gives Fiona Boyes and her new Box & Dice recording ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ in the January issue: “Delighted with her recent acquisition of handsome cigar-box and National Resolectric baritone guitars, Australian Fiona Boyes puts them to the test on her latest release. Sure enough, those guitars have plenty to say in discourses with her true-blue vocals. Her songs are conduits of flammable or relatively tranquil emotion.…” —Frank-John Hadley, Downbeat Order from RR!Order on Amazon.comListen on…
Doug MacLeod Exactly Like This a Downbeat Best of 2015!
Downbeat Magazine names Doug MacLeod’s new Exactly Like This recording to their Best of 2015 list in the January 2016 issue. “Doug MacLeod sets up camp in a rare niche of storytelling bluesman that are attuned to the textures and rhythms of life. On this excursion, the wry Californian’s distinctive singing voice and straight-talking guitar comment on a “rough-and-tumble” woman, staying true to oneself, the road back home, the splendor of the Blue Ridge Mountains…
Organ Polychrome a Recording of the Year!
MusicWeb International critic Dan Morgan names Organ Polychrome one of his Recordings of the Year! “This is my top pick for 2015. Reference Recordings have a reputation for top-notch engineering, but that wouldn’t count for much without performances of equal stature. Indeed, Jan Kraybill’s exemplary musicianship and the lovely sound of this noble Kansas City instrument make this one of the finest organ recordings I know. Period.” —Dan Morgan Read Dan Morgan’s original MusicWeb review.…
Pittsburgh Symphony Beethoven a 2015 Recording of the Year!
The Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s new BEETHOVEN: Symphony Nos. 5 & 7 recording has been nominated as a 2015 Recording of the Year by THREE MusicWeb International critics — one of only two recordings to receive such a distinction! Michael Cookson “The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under Manfred Honeck is on world class form with Beethoven’s Symphonies No’s 5 and 7. This release only arrived a short time ago but its merits were evident immediately.…
Pittsburgh Symphony’s Beethoven A MusicWeb Recording of the Month
Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s new Beethoven: Symphony Nos. 5 & 7 gets a second (See the first) nomination for “Recording of the Month” from MusicWeb International! “Using a large orchestra one senses an elevated level of musical intelligence together with an unyielding structural coherence that produces impressively selected tempi, dynamic contrasts and moulding of phrase. These are mightily compelling performances, buoyantly rhythmic with plenty of thrust when required. Striking too is the penetrating…
Happy Thanksgiving Sale!
We’re celebrating the Thanksgiving Holiday by giving thanks for YOU! To show our appreciation, Today, November 25th at 5pm PST, we are putting ALL of our HDCDs, SACDs and HRx recordings on sale at a 20% discount until NOON (PST) on Monday, November 30th! Start Saving Today!
Classical CD Choice Reviews Utah Symphony’s Mahler: Symphony No. 1
The Utah Symphony’s Mahler: Symphony No. 1 recording gets a rave review from Graham Williams on Classical CD Choice: “Now, from the Reference Recordings Fresh! Label, we have a compelling new account of Mahler’s 1st Symphony recorded in state-of-the-art sound from this same orchestra under their current Music Director, the Swiss conductor Thierry Fischer.… The magical opening pages of the first movement are beautifully controlled with the off-stage trumpets suitably distanced yet absolutely audible. The…
Manfred Honeck Sets A New Standard
MusicWeb International names Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s BEETHOVEN: Symphony Nos. 5 & 7 recording a “Recording of the Month”! “Over the course of 12 pages, conductor Manfred Honeck sets a new standard for excellence in CD booklets. He walks us through these two beloved Beethoven symphonies, moment by moment, pointing out details we may have missed – and indeed, over years of listening, I’d missed quite a few. His notes are personal, explaining…
Fiona Boyes Wins Annual Blues411 Jimi Award!
Blues411.com announced their annual Jimi Awards winners yesterday, and we’re happy to share that Fiona Boyes was not only nominated in two different categories, she is the Jimi Awards 2015 “Guitar Heroine”! Jimi Awards Guitar Heroine: “Guitars are not just toys for the boys. We have a long history of ladies playing the guitar and doing it with an amazing degree of excellence. Here is our choice a lady who is self taught and started…