Archive for Uncategorized – Page 28
Exactly Like This Gets Four Stars From Audiophile Audition
Audiophile Audition‘s Robbie Gerson gives Doug MacLeod’s new Exactly Like This release four (out of five) stars in this latest review: “The material on ‘Exactly Like This‘ is very good. The recording environment by Reference Recordings is superlative. The live studio intimacy is enhanced significantly by the full sound of the 24-bit HDCD. The guitar resonates with natural vibration and echo. McLeod’s baritone reverberates with subtle prominence. Engineer Keith O. “Prof” Johnson” captures the essence…
New Classic LA Features Nadia Shpachenko Woman At The New Piano
New Classic LA‘s Paul Muller has a new feature for Nadia Shpachenko’s Woman At The New Piano: “Airdancing is an appealing combination of the traditional piano sounds and electronic percussion. The lightness in the rhythms and timbre of the electronics are nicely contrasted with the lower, more ominous sections in an interesting mix. … Part Suite-a for Solo Piano is a technically challenging piece that is precisely realized here. … Finger Songs for Solo Piano…
The Arts Desk Says Honeck is “At It Again”
The Arts Desk‘s Graham Rickson named the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Dvořák/Janáček recording a “Best of 2014”, so how does the new Bruckner SACD stack up? “Manfred Honeck’s at it again. Changing dynamics, tampering with tempo markings, adjusting balances. But when the results feel so idiomatically right, only a chump would object. … Start noting down the high spots and you’ll need several sheets of paper. … This is a great performance, exactly the sort of disc…
Our Musical Journey Reviews Exactly Like This
Exactly Like This gets a rave review and Doug MacLeod adds a new fan in the Our Musical Journey blog: “I need to get my balance, so that I can tip my hat to both Doug MacLeod and Reference Recordings, and kick myself for not finding both sooner. Doug plays all originals and has written somewhere around 300 songs and recorded 17 studio albums. I am truly impressed with Doug’s lyricism and his playing which…
Bruckner a MusicWeb Recording of the Month!
Critic Michael Cookson names the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck Bruckner album a MusicWeb International Recording of the Month! “Having reviewed the mightily impressive first two releases in the ‘Pittsburgh Live!’ series I wondered how this third and latest disc would measure up. Enjoying every second of this captivating performance I can report that the series continues to provide an elevated standard of performance and sound. … In the opening movement the sheer force of the…
New Release — Doug MacLeod: Exactly Like This
Exactly Like This Doug MacLeod Doug MacLeod is a unique, powerful guitarist with a rich and soulful voice, singing original songs based on his own life and experiences Buy Now! Doug MacLeod’s new album EXACTLY LIKE THIS is his third release with Reference Recordings. This is ‘Genuine Original Acoustic Music’ at its very best, in a richly detailed recording by Grammy-winning engineer Keith Johnson, made at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, CA. In live performance,…
Blues In The Northwest Reviews Exactly Like This
Lionel Ross of Blues In The Northwest recommends Doug MacLeod’s latest recording, Exactly Like This: “…‘Serious Doin’ Woman’ describes the temptations that can confront a musician on the road and is embellished by some lovely guitar work while the instrumental, ‘Ridge Runner’ races along, brilliantly driven by the excellent rhythm section. ‘New Morning Road’ is a down home blues, which showcases MacLeod’s wonderfully rich vocal quality at its impressive best in advance of the superb,…
SA-CD Net Gives Bruckner 5 Stars
SA-CD.net’s Graham Williams gives five stars for both performance and sonics to the new Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck Bruckner recording: “Manfred Honeck has shown himself to be a searching interpreter of everything he conducts, in addition to being an outstandingly cultured musician and fine orchestral trainer. … Honeck convincingly relates the musical ideas to the literary ones outlined in the composer’s programme – something that in some respects moves the symphony closer to becoming…
Culture Spot LA Calls Bruckner “Jaw-Dropping”
Henry Schlinger of Culture Spot LA adds to his Pittsburgh Live! reviews with a new review for the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s Bruckner: “The latest in the “Pittsburgh Live!” series from Reference Recordings is a jaw-dropping performance of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 in E-flat major (“Romantic”) that is engrossing and thrilling. … Few modern conductors have approached music the way Honeck does, and his Bruckner Fourth is no exception… Honeck and the musicians…
Exactly Like This a “Masterpiece”
Cashbox Canada‘s Iain Patience calls Doug MacLeod’s Exactly Like This a “masterpiece” in his pre-release review: “MacLeod…is easily one of the most accomplished and admired acoustic bluesmen of his generation…’Exactly Like This’ is his latest release, an eleven track masterpiece, choc full of recognisable and nimble fretwork on resonator guitar and careening slippery slide sounds that are his hallmark. His voice seems to improve with age, like a fine Malt whiskey or an expensive vintage…
ThrowbackThursday — J. Gordon Holt Interviews Keith O. Johnson
Stereophile Magazine recently republished a wonderful interview between Keith O. Johnson and J. Gordon Holt from the 1984 Winter CES in Las Vegas. Read the entertaining lead note from J. Gordon Holt below, and click the link to read the full interview (Note: The much-mentioned Däfos recording has been out of print for many years): “ After a couple of scheduling foul-ups, I managed to corner Reference Recordings’ Keith O. Johnson at the 1984 Winter…
Capital Public Radio Sound Advice Features Bruckner
Capital Public Radio host Kent Teeters talks about his favorite new recordings, beginning with our new Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck Bruckner release: This release is the third in the highly acclaimed “Pittsburgh Live!” series of multi-channel hybrid SACD releases on the FRESH! Series from Reference Recordings. Manfred Honeck – conducting! FR-713SACD – Bruckner 4 – Manfred Honeck / Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra – HYBRID SURROUND SOUND SACD (also plays on CD players) – Order NOW!
Special RR Sale!
Starting NOW! Until NOON on Thursday, March 12, 2015, get 15% OFF These New and Selected Sales Titles: EXACTLY LIKE THIS Doug MacLeod Doug MacLeod is a unique, powerful guitarist with a rich and soulful voice, singing original songs based on his own life and experiences. His new album EXACTLY LIKE THIS is his third release with Reference Recordings. This is ‘Genuine Original Acoustic Music’ at its very best, in a richly detailed recording by…
Pittsburgh Symphony Bruckner “Simply Tantalizing”
Brian Wigman of Classical.net has been “anticipating this release since the beginning of Pittsburgh’s partnership with Reference Recordings” because “the prospect of Bruckner was simply tantalizing.” His review: “The opening instantly establishes this as Honeck’s own performance. … It’s quite magical.… About 10 minutes in, the strings and brass work so thrillingly together that it effectively captures everything right about this disc. … At about the same speed on EMI, Herbert von Karajan finds markedly…
Pittsburgh Symphony Among the Best in the World — Stereo Times
Stereo Times critic Russell Lichter was “intrigued by the hoopla” around the new Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck Bruckner release. Did it live up to the hype? “I really did not know the PSO’s music-making ability nor was I familiar with Manfred Honeck, but I know them now and in my view this orchestra and conductor are up there with the very best in the world. This particular performance, this amazing performance, is very special…