In celebration of Earth Day 2024 on April 22nd, we are offering an early opportunity to pre-order our upcoming release with True Concord Voices & Orchestra featuring Jake Runestad’s “Earth Symphony”. Earth Symphony is part of their album with director Eric Holtan and pianist Jeffrey Biegel, A Dream So Bright: Choral Music of Jake Runestad, which will be released on FRESH! From Reference Recordings this July. As part of the Earth Day celebrations, you can…
With Bruckner’s 200th Anniversary celebrations underway, Classical Candor critic Karl Nehring has a double-feature on our two recordings of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 9 from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra and Stanisław Skrowaczewski: “Honeck and his orchestra deliver a powerful performance that indeed offers glimpses both of the divine and of the existential abyss. The recording was pulled together from live performances by the engineering team from Soundmirror, the recording firm…
Join us in wishing the Jazz Master pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and composer Dick Hyman a happy 97th birthday today! We’re celebrating with a 20% off sale on our entire catalog of his recordings throughout his birthday weekend! Dick Hyman Throughout a busy musical career that got underway in the early ’50s, Dick Hyman has functioned as pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in…
Phil Muse reviews the Hermitage Piano Trio’s Spanish Impressions recording in the Spring issue of Atlanta Audio: “Two years ago, I had the pleasure of reviewing the CD by the Hermitage Piano Trio of Rachmaninoff’s two Trios élégiaque and a transcription of his Vocalise. As their debut CD, it made a fine calling card for these Russian ex-patriots now living and performing in the United States, by name: Mischa Keylin, violin; Sergey Antonov, cello; and…
Fanfare’s January/February 2024 issue features a rave review for Sergei Kvitko’s Schubert by Candlelight recording: “For every dozen pianists who record Schubert’s evergreen Moments musicaux and Impromptus, there is rarely one who plays with the presence and artistic maturity of Sergei Kvitko. There are stretches of this live recital from Madrid in 2022 when Kvitko’s depth of expression evoked echoes of classic Schubert pianists on the order of Edwin Fischer and Artur Schnabel. It isn’t surprising that…
“This is a most interesting program, comprising four late Romantic Spanish piano trios, none well-known, with a good deal in common stylistically but with sufficient differences to avoid any sense of repetition.… I had not encountered the music of Mariano Perelló before… He was a renowned violinist and a member of the prominent ensemble Trio Barcelona. While his Tres Impresiones do not specifically reference Spanish dances, they are there throughout. Each movement begins impressively.… These are good…
Classical Candor‘s Karl Nehring recommends Garrick Ohlsson, Sir Donald Runnicles, and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra‘s recordings of The Complete Beethoven Concertos! “warm and comfortable both in sound and performance. This is not the lean and swift sort of Beethoven playing that we have come to hear more often owing to the many “historically informed performance” and/or “original instruments” Beethoven recordings in the marketplace. Ohlsson’s playing on his Steinway sounds rich and expressive, and…
The December issue of the Atlanta Audio Club features a new review for Sergei Kvitko’s Schubert by Candlelight release from Phil Muse: “It presents the essence of the piano genre of Franz Schubert, whose music, underneath its deceptive charm, skilfully concealed a restless spirit that was contiually pushing the envelope in the interest of ever-greater lyrical beauty, expressiveness and harmonic daring. Schubert did this so well, it might have escaped us in a less-insightful account…
Join Reference Recordings in congratulating Doug MacLeod on his two nominations (Acoustic Artist of the Year, and Acoustic Album – Raw Blues 1) for the 2024 Blues Music Awards presented by the Blues Foundation! The Blues Music Awards brings together Blues performers, industry representatives, and fans from all over the world to celebrate the best in Blues recordings and performances from the previous year. The BMAs are generally recognized as the highest honor given to…
The Absolute Sound‘s Paul Seydor gives Five Stars across the board to Garrick Ohlsson, Sir Donald Runnicles, and the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra‘s recordings of The Complete Beethoven Concertos! “This fabulous set of the five Beethoven piano concertos was a highpoint of the Grand Teton Music Festival, where they were performed and recorded over a single weekend in July 2022. The soloist is the great Garrick Ohlsson, whose playing has wonderful character and personality,…
We thought you might enjoy a look behind the scenes from the Reference Recordings team first day setting up for recording sessions with the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra at the University of Colorado, Boulder’s Macky Auditorium.
Spanish Impressions is an AllMusic November Highlight with a 4.5 Star rating for the Hermitage Piano Trio! “The Hermitage Trio’s performances are impressive. All its members are of Russian background, but the deeply lyrical mode works well in this repertory, which would seem to have gems aplenty to offer.… Another major draw is the sound from the reliably strong engineering team of Reference Recordings, here working at Skywalker Sound in California; the famed Keith Johnson had a hand in…
Thank you to Pacifica Tribune‘s Peter Tokofsky for this kind feature:
Graham Rickson of The Arts Desk reviews Garrick Ohlsson, Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, and Sir Donald Runnicles’ Complete Beethoven Piano Concertos recording: “the results are impressive even by this label’s high standards. There’s a palpable bloom and warmth to the sound, Ohlsson’s deft rhythmic sense ensuring that things never feel complacent. Take the effervescent finale to the first concerto, the interplay between orchestral winds and soloist perfectly judged. Concerto No. 2 is another treat,…
“This is the second Reference Recordings release of the Hermitage Piano Trio. And it’s just as good as the first.… The Hermitage Piano Trio doesn’t fail to impress. Their performances are clean, clear, and precise. And more importantly, they’re musical. They internalize the essence of Spanish music. And they deliver it with the energy and attitude it requires.… Great performances impeccably recorded. What else would you expect from Reference?” —Ralph Graves, WTJU See the full…