John J. Puccio calls Quartet San Francisco’s A QSF Journey recording one of his favorite albums of 2018 in a new review on his Classical Candor blog:
“It’s always good news when Reference Recordings releases a new album. It’s doubly good news when their chief engineer, Keith O. Johnson, does the recording. It’s triply good news when they make it a studio production. And it’s quadruply good news when the studio they make it in is the prestigious Skywalker Sound. That the content of the album is contemporary material played by the excellent Quartet San Francisco (QSF) is like the icing on the cake. …
The QSF play wonderfully well together, seeming to sense one another’s movements instinctively and moving together as a whole, yet all the while emphasizing the unique contributions of each member. Thus, although each of the four musicians is a distinct individual with his own style, the combined result is one of effortless unanimity. They play together separately and together simultaneously.
—John J. Puccio, Classical Candor
Favorites? Yes, twelve of them. However, if forced to choose just one, I’d say “Rhapsody in Bluegrass,” a combination of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and Ervin T. Rouse’s bluegrass fiddle favorite “Orange Blossom Special.” Classical, jazz, and bluegrass: What could be more natural, and what could go wrong? That nothing goes wrong and everything goes right is remarkable. “La Heroina” and “How Sweet the Sound” I also found effective in quite different ways, but to quibble about favorites in so entertaining an album would just be…quibbling.
Let’s call this one of my favorite albums of the year and be done with it.…
Producers Victor Ledin and Marina A. Ledin, executive producer Marcia Gordon Martin, and engineer Keith Johnson recorded the music at Skywalker Sound, Nicasio, California in May 2018. As we might expect from a small ensemble in an ideal setting, their HDCD sound reproduction is as lifelike as one could want.… this is audiophile quality sound in almost every way.”
Read the full review on the Classical Candor blog
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