Audiohpile Audition‘s John Sunier calls says the new Kansas City Symphony’s Miraculous Metamorphoses is a “fine trio of modern masterpieces.” “This is a fine trio of modern masterpieces, and the first recorded in the new Helzberg Hall in the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City, MO, which reminds one of the Sydney Opera House building in Australia. Grammy-winning engineer Keith O. Johnson has created a superb HDCD-encoded disc…” —John Sunier, Audiophile Audition…
Mel Martin of Audiophile Audition gives a four-star review to our Charles Denler Portraits of Colorado recording, calling it a “worthwhile listen.” “The music itself is quite listenable. There are certainly some references to ‘Americana’ and some ‘Coplandesque’ flourishes… The performance by the Colorado Symphony and Chorus conducted by Scott O’Neil is a fine one, and the HDCD recording is beyond criticism. … The CD as a whole is a worthwhile listen…just evocative music well-played…
Audiophile Audition has a five-star, and absolute rave review for Pittsburgh Symphony’s new Strauss recording: “ It never ceases to amaze me that a recording can be so near the real concert hall experience. Here is an exceptional collection of three of Richard Strauss’ engaging tone poems from Reference Recordings. With an inspired conductor, Manfred Honeck (from Austria), and a world class orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony, recorded live, these performances are bathed in the latest…
Audiophile Audition has a new review for our new Reference Mastercuts LP of the Kansas City Symphony’s Elgar and Vaughan Williams recording: “This version of Elgar’s familiar “Greensleeves” variations may be the best one on recordings—absolutely spell-binding… “The work’s concluding “Finale” brings the variations to a tumultuous close, and since Reference stays away from the center label a good distance and there is only around 14 minutes maximum per side, fidelity is astounding. “…this 200-gram…
Audiophile Audition gives four stars to FRESH! From Reference Recordings release Andrés Segovia Archive, Vol. 1 featuring guitarist Roberto Moronn Pérez: “Andrés Segovia is regarded as the savior of the classical guitar and its literature…These are mostly short, rather quiet, guitar pieces by six Spanish composers: Aregui, Sanjuan, Cassado, Donostia, Pahissa and Mompou…Spanish-born Perez is an accomplished guitarist…The outstanding recording was made in 2010 in the acoustics of the Holy Trinity Church in Weston, Hertfordshire…
Audiophile Audition has a new four-star review of upcoming San Francisco Ballet Orchestra release Bizet: “These three works of Bizet are all well-performed, and two of them are completely unique. … The Variations chromatiques here receives its CD premiere. It was inspired by Beethoven’s 32 Variations in c, and is a dramatic set of 14 variations for piano, with the theme mostly unaltered thru all of them. It is considered the composer’s most significant piano…
Audiophile Audition has given our new Kansas City Symphony release a Five Star rating! Take a look at some quotes from the review: “fine British music of the most colorful sort on top, with superb performances. “The conductor here is the son of famed violinist Isaac Stern, and he has his Kansas City forces in top mettle with a rich and detailed performance of the full-length 20 Enigma variations.” — John Sunier, Audiophile Audition Read…
Audiophile Audition‘s John Sunier gives new Dallas Wind Symphony release Playing With Fire Five Stars! “Playing With Fire is not only the title selection here but the main interest… The fact that the Jim Cullum Jazz Band is basically a trad jazz ensemble makes this one a bit different, and actually seems to make the mix of the classical and jazz approaches to blend a little more smoothly. … The other four works illustrate the…
“The sonics are rich and full, with the added ‘air’ around the orchestra’s sections as heard with the best vinyl recordings.” — John Sunier, Audiophile Audition Above is the ending of a new Audiophile Audition rave for our latest LP release – Exotic Dances from the Opera. In the review, Sunier raves about the “sensitive phrasing and generally great pizazz” of the Minnesota Orchestra. He also raves about the repertoire itself, calling the release “an…
John Henry of Audiophile Audition with a thorough new review of The Hot Club of San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Bounce LP: Reference Recordings has gone out of their way to make this double album of special audiophile interest. First, both discs are 200 grams, rather than the usual 180 gram audiophile standard for vinyl reissues. Then each of the four sides ends in a couple minutes of quiet grooves so you won’t have to deal…
Audiophile Audition has a fantastic new review of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra’s new release Delibes: Sylvia/Coppélia, calling it “thrilling.” “Reference Recordings’ Keith O. Johnson takes a crack at the colorful, sentimental and daring music, perfect for Johnny Depp as Captain Hook…The results are thrilling: they capture the space (Skywalker Sound) so naturally and comfortably that the explosion of kettle drums in the high camp “huntresses” scene can be heard to the lowest depths of…
Audiophile Audition has a Five-Star review of RR Mastercuts LP release of Dick Hyman’s From the Age of Swing. From Audiophile Audition: “This collection of music from small and large instrumental groups from the late 1930s was originally released on CD by Reference Recording in 1994. It’s great now to have it on the ultimate analog format of 45 rpm vinyl—well worth the expense for those of us with high-quality turntable systems. “Of course the…
John Henry of Audiophile Audition published a thorough review of Mike Garson’s RR release, The Bowie Variations this past weekend. The review gets into the heart of the works, and the influences that surrounded the pieces. It’s a highly informative read, so we encourage you to find the full review on AudAud.com. From Audiophile Audition: Mike Garson, piano – The Bowie Variations; 4/5 stars “Garson doesn’t just do straight jazz treatments of these tunes; he…
Audiophile Audition‘s Lee Passarella published a wonderful review of the Concord Chamber Music Society’s release of music from Chris Brubeck, Michael Gandolfi, and Lukas Foss. We’ll share some quotes centering on each composer, but we encourage you to read the review on AudAud.com. From Audiophile Audition: “…Musically, the entrance of the players one by one gives the piece a nice, improvisatory feel, like a jam session coming together in an especially ad hoc manner. It’s…
Here is a fantastic review of our new release “Pied Piper” from Audiophile Audition! Jim Walker, flute/Mike Garson, piano – Pied Piper – Reference Recordings (HDCD) RR-121 ***** Reference Recordings has been busy reissuing a few things from their catalog plus items on their new sub-label Fresh! This one is most unusual in that it originally was issued back in 1985 as a 45 rpm audiophile LP – with a different title…I have the 45…