Archive for Blair Sanderson
Pittsburgh Symphony Beethoven An AllMusic Editor’s Choice!
AllMusic.com names the new Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck BEETHOVEN recording a November Editor’s Choice! “…this intriguing hybrid SACD from Reference Recordings is a real adventure. The excitement lies in Manfred Honeck’s clear-headed and musically sound interpretations and the astonishing performances by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, which are not based on conventional practices but on careful study of the scores and original sketches, documentation from Beethoven’s time, and what has been concealed under layers of…
Kansas City Symphony Saint-Saens an AllMusic Editor’s Choice
AllMusic names Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony’s Saint-Saëns recording an Editor’s Choice! “Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony deliver this celebrated Romantic symphony with extraordinary vitality, crisp articulation, and brilliant sonorities, and their performances of the two filler pieces are equally vivid and exciting. Of special note are the soloists, organist Jan Kraybill in the symphony, violinist Noah Geller in the Introduction and Rondo capriccioso, and the duo of Geller and cellist…
Bruckner an All Music Editor’s Choice
Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Bruckner recording is a March All Music Editor’s Choice! “Honeck gives this live performance a rather expansive interpretation, emphasizing the long sweep of melody and using a fair amount of rubato in his tempos to add dramatic shading, particularly by drawing out cadences for their full emotional effect. The orchestra is prepared for all of Honeck’s gradations and nuances, and it is remarkably fluid in shifting from one mood…
AllMusic Rave Review for Pittsburgh Symphony Strauss
AllMusic.com tabbed our Strauss CD with the Pittsburgh Symphony a January Editor’s Choice, with critic, Blair Sanderson, saying “Richard Strauss’ Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, and Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks receive the finest sound on this hybrid SACD.” “If any music seems ideally suited for the multichannel super audio format, the lavish orchestral tone poems of Richard Strauss must be at the top of the list. This hybrid SACD of Strauss’ Don Juan, Death and…