Archive for Fanfare Magazine – Page 2
Dvořák & Janáček on Fanfare Want Lists
Fanfare Magazine critics Merlin Patterson, Huntley Dent and Andrew Quint had one album in common on their year-end “Want Lists” — the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck Dvořák & Janáček SACD! “Under music director Manfred Honeck, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is increasingly recognized as an ensemble to reckon with. … . In addition to a propulsive and thoughtfully structured account of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8, there’s also an effective synthesis of music from Janáček’s…
Fanfare Critics Want More Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Fanfare Magazine critics can’t get enough of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Raymond Tuttle wasn’t the only critic with a Pittsburgh Live! release on their year-end “Want List”: “Under music director Manfred Honeck, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra is increasingly recognized as an ensemble to reckon with. It’s our good fortune that an audiophile label, San Francisco’s Reference Recordings has, so far, released two SACDs from the PSO. (The other is a Richard Strauss program.) The audio…
Strauss Lands on Fanfare Want List
Fanfare Magazine critics are submitting their annual “Want Lists” and critic Raymond Tuttle puts our Pittsburgh Symphony Strauss release at the top: “These Want Lists are difficult for me, because, Lord knows, I want everything… My philosophy is that basic repertoire will seldom make my Want List because, in this age of redundancy, priority should be given to that which is new or at least unfamiliar. Having written that, I start with an exception. Strauss’s…
Dvořák & Janáček SACD Gets Fanfare Review
Fanfare Magazine says Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Dvořák & Janáček SACD joins highest ranks: “What lifts this reading high enough to join the excellent ones one might name from the past (Walter, Kubelík, Kertész, Szell, Giulini, Tennstedt—the list is long) is that Honeck follows through with musical gestures that match all the points he makes in his notes. … Care is lavished on the details of a score that, frankly, is thrice-familiar…
Pre-Release review — Joel Fan: Dances for Piano and Orchestra
Joel Fan’s latest recording, Dances for Piano and Orchestra, gets pre-release praise from Fanfare Magazine’s Peter Burwasser: “…what a brilliant presentation we have here: Music that cannot help but delight, delivered with the utmost elegance by soloist and orchestra alike… Anyone familiar with Joel Fan’s previous Reference Recordings outings will expect to hear an ease of execution and an especially crisp and lucid sense for texture. That he delivers. What is remarkable about this collection…
Fanfare Magazine Interviews Joel Fan!
Fanfare Magazine has a new interview with Joel Fan about his upcoming “Dances for Piano and Orchestra” release! “Fanfare: Your new CD includes works for piano and orchestra that are not piano concertos, including music by well-known composers in material that is not very well known. How did you discover this repertoire? Joel Fan: The label and I were looking for CD repertoire that would be vibrant and exciting discoveries for listeners. Works like the…
Fanfare Magazine Reviews Pittsburgh Symphony Strauss
Fanfare Magazine‘s Arthur Lintegen strongly recommends the new Pittsburgh Symphony Strauss release: “This Till is a devilish rogue. Honeck’s frequent changes in tempo and phrasing reflect the different aspects of his character, ranging from funny, to naughty, to malicious. The French horn player has no problems with his treacherous solo. … ‘Death and Transfiguration’ will be special for some listeners … The quiet sections are hauntingly beautiful with some magnificent solo woodwinds, and the turbulent…
Fanfare With A Second Rave for Kansas City Symphony’s Elgar/Vaughan Williams
Fanfare reviewer Merlin Patterson adds a second (First Fanfare review here) Elgar/Vaughan Williams review! “The reason to acquire this disc is not necessarily for the music of Elgar and Vaughan Williams, but rather to experience the brilliant playing of the Kansas City Symphony under the inspired baton of its music director, Michael Stern…The big ticket item on the disc is of course, Elgar’s Enigma Variations and here, Stern and his great orchestra deliver a thrilling…
Fanfare Reviews Kansas City Symphony Elgar and Vaughan Williams
Dave Saemann of Fanfare Magazine has a new review of our latest Kansas City Symphony recording: “If taste in music-making can pass from one generation to another, that certainly seems to have happened with conductor Michael Stern. Yo-Yo Ma said of the conductor’s father, violinist Isaac Stern, that he left ‘no tone unsterned.’ Similarly, Michael Stern’s Kansas City Symphony is defined by its elegant and beautiful tone, splendidly adapted to the character of the music…
Delibes Reviews Pour in over the weekend
Reviews for the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra’s Delibes: Sylvia/Coppélia came pouring in over the weekend! Check out a few quotes below: Gramophone: “…This pairing of suites from the composer’s ballets by the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the first and still arguably best-standing ballet orchestra in the US, avoids both extremes. Under current music director Martin West, the orchestra revels in the immediacy of the music without ever losing sight of the overall narrative. So too…