Archive for Fanfare
Fanfare Says Invasion is Not To Be Missed
Fanfare Magazine’s Colin Clarke says Nadia Shpachenko’s Invasion: Music and Art for Ukraine is “Not To Be Missed”: “Spratlan’s music is viscerally exciting, a sonic representation of (understandable) anxiety via a preponderance of gesture. The performance is as good as one could imagine. It falls to Shpachenko to present Piano Suite No. 1 (2021), a somewhat Schoenbergian utterance, perhaps particularly in the initial “Capriccio.” Shpachenko truly understands, as does Spratlan, the expressive nature of dissonance,…
Five Star Fanfare Review for Migration
Fanfare‘s Mark Novak gives the University of Texas Wind Ensemble’s Migration recording a Five Star Review and places it in the “Not To Be Missed” section! “This is an outstanding compilation of music for wind ensemble by four living American composers. The first accolade goes to Reference Recordings and their superbly excellent recording which can be heard even with standard CD resolution. The dynamic range is wide, the impression of being present in the hall…
Honeck and Pittsburgh Symphony Meet High Expectations in Bruckner Symphony No. 9
Fanfare Magazine’s Gavin Dixon reviews Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 recording: “Manfred Honeck’s impressive discography with the Pittsburgh Symphony raises high expectations for this new Bruckner Nine, and it doesn’t disappoint. Honeck has a knack for reinventing core Romantic repertoire, but without moving outside of established performing traditions. … The orchestra deserves equal praise for their performance here. The distinctively American brass sound works wonders in Bruckner, but the…
American Record Guide Reviews PaTRAM’s Kurt Sander: Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
The September/October 2019 issue of American Record Guide features a new review for the PaTRAM Institute‘s recording of Kurt Sander’s Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom: “Most of the music falls into one of two categories: brief choral responses to chanted declamation by the priest or deacon, and more extended choral pieces like the Cherubic Hymn and the Lord’s Prayer. In his notes, Sander observes that most composers would begin by writing the more extended…
You Really Shouldn’t Miss The Poetry of Places
Nadia Shpachenko’s The Poetry of Places has been added a SECOND time to Fanfare Archive’s “Not To Be Missed” section of their website after the publishing of a new review by Peter Burwasser: “As was the case with Nadia Shpachenko’s previous Reference Recordings project, Quotations and Homages, this release features a broad range of contemporary voices, with a scintillating mix of daring sound, genuine beauty, and a commodity too often missing from the new music world:…
Fanfare Says The Poetry of Places is “Not To Be Missed”
Fanfare Magazine highlights Nadia Shpachenko’s The Poetry of Places recording in their online “Not To Be Missed” section: “The idea of reacting to spaces is the thread that snakes through this fascinating recital. Programming is clearly a strength of Shpachenko, as her disc Quotations & Homages spoke of a similarly adventurous spirit. The superbly produced booklet gives fine background information to the pieces and composers, in tandem with a selection of photographs worth the price of…
Fanfare Magazine Reviews “Delightful” Quotations and Homages recording
Fanfare Magazine‘s Peter Burwasser has a new review for Nadia Shpachenko’s Quotations and Homages recording in their July/August 2018 issue: “This highly attractive and frequently delightful CD is a clever concept program.… Shpachenko bookends the collection with the music of Tom Flaherty, in works of very different emotional impact, one serious and the other whimsical, reflecting a similar variety in the balance of the program. His Rainbow Tangle is a rich and colorful reflection of…
Fanfare Says Don’t Miss Nadia Shpachenko’s Quotations and Homages
Fanfare Magazine has a new review for Nadia Shpachenko’s Quotations and Homages recording in their “Not To Be Missed” section: “…a superb and superbly recorded program of pieces as fresh as they are ready to pay respect to the traditions that led to their creation. …framing this set of relative miniatures with the works of Tom Flaherty was a stroke of genius. His integration of electronic and acoustic elements speaks to a long-fostered commitment to…
Fanfare Magazine Raves About Utah Symphony’s Mahler Eight
“Well, here is the symphony no one could capture—captured at last? I think so! Every music lover grayer than a few decades will recall how pervasive once was the notion of an “unrecordable piece,” a work destined to mock the best efforts of microphones and loudspeakers of the day. … The Mahler Symphony of a Thousand was a holy grail of sorts, attempted from time to time, but essentially out of reach. … I thought…
Manfred Honeck’s Strauss Opera Suites Recording is Groundbreaking!
Order Now “This is a groundbreaking recording—and a wonderful one!…Manfred Honeck himself catalysed the effort, in collaboration with Czech composer Tomás Ille. … Strauss pushes the borders of harmony in Elektra and employs a complex orchestra of 110, larger than most of his tone poems. … Honeck has marginally rescored it down to the merely mammoth forces customarily used in Strauss’s tone poems. Most importantly, he has woven the punchy, mercurial, polyphonic score into a…