Archive for Graham Williams
HR Audio Reviews Pittsburgh Symphony’s Beethoven Symphony No. 9
HRaudio.net reviews the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s Beethoven Symphony No. 9 recording, giving it 4.5 stars for performance, and 5 stars for sonics! “the brilliance and charisma of Honeck’s conducting, his unique interpretive insights into the works he performs and the manner in which they are realised by the magnificent orchestra of which he has been Music Director for the past ten years, have resulted in each of these recordings moving effortlessly and justifiably…
Five Stars for Leshnoff’s Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto from HRAudio
HRAudio.net gives the Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, Stephen Powell, and Joyce Yang ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for Performance and Sonics in their recording of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto: “The opening of the [Piano Concerto’s] four movements presents a majestic (and attractively memorable) theme that is developed with increasing energy and dazzling pianism by soloist and orchestra in the manner of a grand romantic concerto before reaching a humorously abrupt ending. The slow movement…
HR Audio Gives Five Stars to Pittsburgh Symphony’s Tchaikovsky/Leshnoff!
HR Audio‘s Graham Williams gives a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review for the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 & Leshnoff: Double Concerto SACD: “any new release from the award-winning team of Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony on the Reference Recordings label is worth investigating as, based on previous form, it is likely to yield a performance that brings new interpretive insights to even the most familiar staples of the classical repertoire. In addition,…
Classical CD Choice Review for Utah Symphony’s Prokofiev
Classical CD Choice‘s Graham Williams reviews the Utah Symphony and Thierry Fischer’s Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky – Lieutenant Kijé Suite recording: “Discerning collectors are used to releases from the Reference Recordings label receiving effusive plaudits, not only for the high artistic level of the performances but especially for the thrilling audiophile sound quality that brings listening at home to a new level of enjoyment. This latest spectacular recording from Thierry Fischer and the Utah Symphony of…
Five Stars for Pittsburgh Symphony’s New Beethoven and Strauss Recording
Graham Williams gives Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony‘s upcoming Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 and Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 release five stars across the board on HRAudio.net! “ Manfred Honeck’s tenure at the helm of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra that began in 2008 has arguably transformed this orchestra from an already first-class one into a great one. … Thanks to the Reference Recordings Fresh! series this transformation can readily be experienced by listeners worldwide…
John Williams At The Movies Gets Five Stars from HRAudio
Graham Williams and HRAudio.net give John Williams At The Movies ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for performance and multi-channel sonics in a new review: “Each new release from the Reference Recordings label is anticipated with a tingle of excitement, promising not just an aural treat for audiophiles but also high musical values, and this latest sonic spectacular featuring the film music of John Williams is no exception. For decades Keith O Johnson, the doyen of recording engineers, and his…
HR Audio Reviews Utah Symphony’s Mahler Symphony No. 8
Order Now “In 2015 Reference Recordings released a very recommendable version of Mahler’s 1st Symphony by the Utah Symphony conducted by their Musical Director Thierry Fischer Mahler: Symphony No. 1 – Fischer. That recording taken from live performances given in the orchestra’s home – the Maurice Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City, Utah – showed Fisher’s Mahlerian credentials in a most favorable light and they are now confirmed by this stunningly recorded account of the…
HRAudio Gives Kansas City’s Adam Schoenberg Recording ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Order Now “This thoroughly enjoyable new release from the audiophile Reference Recordings label features three orchestral works by the young Los Angeles based composer Adam Schoenberg (born 1980). Together they chart a period of his compositional development from the first piece entitled ‘Finding Rothko’ (2006), written while he was still a student studying with John Corigliano, to his ‘American Symphony’ of (2011) and finally his latest orchestral work ‘Picture Studies’ (2012).… Schoenberg’s music is tonal,…
New Pittsburgh Symphony Recording Gets Five Stars from HRAudio!
HRAudio’s Graham Williams gives five stars for performance and sonics to our upcoming Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck release, Strauss: Elektra/Rosenkavalier! “All Straussians will be intrigued by this latest release from Manfred Honeck and his marvellous Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra of orchestral suites from what many would regard as the greatest of the composer’s fifteen operas – Elektra and Der Rosenkavalier… Honeck has already demonstrated his mastery of the Strauss idiom in his previous fine…
HRAudio Gives Five Stars To Wuthering Heights!
“For much of the work Floyd writes in an expressive parlando style that allows the words to be clearly heard even when the voices are competing with large orchestral forces. The dark brooding orchestral score is, even allowing for the tragic nature of the story, mellifluous and often lushly romantic in the style of Puccini and Samuel Barber as, for example, in Edgar’s aria “Then marry me Cathy and make me whole again” (Act 2…
Pittsburgh Symphony Offers a “revelatory” Tchaikovsky and Dvořák
New Graham Williams review on HRAudio.net! “It is fair to say that Manfred Honeck’s series of live recordings with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra of music by Richard Strauss, Dvorak, Bruckner and Beethoven on the Reference Recordings Fresh! label have been revelatory, even to those listeners who are very familiar with the works featured on them that are, by and large, cornerstones of the orchestral repertoire. The main work on this latest release is Tchaikovsky’s Symphony…
HRAudio.net Reviews Dawn To Dust!
Graham Williams gives five stars across the board for Utah Symphony’s new Dawn To Dust recording! “The programme opens with ‘Eos (Goddess of the Dawn)’ by Augusta Read Thomas (b.1964) whose command of a wide ranging orchestral palette is breathtaking. … The music is full of ravishing orchestral sonorities, the subtle use of glittering percussion and writing for winds being immediately striking, whilst the almost Mahlerian string passages in the fourth section ‘Dreams and Memories’…
Classical CD Choice Reviews Utah Symphony’s Mahler: Symphony No. 1
The Utah Symphony’s Mahler: Symphony No. 1 recording gets a rave review from Graham Williams on Classical CD Choice: “Now, from the Reference Recordings Fresh! Label, we have a compelling new account of Mahler’s 1st Symphony recorded in state-of-the-art sound from this same orchestra under their current Music Director, the Swiss conductor Thierry Fischer.… The magical opening pages of the first movement are beautifully controlled with the off-stage trumpets suitably distanced yet absolutely audible. The…
Classical CD Choice Calls New Pittsburgh Symphony Beethoven “Vital”
Graham Williams offers a new review for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck’s new Beethoven: Symphony Nos. 5 & 7 recordings on Classical CD Choice: “The refreshingly vivid interpretations of works by Richard Strauss, Dvorak, Janacek and Bruckner that have appeared over the last few years on the Reference Recordings ‘Fresh’ label from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra have convincingly demonstrated the ability of this partnership to deliver new and often remarkable…
HR Audio Reviews Pittsburgh Symphony BEETHOVEN!
Critic Graham Williams has a new review for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck’s BEETHOVEN: Symphony Nos. 5 & 7 recording: “The refreshingly vivid interpretations of works by Richard Strauss, Dvorak, Janacek and Bruckner that have appeared over the last few years on the Reference Recordings ‘Fresh’ label from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra have convincingly demonstrated the ability of this partnership to deliver new and often remarkable insights into some of…