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Archive for Kansas City Symphony – Page 2
Atlanta Audio Society Reviews Kansas City Symphony’s Leshnoff Recording
Phil Muse reviews The Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, Stephen Powell, and Joyce Yang’s recording of Leshnoff: Symphony No. 3; Piano Concerto in the Atlanta Audio Society‘s December Newsletter: “Once again, an exploration of the music of American composer Jonathan Leshnoff proves rewarding. … What makes this composer so distinguishable from his contemporaries is easy to divine: it is the concentrated emotion, the lyricism, cohesive construction, and economy of his music. In the last-cited, Leshnoff…
The Arts Fuse Reviews Kansas City Symphony’s Jonathan Leshnoff Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto
The Arts Fuse reviews Kansas City Symphony’s recording of Jonathan Leshnoff Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto with Stephen Powell and Joyce Yang: “The Concerto’s first movement alternates motoric and lyrical subjects, its constant shifts of phrases and harmonies keeping the ear from ever getting too comfortable. “Neshema,” the slow second movement, offers a beautiful, falling tune that’s gradually embellished. The Scherzo, with its frolicsome keyboard writing and nifty transformations of orchestral textures, charms throughout.…
Textura Reviews Kansas City Symphony’s Leshnoff Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto
Textura Magazine reviews Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symhony No. 3 and Piano Concerto recording featuring the Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, Stephen Powell, and Joyce Yang: “Any classical pianist hearing the concerto would likely salivate at the prospect of performing it. In this iteration, Joyce Yang delivers a riveting performance others would be hard pressed to better. … The opening movement dazzles from the start, with Yang expertly voicing chiming figures over insistent strings and the syncopated…
Kansas City Symphony’s Jonathan Leshnoff World Premieres Get 5 Stars from Audiophile Audition
Audiophile Audition‘s Steven Ritter gives 
to Leshnoff: Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto recording from the Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, Stephen Powell, and Joyce Yang: “After reviewing Leshnoff’s Double Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon recently on another marvelous Reference issue, I was most intrigued to see what was coming next. … Leshnoff writes from the heart, but with a lot of craft and intelligence. Speaking of Samuel Barber, I think he resembles that master somewhat…
Pizzicato Highly Recommends Kansas City Symphony’s Leshnoff World Premieres
Pizzicato gives a four-star rating to Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, Stephen Powell, and Joyce Yang’s recording of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto: “Jonathan Leshnoff’s music needs no explanation, as it speaks for itself and immediately appeals to the listener. Although it is quite complex, it is imaginatively and brilliantly orchestrated and to be remembered with very reflective passages as well as with rhythmic pulsation. … It is again evident in Leshnoff’s four-movement…
Available NOW: Leshnoff Symphony No. 3 & Piano Concerto!
Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony’s Leshnoff World Premiere Recordings are available today! Reference Recordings® proudly presents two new works from leading American composer Jonathan Leshnoff. Distinguished by The New York Times as “a leader of contemporary American lyricism,” Leshnoff is renowned for his music’s striking harmonies, structural complexity, and powerful themes. These world premiere recordings showcase the Kansas City Symphony performing his third symphony, inspired by World War I letters home, with texts sung by baritone Stephen Powell.…
Classical Voice North America Reviews Kansas City Symphony’s Leshnoff World Premieres
Classical Voice North America reviews the Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, Stephen Powell, and Joyce Yang’s world premiere recordings of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto: “The long-lined legato strings that open the symphony immediately bring to mind works like Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings with its tonal modulations and harmonically resolved suspended chords. It is meditative mood music. The winds, including a contrabassoon, briefly create an unusual, dark balance. French horns, trombones, winds doubling…
Classical CD Choice Review for Leshnoff Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto
Classical CD Choice reviews the Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, Stephen Powell, and Joyce Yang recording of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Symphony No. 3 and Piano Concerto: “In typically wide-ranging Reference Recordings sound, here are two of the composer’s most impressive works, and the Third Symphony in particular will be relished by those who admire such 20th-century composers as Vaughan Williams, Walton and Copland. It is music of great authority (inspired by World War I letters home,…
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…
Jonathan Leshnoff, Michael Stern and Joyce Yang Discuss Leshnoff’s Piano Concerto
As we prepare for The Kansas City Symphony and Joyce Yang’s World Premiere recording of Jonathan Leshnoff’s Piano Concerto, watch a nine-part interview series between Joyce, Jonathan, and conductor Michael Stern about the genesis of the work, the recording, and more: Leshnoff: Symphony No. 3; Piano Concerto Reference Recordings® proudly presents two new works from leading American composer Jonathan Leshnoff. Distinguished by The New York Times as “a leader of contemporary American lyricism,” Leshnoff is renowned for his…
Rafael’s Music Notes Reviews The Kansas City Symphony’s Leshnoff Recording!
The first review is in for the Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, Stephen Powell, and Joyce Yang’s Leshnoff World Premiere Recordings! “Thanks to various CD’s released by Reference Recordings, I have become an admirer of the music of American composer Jonathan Leshnoff. … The impressive lineup of soloists and the sterling work of the Kansas musicians numbers immense artistic rewards in this treasure of a recording, impeccably engineered and produced by Dirk Sobatka of Soundmirror. ……
ClassicsToday Reviews Kansas City Symphony’s Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool
Watch a new ClassicsToday video review with David Hurwitz of the Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern’s Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool recording: See the full review on ClassicsToday.com Purchase
American Record Guide Reviews Kansas City Symphony’s New Holst Recording
The Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern’s Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool gets a great review in the March/April 2020 issue of American Record Guide: “This wonderful recording sounds better and better the more you increase the volume; and somehow, that glorious sound includes both great detail and great space. We seem to be hovering just above music director Michael Stern, so individual instruments are heard vividly, and yet we never seem too close.…
The Arts Desk Reviews Holst: The Planets
The Arts Desk’s Graham Rickson reviews Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern’s recording of Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool: “Michael Stern’s Kansas City Symphony version is a blast… An audiophile’s delight as well as a musical treat, Stern gets pretty much everything right. You’ll hear things in this recording that you’ll struggle to discern on starrier versions, the marvel being that nothing feels forced or artificially spotlit. There’s a sepulchral brass chorale a few…
Gramophone Magazine Reviews Kansas City’s Holst: The Planets
Gramophone Magazine started the New Year with a January 2020 review for the Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern’s Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool in the Sounds of America section: “The Kansas City Symphony seize the day, and night, on their new recording under music director Michael Stern. Some performances of The Planets focus more on the score’s colourful surfaces than on its dramatic mysteries and jubilance but Stern’s concept pays close attention to every alluring…