Today marks the 100th Anniversary of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring premeire at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. Here’s a look back at our Stravinsky recording with the Minnesota Orchestra which features The Firebird Suite, The Song of the Nightingale, and The Rite of Spring: Stravinsky scarcely needed more than The Firebird to assure his fame, but he followed it with Petrouchka exactly a year later, and then, in 1913, delivered the ballet that caused a riot: The…
Celebrate Women’s Equality Day Sunday, August 26th is Women’s Equality Day which marks the anniversary of the 1920 passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, granting women the right to vote (click here for more information). Reference Recordings was started in 1976 by one man, founder Tam Henderson, who produced almost all its releases until very recently. He quickly collected genius recording engineer Keith O. Johnson, and the magic blossomed. But women took on…
Sunday, June 17th is Stravinsky’s 130th birthday, and considering RR has recently released their 1997 Grammy nominated recording (Best Engineered, Classical) featuring the Minnesota Orchestra performing Stravinsky’s Song of The Nightingale and The Firebird Suite on LP, we felt that June would be a great month for a “Looking Back” feature on RR-70: Stravinsky! “Igor Stravinsky celebrated his 28th birthday only weeks before the unveiling of The Firebird at the Paris Opéra on the night…
Happy Birthday Brahms! In honor of Brahms’ 179th birthday today, we’re taking a look back at one of our past releases which features Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115 performed by clarinetist Eddie Daniels and The Composers String Quartet. Eddie DanielsThe Composers String Quartet Weber: Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in B-flat, Op. 34Brahms: Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in B minor, Op. 115 Leonard Bernstein called Eddie Daniels “a well-bred demon.” He…