Archive for Reference Recordings
Doug MacLeod’s A Soul to Claim is a Downbeat Magazine Album of the Year!
Downbeat Magazine‘s January 2023 issue has a list of their 2022 Albums of the Year, and Doug MacLeod’s A Soul To Claim has made the list! “Doug MacLeod’s A Soul To Claim, like many of his 21 previous albums, makes it clear that he’s an archetype of the top-level blues storyteller: wry, sharp-witted, virile, inclined to poke fun at sentiment.… MacLeod bestows his music with a human intimacy that’s a function of his affable personality…
Gramophone Reviews Nadia Shpachenko’s Invasion Release
The January 2023 issue of Gramophone Magazine features a review of Nadia Shpachenko’s recording of Invasion: Music and Art for Ukraine: “Lewis Spratlan’s Invasion is a raucous, volatile tone poem for a sextet of piano, saxophone, horn, trombone, percussion and – I assume to provide some local Ukrainian colour – mandolin, written at speed in March this year.… Invasion is the music of indignation and outrage, its combative nature (it does have a more contemplative central section) mirrored…
Two 2023 International Classical Music Awards Nominations!
We are thrilled to share that the International Classical Music Awards have nominated two of our recordings in the 2023 ICMAs! The final result with all winners will be announced on January 18, 2023, and the Award Ceremony and Gala concert will take place in Wrocław, Poland on April 21, hosted by the NFM Philharmonic. Nominations Symphonic Music Manfred Honeck & Pittsburgh Symphony Contemporary Music Martin West & the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra
Invasion is Not To Be Missed
Huntley Dent has added Nadia Shpachenko’s Invasion: Music and Art for Ukraine to Fanfare‘s “Not To Be Missed” list! “Calling upon her friend and sometime collaborator, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Lewis Spratlan, Shpachenko commissioned Invasion, which is scored for piano and chamber ensemble. My expectations of grim, angry music were overturned by Invasion, whose three sections, lasting 12 minutes, don’t echo the stark bleakness of wartime Shostakovich, or any other war music I can think of. Instead, Spratlan…
Migration is Not To Be Missed!
Huntley Dent has a second Fanfare rave review for the University of Texas Wind Ensemble and Jerry Junkin’s Migration recording in the Not To Be Missed Section: “This is an eye-opening release… There is no air of elitism around this collection, thankfully. The splendid sound of a large wind orchestra (the UT Wind Ensemble, at 65 strong, ranks as an orchestra to me) doesn’t immediately connote a piece as sophisticated as Corigliano’s brilliant Clarinet Concerto,…
Living Blues Rave for Doug MacLeod’s A Soul To Claim
The May/June 2022 issue of Living Blues Magazine features a rave review for Doug MacLeod’s A Soul To Claim: “A Soul to Claim builds on MacLeod’s skillful, expressive acoustic guitar work, supported here by Dave Smith on bass guitar, Rick Steff on keyboards, and Steve Potts on drums. The arrangements are subtle, with lots of spaces between the notes and a warm, intimate character. The bass, drums, and keys are often felt more than heard;…
AllMusic Recommends Lowell Liebermann’s Frankenstein
AllMusic‘s James Manheim gives the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra’s recording of Lowell Liebermann: Frankenstein a four-star review and recommendation: “This recording was made live in 2018 and marked the U.S. premiere in San Francisco, featuring the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra under conductor Martin West, and it is to be recommended for the live atmosphere alone. A good deal of enthusiastic applause is retained, and the audiophile engineering staff at Reference Recordings proves itself as able in live recording…
Classical Music Daily on Frankenstein: “electrifying”
Gerald Fenech has Martin West and the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra’s new recording of Lowell Liebermann: Frankenstein in the Classical Music Daily Spotlight: “Liebermann and [Liam] Scarlett have created a truly modern three-Act masterpiece that keeps you rooted to your seat. The choreography by Scarlett has come in for high praise, but the music is terrific, and it is this element that concerns us here. Indeed, Liebermann’s inspirational vein shines from beginning to end, and…
MusicWeb Says Pittsburgh Symphony in “World Class Form”
“Consistently impressive is the ongoing ‘Pittsburgh Live!’ series from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under its music director Manfred Honeck. I made its release of the Beethoven Symphonies No’s 5 and 7 as one of my ‘Records of the Year’ for 2015. Now for the fifth album in this enthusiastically admired series Honeck has turned his attention to Tchaikovsky’s enduringly popular Sixth Symphony ‘Pathétique’ together with the world première recording of the newly arranged ‘Rusalka Fantasy’.…
DSD Downloads Now Available from Acoustic Sounds “Super HiRez”
The New Acoustic Sounds downloads store, “Super HiRez,” is now offering Reference Recordings titles as DSD downloads! Along with DSD Downloads, Super HiRez also offers our high resolution PCM files (176.4 kHz/24 bit) as FLAC and ALAC. Find all 21 New DSD recordings at the Acoustic Sounds Super HiRez Store!
Leadership Team Changes at Reference Recordings
After 36 years as President and chief executive at Reference Recordings, founder John Tamblyn (“Tam”) Henderson is stepping down from day to day operations. He will continue consulting on important decisions and will be directing operations of the label’s new LP division, Reference Mastercuts. Marcia Martin, his partner and Vice-President for over 30 years, takes the helm as Executive Director and Managing Director of day to day operations. Martin’s role as RR’s business and finance…
New Release – Horns for the Holidays
Horns for the Holidays Jerry Junkin Dallas Wind Symphony RR-126HDCD Now available in stores and online! “Merry Christmas, y’all!” –Gigi Sherrell Norwood, Dallas Wind Symphony An outstanding new release from America’s premier professional wind band! The Dallas Wind Symphony has a worldwide legion of followers and this is their first recording of holiday music. Horns for the Holidays showcases an exciting 12-track lineup including brilliant original arrangements of festive favorites with many first recordings. This…
Mike Garson at THE Show Newport
We’ve got some details about Mike Garson at The Home Entertainment Show in Newport coming at the end of the month: Mike Garson will be performing along with a jazz quintet and Tierney Sutton! When: Shows will be Friday and Saturday nights at 6:15pm and 8:30pmWhere: Hilton Hotel: Orange County Airport, 18800 MacArthur Blvd., Irvine, California, United States 92612 Mike Garson and Reference Recordings will be available for purchasing CDs, and Mike Garson will be…
Enjoy the Music features Three “Reference Recordings”
EnjoyTheMusic.com author A. Colin Flood has been running a new series on Test Tracks and Test CDs, and he has included a nice feature on Reference Recordings and three of our recordings (including a short mention of a fourth): “These days, you can get test tracks as either compact discs (CDs), downloadable tracks or applications. The driving force behind Reference Recordings (RR) is Keith de Osma Johnson (KOJ). He makes some of the very highest-quality…
Behind The Scenes with David Frost and Keith Johnson
The RR Team is gearing up for today’s recording sessions, but yesterday, producer David Frost and RR Engineer “Prof” Keith O. Johnson took some time to talk with the Kansas City Symphony about what it is that they do! And here’s a look at the team going over the notes from last night’s “working performance” before today’s sessions: