The Morton Report Columnist Bill Bentley has a new review for 2019 Blues Music Award nominee Fiona Boyes’ Voodoo In The Shadows recording in his December 2018 “Bentley’s Bandstand” column: “Australian musician Fiona Boyes has dedicated her life to the music, and that intensity can be heard in everything she sings and plays. Her guitar work puts her in the top class for modern blues people, especially the way the sound seems to sing coming…
Blues Music Magazine reviews Fiona Boyes’ Voodoo In The Shadows Recording in their January 2019 issue: “Fiona Boyes has made her mark in the blues world… Case in point: her latest release, which stresses her spiritual connection with the blues music and traditions of Mississippi and Louisiana. … The set commences splendidly with “Call Their Name,” a take-off on Blind Willie Johnson’s “The Soul Of A Man.” The rhythm section takes a subtle back seat as Boyes displays her…
Gramophone Magazine reviews the Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s GRAMMY-nominated recording of Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 and Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 in the January 2019 issue: “There’s nothing even remotely studied about Honeck’s performance…He pays unusual attention to detail, yes – note straight away the gently blossoming (and unmarked) crescendo on the ascending E flat major triad of the opening theme – but this never inhibits the music’s momentum or trajectory. The first movement…
UPDATE: Hi-Fi News has selected Break The Chain as a Top Audiophile Vinyl Album of 2019! Hi-Fi News features Doug MacLeod’s Break The Chain recording as their December 2018 “Album Choice” in the Audiophile: Vinyl section: “Vintage LPs…have been audiophile totems for decades, but rare are new titles. MacLeod’s third for Reference ticks all the boxes: higher-speed playback, 180g vinyl and half-speed mastering.… [It has a] sound that’s massive, visceral and weighty. The content? As…
After coming in at #4 on the Living Blues October Charts, Fiona Boyes’ Voodoo in the Shadows was up to #3 for November! The album also received a review in the December 2018 Living Blues Magazine: “Guitarist and singer-songwriter Fiona Boyes draws musical inspiration from a variety of influences, displaying a prowess unbound by style or genre. … With excellent musicianship and a spirited atmosphere throughout, Fiona Boyes’ Voodoo in the Shadows casts a seductive…
“Dynamic. That’s the best word to describe Manfred Honeck’s performance of the Beethoven Third. It’s dynamic in terms of Honeck’s interpretation and in terms of Soundmirror/Reference Recordings’ sonics. Of course, if “dynamic” is not the first thing you want from a Beethoven symphony, you might not appreciate Honeck’s way with it. But there is no questioning the excitement the recording generates. … The first movement Allegro con brio contains the usual complement of rhythms and harmonies we expect of…
The Dallas Winds and Jerry Junkin‘s new John Williams At The Movies recording receives high marks (4 Stars for Music, 5 Stars for Sonics) in the December 2018 issue of The Absolute Sound: “The principal reason for the recording’s success is that Williams composed so effectively for brass and percussion. The sonority here is frequently different from the original orchestrations, but in most cases it works very well. … all of the arrangements are spectacular,…
The Whole Note features Quartet San Francisco’s A QSF Journey recording in their November 2018 issue: “The boundaries between music genres are fluid and constantly moving these days, with many musicians experimenting and combining elements of different styles in both new compositions and interpretations of the traditional ones. Classical music seems to be an especially productive foundation for such crossovers, breeding many exciting projects. One of them is the latest release by Grammy-nominated Quartet San…
The Cascade Blues Association highlights Fiona Boyes and her latest recording, Voodoo in the Shadows: “The new release, “Voodoo In The Shadows,” continues on pace with her penchant for the music of the American South, with a special focus on the sounds of Louisiana and Mississippi that have influenced her playing greatly over the course of her career. … There is a dark and boding atmosphere with the start-off number “Call Their Name,” as she…
Jason Kennedy of Hi-Fi+ has a new review for Doug MacLeod’s Break the Chain: “Reference Recordings has a long history of making fabulous recordings, and engineer Keith O. Johnson apparently has a knack for capturing both the sound of the room and the musicians and producing releases that combine naturalness with dynamics in a highly convincing manner. … one of the label’s greatest assets is contemporary blues singer Doug MacLeod. … On this album he’s…
American Record Guide reviewed the PaTRAM Institute’s Teach Me Thy Statutes recording in their November/December 2018 issue: “the PaTRAM ensemble has lived up to every element of its creed. And they’ve done so in service to the music of Pavel Chesnokov, one of the most revered of all Mother Russia’s choral composers. … It’s a lovely sound that fits these sacred works perfectly. Chesnokov is one of those composers who can have his singers plumbing…
Audiophile Audition‘s Steven Ritter gives ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s Beethoven: Symphony No. 3; Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 recording: “Soundmirror’s five omnidirectional DPA 4006 microphones have once again been perfectly placed in Pittsburgh’s Heinz Hall, with an orchestra that seems on the top of its game and a conductor who is proving one of the most thoughtful, energetic, and unique talents currently on the American scene. … Honeck, while not at…
Culture Spot LA‘s Henry Schlinger has a new review for Quartet San Francisco’s new recording, A QSF Journey: “The new CD on Reference Recordings by the Quartet San Francisco (QSF), A QSF Journey, is a wonderful addition to the string quartet catalogue. The CD contains 12 tracks, many of which were either composed or arranged by the quartet’s founder and first violinist Jeremy Cohen and played to perfection by the quartet whose other members include…
Jim Hynes reviews Fiona Boyes’ new Voodoo in the Shadows recording for Making A Scene: “This is among Fiona Boyes’ best albums due to the changing instrumentation and styles. She’s convincing in her deep understanding of the idioms, singing emotively, and playing mostly in the pocket rather than trying to dazzle with her guitar soloing. The words “voodoo” and “shadows” usually connote darkness, but this album shines brightly throughout.” Jim Hynes, Making A Scene Read…
MusicWeb International‘s Nick Barnard has a new rave review for Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Beethoven: Symphony No. 3; Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1 recording: “Regardless of the repertoire he records, I look forward to new discs from Manfred Honeck as being deeply considered, as insightful as they are intelligent and above all stimulating. And in his regular collaborators, the audibly inspired Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the superb engineering and production team of…