Archive for Review – Page 8
Fanfare Magazine Raves About Utah Symphony’s Mahler Eight
“Well, here is the symphony no one could capture—captured at last? I think so! Every music lover grayer than a few decades will recall how pervasive once was the notion of an “unrecordable piece,” a work destined to mock the best efforts of microphones and loudspeakers of the day. … The Mahler Symphony of a Thousand was a holy grail of sorts, attempted from time to time, but essentially out of reach. … I thought…
The Pittsburgh Symphony has entered a “golden era”
Audiophile Voice magazine reviews Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony‘s GRAMMY®-winning Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio for Strings recording in their latest issue: “The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra appears to have entered another golden era under the leadership of Manfred Honeck and its association with Reference Recordings. … The sound is open and expansive with a realistic sense of place and space. You can hear details that might easily be submerged for concerts goers but…
Copper Magazine Reviews Pittsburgh Symphony’s Shostakovich/Barber
Critic Lawrence Schenbeck offers his top 2017 releases in PSAudio’s Copper Magazine and features Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony’s new Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio for strings recording: “I’ve grievously neglected the fine work done by Honeck in Pittsburgh, a neglect made more shameful because of Soundmirror’s crucial contribution. Whenever I sit down to hear one of these albums, I am drawn closer to the immediacy of live performance than with any other…
Gramophone Reviews Utah Symphony Mahler 8
Thierry Fischer, the Utah Symphony, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir‘s Mahler: Symphony No. 8 recording gets a rave review in Gramophone Magazine: “The Utah Symphony were the first American orchestra to record a complete Mahler cycle. Under Thierry Fischer, Utah’s music director since 2009, they have mounted another Mahler cycle in celebration of the orchestra’s 75th anniversary.…And a lovely thing it is. Thierry Fischer is clearly a Mahlerian to contend with, full of ideas and…
Classical-Modern Music Heartily Recommends Utah Symphony’s Mahler 8
“As much as I’ve appreciated Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 over time, I have connected only tangentially to it on a personal level. Until now. Thierry Fischer directs the Utah Symphony and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in a brand new recording. … Fischer and the Utah contingent meet the challenges and bring us a single-hearted reading that perhaps is less Wagnerian (a problem with some readings) than Mahlerian, less strictly giganticistic and more focused than some.…
Manfred Honeck has the Pittsburgh Symphony in Fine Form
MusicWeb International critic, Michael Cookson, offers high praise for Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony‘s Barber: Adagio recording: “Samuel Barber’s renowned Adagio for Strings is his best-known work an arrangement for string orchestra from the second movement of his 1936 String Quartet, Op. 11. … In one of the finest performances I have heard, Honeck ensures the Adagio for Strings is played with an affecting vulnerability maintaining the emotional tension in the writing at an…
InfoDad Reviews Utah Symphony Mahler 1 and 8
Two Utah Symphony and Thierry Fischer Mahler Symphony reviews on the family-focused website InfoDad: Mahler Symphony No. 8 “Because of the unique sonic quality of Mahler’s music, the exceptional importance of getting both the quiet passages and the huge, noisy and sometimes deliberately crude ones right, the recording quality of Mahler performances is exceptionally important, most definitely so in the case of his Eighth, the “Symphony of a Thousand,” which really does require something close…
Utah Symphony’s Mind-Boggling Mahler Eighth
“This is, without question, the most sheerly beautiful recording of the Mahler Eighth I’ve ever heard. and I’ve heard a bunch of them. … you feel totally immersed in the chorus and orchestra from the very first note. In addition, all of the singers are quite good… Whether due to Fischer’s conducting, the engineering of the recording or both, one also hears a great deal of orchestral detail, so essential in Mahler but not always…
Utah Symphony’s Mahler 8 “among the best”
The Christian Review released their “Eight Recordings for Christmas” list and includes the new Utah Symphony Orchestra and Mormon Tabernacle Choir recording of Mahler Symphony No. 8: Order Now “Mahler 8th Symphony, conducted by Thierry Fischer, Utah Symphony, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and soloists, is exceptional, among the best 8ths I’ve ever heard, and I’ve heard most of them. The soloists are first class, especially the tenor, Barry Banks, meeting all the challenges of the score.…
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…
Blues Music Magazine Review for Break The Chain
Order Now What connects the Blues, Star Wars, and “The Golden Record”? Blues Music Magazine makes the connections in Doug MacLeod’s Break The Chain in their October 2017 issue: “Doug MacLeod’s new album — the 17th according to the All Music Guide — has at times…that spatial sound of desert nights in the far Out-Beyond. It’s a world where MacLeod’s array of National Reso-Phonic guitars produce a feeling so haunting you can almost hear the…
The Best Shostakovich 5 of the Century
Order Now Kalman Rubinson has an absolute rave review for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck‘s Shostakovich & Barber recording in the November 2017 issue of Stereophile Magazine: “I eagerly await every new Reference Fresh! release from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Each has been an artistic and sonic delight, and this one is no exception. The PSO is a magnificent, world-class orchestra, Honeck is a mature and innovative leader, and through…
October Living Blues Review for Break The Chain
Order Now “Like all good blues storytellers, Doug MacLeod sings and speaks the truth. Indeed, the blues as a medium of truth telling appears throughout his latest release, Break the Chain. In the liner notes, MacLeod reveals that his son, Jesse, who plays guitar on the disc, was diagnosed with spindle cell melanoma at the time of the recording (the cancer has since been removed). The title song speaks to the issue of family abuse,…
AllMusic Highly Recommends Shostakovich Barber
Order Now AllMusic rates the new Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5; Barber: Adagio recording a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ rating: “… an excellent contribution to the Shostakovich discography, even in the face of all the other versions of this work on the market. … masterful, deliberate, but never plodding performance by Honeck, with the Pittsburgh brasses sounding as good as they have in years. The Barber Adagio for Strings is an inspired note…
Blues Blast Magazine Reviews Break The Chain
Order Now “Beloved acoustic bluesman Doug MacLeod is an anachronism in the modern world, a troubadour in the songster tradition who delivers extremely personal tunes that vary from insightful and intimate to humorous or soulful, as he proves once again in this 12-tune, all-original collection that feels like he’s playing in your living room and just for you. … His homespun vocal delivery belies his birthplace and hints at other lengthy stops along the way,…