Archive for Review – Page 9
Downbeat Magazine Gives ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to Break The Chain
Order Now Downbeat Magazine gives Doug MacLeod and Break The Chain a four-star rating in the November 2017 Issue! “Doug MacLeod, a craftsman of rare skill and sagacity, share more than a few dramatic affinities with past greats as he offers his own creative parameters to the common 12-bar language. … distinctive, well-regulated singing and note-bending on classic guitars stimulate the keening hopefulness… [performed] with five assured sidemen, including his son Jesse on guitar. One…
MusicWeb International Reviews ¡Viva Segovia!
Order Now Great breakdown and review of the latest recording in Roberto Moronn Pérez‘s Andrés Segovia Archive Series from Rob Barnett on MusicWeb International: “This is a successor to the two earlier sievings by Roberto Moronn Pérez of works accumulated in the Segovia Archive: works dedicated to Segovia or commissioned by him. There have already been some surprises and this collection serves up some more. … The English-only booklet is very well designed and substantially…
Break The Chain in The Absolute Sound
Order Now Doug MacLeod’s new Break The Chain recording receives ratings of 4/5 in Music and 5/5 in Sonics from The Absolute Sound: “Singer, songwriter, and skilled guitarist Doug MacLeod has won four Blues Music Awards, including 2017’s Acoustic Artist of the Year. Break the Chain offers 12 blues originals that ponder Saturday night rituals, lost dreams, politics, and aging. But MacLeod is first and foremost a keeper of the torch who celebrates Tampa Red…
Pittsburgh Symphony a Best of Proms!
Order Now The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s BBC Proms Performance during their European Festival Tour Makes The Telegraph’s “Best of Proms” list: “If you think orchestras have become blandly over-refined and anonymous, you clearly haven’t heard the Pittsburgh Symphony, who wowed a packed house at the Albert Hall through sheer force of personality and sound. The brass section especially was a marvel. … But it wasn’t all about sheer force. Oboist Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida made a…
HiFi News Gives Break The Chain an Audiophile Digital Feature
Order Now The “Audiophile: Digital” section of HiFi News Magazine has a great review for Doug MacLeod’s new Break The Chain recording: “MacLeod’s third for Reference ticks all the boxes for arch purists — both blues devotees and hard-core audiophiles. For the former, the 12 new songs are undiluted, unapologetic paeans to the genre, some with a bit of spleen. … authenticity is the order of the day. This, too, informs the audiophile element: no…
Break The Chain a Superb Release
Critic Iain Patience offers a rave review for Doug MacLeod’s Break The Chain recording in Cashbox Canada Magazine: Order Now “‘Break the Chain’ is the latest, twelve-track offering from leading US steel-guitar and slide master, Doug MacLeod. Recorded once again with Reference Recordings and Prof Johnson’s crystal-clear 24-bit set-up, this is an album that is bound to create enormous interest as is often the case with this guy’s music. MacLeod is a regular award-winner; indeed,…
Break The Chain is a “Simply Cool Release”
Order Now “I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Break The Chain, from Doug MacLeod and it’s a cool, textural documentary of contemporary observations. Opening with boogie rocker, Goin’ Down To The Roadhouse, Doug gets into a real nice groove with slide on resonator joined by Denny Croy on bass and Jimi Bott on drums. On Lonesome Feeling, Doug really gives his National steel body a rough workout. His wailing and…
Audiophilia Review for Break The Chain
Order Now “Break the Chain does not do musically what the title implies. We have brilliant consistency. Here, you’ll find eleven songs and a ‘holler’ (story). Audiophiles will especially like the spoken voice track as they are so difficult to get right on recordings. … As the Reference team was together in Marin County’s Skywalker Studios, including recording engineer marvel Prof. Keith O. Johnson and diva dynamo producer, Jan Mancuso, the sound on all twelve…
HRAudio Gives Pittsburgh Shostakovich/Barber Five Stars
HRAudio.net has an advance ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review for our upcoming Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5/Barber: Adagio for Strings recording: Order Now “The inevitable question of ‘do we really need another Shostakovich 5’ must be answered with a clear and unequivocal YES. … Recorded in the autumn of 2013 it is only now, almost four years later that…this further example of the extraordinary marriage between Honeck and the Pittsburghers comes to light.…
Break The Chain is a Beautiful Album
Order Now New review for Doug MacLeod’s Break The Chain recording in Making A Scene: “MacLeod has a rhythmic guitar style, a soulful voice and loves to tell a story usually via a narrative in which he builds rapport with his audience. His regular band mates Denny Croy, bass; and BMA award winner Jimi Bott, drums; are joined by percussionist Oliver Brown (who has worked with everyone from KC & The Sunshine Band to Nancy…
American Record Guide Praises ¡Viva Segovia!
“Roberto Moronn Pérez continues his exploration of the Segovia Archive—pieces written for the Maestro but which he never performed. …I have to give the nod to Pérez, especially in the three strongest works, the Scott Sonatina, Berkeley’s Four Pieces, and Desderi’s cheerful neoclassical sonata. …[the music] is simply a joy to hear, and Pérez sounds like it’s also a joy to perform. All this program is a pleasure…You won’t regret purchasing…” —Ken Keaton, American Record…
Midwest Record on Break The Chain
Order Now “A cat that’s perennially at the top of all the short lists in modern blues, MacLeod let’s loose here by telling all boundaries to shove off and then delivering unassailable goods, dropping hits to all fields. A long time vet that’s still young enough to call his best merely penultimate… Hot stuff throughout, this is a load of blues that’s directly from the soul. Well done throughout.” Chris Spector, Midwest Record Doug MacLeod:…
Shining A Spotlight on The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra
Order Now “As another San Francisco Ballet season draws to a close, it’s a good time to turn the spotlight on the magnificent SF Ballet Orchestra, led by music director Martin West, which plays such a vital role in the success of the Company’s performances. Now celebrating its 40th anniversary, this Grammy Award-winning ensemble, under West’s direction, has recently released a delightful album of music by Moritz Moszkowski (1854 -1925), entitled From Foreign Lands. ……
Classical Candor Rave for ¡Viva Segovia!
Order Now “As I said about Mr. Perez in an earlier review, he does justice to each composer. Perez plays with flair but also with nuance and subtlety. His guitar opens up each work and expands it seemingly beyond the limits of a single instrument. Although you won’t find any (or if you are a dedicated classical guitar fan, many) familiar pieces here, if you are like me you will find each work entertaining, touching,…
Manfred Honeck’s Strauss Opera Suites Recording is Groundbreaking!
Order Now “This is a groundbreaking recording—and a wonderful one!…Manfred Honeck himself catalysed the effort, in collaboration with Czech composer Tomás Ille. … Strauss pushes the borders of harmony in Elektra and employs a complex orchestra of 110, larger than most of his tone poems. … Honeck has marginally rescored it down to the merely mammoth forces customarily used in Strauss’s tone poems. Most importantly, he has woven the punchy, mercurial, polyphonic score into a…