Archive for Steven Ritter
Audiophile Audition Reviews Lowell Liebermann’s Frankenstein
Steven Ritter gives four stars to San Francisco Ballet Orchestra’s recording of Lowell Liebermann: Frankenstein in Audiophile Audition: “The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra plays wonderfully with great tone, exemplary dynamic range and a genuine sensitivity to the changes in color and emotion found in this work, which are considerable. The recording is superb—everything is captured on the broadest of sound stages with great depth and presence. Musically, the piece is extraordinary, tuneful, full of expression,…
Audiophile Audition Gives Five Stars to Manfred Honeck and Pittsburgh Symphony’s Brahms & MacMillan Album!
Audiophile Audition critic Steven Ritter gives a five-star review to Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Brahms: Symphony No. 4; MacMillan: Larghetto for Orchestra recording: “Certainly, the last movement of the Fourth Symphony is the orchestral pinnacle of the age in relation to the variation form. … It is this last movement to which the entire symphony is directed, and its success depends on how well the previous movements are balanced. … Many conductors…
Five Stars For Pittsburgh Symphony’s Tchaikovsky & Leshnoff
Audiophile Audition gives ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck’s recording of Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 and Leshnoff: Double Concerto: “any new recording needs to have something different going for it, as there have been so many fabulous offerings over the last 60 years. I am pleased to report—and this is hardly new—that the Pittsburghians have accomplished just that. … Honeck, always at pains to justify his interpretative schema, does just that again…
Five Star Audiophile Audition Review for Kansas City’s Holst!
Audiophile Audition gives five stars to Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony’s Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool! “The soundstage is magnificent—very wide, and perhaps the deepest recording I have ever heard.… I felt as though I was really hearing the orchestra in its natural estate, and when the oboe solos, it sounds as if it is more distant in the ensemble. Time and time again, the distance factor figured into the listening experience in…
Four Stars for the Richmond Symphony’s Mason Bates and Vaughan Williams Recording
Audiophile Audition critic Steven Ritter gives a Four-Star Review to the Richmond Symphony and Chorus and Steven Smith’s Mason Bates: Children of Adam; Vaughan Williams: Dona Nobis Pacem recording: “Bates shows a fine grasp of the orchestral idiom, and even more importantly, the choral, with an integrated and highly individual sound that transfers from text to text in a seamlessly smooth manner. Hearing this makes me want to hear more from this young composer, who…
Audiophile Audition Gives Four Stars to A QSF Journey
Audiophile Audition gives four stars to Quartet San Francisco’s new recording, A QSF Journey: “…is this stuff on this recording any good? The answer is a resounding “yes”. This is not Beethoven or Bartok, so don’t expect that. It is entertainment, though at a very high level, and the music itself is ingratiating and relaxing, the latter in the sense of pleasurable, not sleep-inducing. We get a wide variety of compositions and arrangements, from Gershwin…
Five Star Audiophile Audition Review for Pittsburgh Symphony’s Beethoven and Strauss Recording
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…
Five Stars for Far In the Heavens from Audiophile Audition
True Concord Voices and Orchestra’s Far In The Heavens: Choral Works of Stephen Paulus gets a five-star rating from Audiophile Audition’s Steven Ritter: “I had just finished reviewing this disc when the news came that it had garnered two 2016 Grammy Awards (Nominations), for Best Classical Compendium and Best Classical Composition (Prayers and Remembrances). Often the Grammys, and certainly the Pulitzers, get things horribly wrong, but I must say that this recording, possessing a virginal…
Five Stars for Pittsburgh Symphony’s Beethoven
Audiophile Audition gives Manfred Honeck and The Pittsburgh Symphony’s Beethoven: Symphony Nos. 5 & 7 a Five Star Review: “Pittsburgh is still the best kept secret among American orchestras, easily as good as any other ensemble active on the national scene, and this recording proves it. Even with a formidable Beethoven tradition in play, and with equally formidable competition in the catalog, this release, with its illuminating and brilliant surround sound, takes pride of place…
Utah Symphony’s Mahler a “Stunning SACD”
Audiophile Audition‘s Steven Ritter gives a four-star review to the Utah Symphony’s Mahler: Symphony No. 1 “Titan” recording before its official release tomorrow (9/11/15): “This recording celebrates 75 years of superb orchestral work from the Utah Symphony and it is nice to see them back on record. It’s also nice to see an SACD from that bastion of audio excellence, Reference Recordings… Young conductor Thierry Fischer also proves himself a fine Mahlerian…this is a very…
Joel Fan Dances For Piano and Orchestra a “Riveting” Recording
Audiophile Audition‘s Steven Ritter says Joel Fan’s Dances for Piano and Orchestra “is riveting stuff!” “Joel Fan seems to relish these pieces as he attacks them all as if living in another age—crisp, vitally engrossing pianism that will set your feet tapping and your vocal chords humming. The Northwest Sinfonia plays with expertise and rousing commitment in a recording of exceptional analog-ish warmth and sensitivity. This is truly fine stuff.” —Steven Ritter, Audiophile Audition Read…
Audiophile Audition Best of 2014
Two RR releases land on the Audiophile Audition Best of 2014 list: Dvořák & Janáček “Interpretatively and sonically, this is one of the best releases of the Dvorak 8th I have ever heard.” —Steven Ritter Read the full review Mephisto & Co. “A 45 rpm 200-gram vinyl version of the orchestral favorites album which has been on the TAS Super Disc List since its CD release in 1998.” —John Sunier Read the full review See…
The Pittsburgh Symphony Gets Five Stars from Audiophile Audition
Critic Steven Ritter says the new Pittsburgh Symphony recording is “Interpretatively and sonically, this is one of the best releases of the Dvorak 8th I have ever heard.” in a new Five-Star Review: “This album only confirms the fact that the Pittsburgh Symphony, always one of America’s greatest and most underrated orchestras, now tops the list in both interpretative finesse and recorded sound. … Phrasing is perfect; he lingers some places where others may not,…