Stereophile Magazine critic Stephen Francis Vasta gives Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony a four-and-a-half star rating and the sonics a five-star rating in his review for their new One Movement Symphonies recording: “These three symphonies, all dating from the first half of the 20th century, comprise so apt a program that I’m surprised no one did it before. … The program demands front-line virtuoso playing, and the Kansas City Symphony proves up to…
Gary Lemco gives a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review to Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony’s One Movement Symphonies recording on Audiophile Audition: “The Kansas City Symphony brass prove especially resonant in their dark coloration… The Kansas City Symphony lushly blends the powerful [Barber] Finale, sustaining the Romantic ethos of the material, weaving all three tunes together and concluding with a jubilant, energetic thrust of youthful confidence. … The sense of improvisational freedom fused with a volcanic…
Jean-Yves Duperron reviews Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony’s new recording of One Movement Symphonies for the Classical Music Sentinel: “The audio engineers over at the Reference Recordings label, and Keith O. Johnson in particular, one of the label’s founders, have always prided themselves on the high definition, “realistic” quality of their music recordings. You know, that just like being there type of sonic experience. And this one, like many others, is a case in point… in this…
Classical Candor‘s John J. Puccio reviews The Kansas City Symphony and Michael Stern’s new Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool on SACD: “You can be sure with Keith Johnson’s Reference Recordings, for example, that an orchestra sounds the way a real orchestra would sound in a real concert hall. That’s certainly the case with this recording of the Kansas City Symphony, under the direction of its longtime Music Director Michael Stern, and made in Helzberg…
Order Now North Texas arts magazine TheaterJones launches a new recording column with a review of The Kansas City Symphony’s recording of music by Adam Schoenberg. Adam Schoenberg will be appearing in North Texas with in April for a performance of his work La Luna Azul with the Fort Worth Symphony. “The music turns out to be charming and agreeable, but self-confident enough not to beg us to like it. The first work on the…