Archive for Uncategorized – Page 13
Reference Recordings Celebrates International Women’s Day!
Happy International Women’s Day! Celebrate with our newest Spotify playlist highlighting our women artists:
Boston Concert Reviews Recommends Pittsburgh Symphony’s Beethoven Symphony Nos. 5 & 7
“These performances are ravishing in their expansive sound and buoyancy. Each movement brings new gifts to explore: the expressive weight of the strings (all vibrant tones and capacious plucks); the ringing out of brass choruses thunderous and deep in the stage or the highest piccolo leaps tremulous and fragile. Honeck has the orchestra working with great alertness as to each intrepid moment in Beethoven’s brilliant writing. … This is a superb recording, especially in its…
Frank Ticheli on his Concerto for Clarinet
Frank TicheliPhoto by Charlie Grosso Composer Frank Ticheli breaks down his Concerto for Clarinet, recorded on next week’s Jerry Junkin and University of Texas Wind Ensemble release Wine Dark Sea: I had wanted to compose a concerto for clarinet, and was delighted when a commission came my way from clarinetist Håkan Rosengren. His fiery virtuosity, combined with his poignantly beautiful sound, had a direct influence on my creative decisions throughout the work. The concerto’s three…
Reference Recordings Featured In Pacifica Tribune
Thanks to the Pacifica Tribune for the recent feature for RR, True Concord Voices & Orchestra and Stephen Paulus after the recent GRAMMY win for Paulus’s Prayers & Remembrances: This record is not Reference Recordings first Grammy (they received a Grammy in both 2011 and 2004), and it was not their first walk down the red carpet. This year’s Grammys were hosted at Staples Center in Los Angeles and the Reference Recording team, all dressed…
Donald Grantham Talks “J’ai été au bal”
Composer Donald Grantham breaks down his work J’ai été au bal recorded by Jerry Junkin and the University of Texas Wind Ensemble’s upcoming release Wine Dark Sea: J’ai été au bal is a celebration of some of the popular/folk music styles of Louisiana— in particular Cajun music and the brass band tradition of New Orleans. The dance flavor of much of the music is suggested by the title (“I went to the dance”), and two…
Dan Welcher Discusses “Spumante”
Composer Dan Welcher discusses the events that surrounded the writing of his work Spumante recorded by Jerry Junkin and the University of Texas Wind Ensemble’s upcoming release Wine Dark Sea: “Like the Italian sparkling wine for which it is named, Spumante is designed for a celebration. It celebrates the opening of the 1998 season of the Boston Pops, and it also celebrates my own fiftieth year of life with a nostalgic look backward at a…
Doug MacLeod Brings “Home Cooking” to Blues Radio International
Doug MacLeod Brings “Home Cooking” to Blues Radio International in an exclusive performance in Boca Raton:
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…
Utah Symphony Mahler “Another Stunner”
Audiophilia Magazine’s Anthony Kershaw hails the Utah Symphony’s Mahler recording as a “stunner”: “The orchestra sounds good in all departments, with some soloists highlighted to outstanding effect. … Fischer and his musicians are so musical in this potboiler of a symphony — together, they make the ‘Star Trek’ opening, the minor, inverted ‘Frère Jacques’ funeral tune and the klezmer music sound natural. Others make it sound like film music. … So, a fine execution of…
John Mackey Discusses Wine Dark Sea
Composer John Mackey Composer John Mackey writes about the development of his title work composition on the upcoming University of Texas Wind Ensemble recording: For the past 10 years, I’ve written all of my music in collaboration with my wife, Abby. She titles nearly all of my pieces, a process that usually involves my writing the music, then playing it for her, after which she tells me what the piece is about. Without her help,…
The Utah Symphony 75th Anniversary Concert at Carnegie Hall!
Thierry FischerPhoto Credit: Kousaku Nakagawa The Utah Symphony and music director Thierry Fischer perform at Carnegie Hall April 29th in a concert celebrating the orchestra’s 75th anniversary. The program features the New York premiere of American composer Andrew Norman’s Percussion Concerto, Switch, with Scottish soloist Colin Currie, commissioned by the Utah Symphony and Mr. Fischer, and includes Haydn’s Symphony No. 96 in D major, “Miracle,” Bartók’s Suite from the Miraculous Mandarin, and selections from the…
Stephen Paulus Prayers and Remembrances wins GRAMMY® Award!
We are pleased to announce that Stephen Paulus’ Prayers and Remembrances has won the GRAMMY® Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition! Best Contemporary Classical CompositionPaulus: Prayers & RemembrancesStephen Paulus, composerTrack from: Paulus: Far In The Heavens The Stephen Paulus Family Accepts the GRAMMY Award Stephen Paulus (1949-2014) was hailed as “a bright, fluent inventor with a ready lyric gift” by The New Yorker. A prolific composer of over 500 works, he wrote for orchestra,…
RR at The GRAMMYs!
The RR Team will be attending The GRAMMY Awards Ceremonies today and cheering on our engineers, producers and artists. Congratulations to all the nominees! Marcia and Marcus Martin, “Prof” Keith O. Johnson, Victor & Marina Ledin, and Eric Holtan (True Concord Voices &… Posted by Reference Recordings on Monday, February 15, 2016
Reference Recordings Valentine’s Day
Happy Valentine’s Day from Reference Recordings! Celebrate with our new Valentine’s playlist on Spotify:
Bowie at The GRAMMYs
Rolling Stone Magazine published the news that Lady Gaga will pay tribute to the late David Bowie by performing of a medley of his songs at The Grammys on Monday. But this isn’t the only Bowie tribute featured in Rolling Stone recently, RR artist and longtime David Bowie pianist Mike Garson also talked about working with David Bowie and his music in a Rolling Stone fantastic interview. Shortly after the interview was published, Mike Garson…