Want a great quote from Michael Stern about the upcoming release of Britten’s Orchestra on Reference Recordings? Well, we have one…sort of. Here is a posting from the Kansas City Star:

The subscription series winds up June 4 weekend with an all-Russian program and another premier piano soloist, Vladimir Feltsman. Among the works is Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5, which marked the joyful end of World War II.

The Symphony, of course, has an even broader season than the subscription concerts. There’s family fare, pops concerts (including a showcase for Art Garfunkel), holiday shows and the band’s regular work with Lyric Opera and Kansas City Ballet productions.

And one significant sidelight of the season will be the release, expected before Christmas, of the Symphony’s second CD for the audiophile label Reference Recordings.

The disc will be a Benjamin Britten collection. Recorded last June in the Community of Christ Auditorium in Independence, the selections include Britten’s “Sinfonia da Requiem,” the Passacaglia, “Four Sea Interludes” from “Peter Grimes” and the ever-popular “Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.”

“It’ll be a great New Year’s present,” Stern said.

How good is it?

“I could tell you,” he said, “but I’d have to kill you.”