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…
Wine Dark Sea — First Listen!
Enjoy a first listen to our upcoming Wine Dark Sea release on SoundCloud! Now available for Pre-order on Amazon — Wine Dark Sea Wine Dark Sea Jerry JunkinThe University of Texas Wind EnsembleNathan Williams The University of Texas Wind Ensemble has firmly established itself as one of America’s elite wind bands Active in the area of commissioning new music since 1988, the group has offered world premiere performances of works by many composers including John…
Utah Symphony’s Mahler is “Something Special”
Dave Billinge has a new review for the Utah Symphony and Thierry Fischer’s Mahler: Symphony No. 1 “Titan” recording on MusicWeb International: “It is tempting to dismiss yet another Mahler First entering a crowded market as simply not needed. In this case it would be a mistake because this does offer something special… these players respond with as rhythmically vital a performance as you could wish to hear. … I have one small but significant…
Jerry Junkin Conducts! — On Spotify
Before next month’s new Wine Dark Sea of Jerry Junkin conducting The University of Texas Wind Ensemble, listen through all of our previous recordings under the direction of Jerry Junkin on Spotify! Now available for Pre-order on Amazon — Wine Dark Sea Wine Dark Sea Jerry JunkinThe University of Texas Wind EnsembleNathan Williams The University of Texas Wind Ensemble has firmly established itself as one of America’s elite wind bands Active in the area of…
Doug MacLeod in the Brisco Center for American History
The Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas Austin have honored RR artist Doug MacLeod by adding a video recording of his live performance at the Bugle Boy Club in Texas to their archival music project. Here’s an excerpt from their letter to Doug: “You were chosen for this project because we believe that you as a performing artist are an integral part of the independent music scene and historically speaking should…
Two Top Living Blues Albums of 2015
Living Blues has released their Top 50 Albums of 2015 and Doug MacLeod’s Exactly Like This comes in at #14 and Fiona Boyes’ Box & Dice lands at #36! Congrats to both of these great blues artists! Doug MacLeod: Exactly Like This HDCDVinyl LP Amazon Apple Music Fiona Boyes: Box & Dice Order from RR! Amazon.com Apple Music Spotify
Kansas City Symphony Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 in The Audiophile Voice
George Graves features the Kansas City Symphony’s Saint-Saëns Symphony No. 3 recording in the Winter 2016 issue of The Audiophile Voice: “The imaging on this recording is first rate with an excellent feeling for the huge space in which the recording was made. Reverb times are long and give a luscious, rich texture to the sound. As is usual with Johnson’s work, image specificity is spot on. It is possible to pick out each individual…
RR at San Francisco GRAMMY Nominee Party
Last week Sean Royce Martin and Keith O. Johnson represented Reference Recordings at the San Francisco Recording Academy Chapter’s GRAMMY® Nominee Celebration! Find out more about the celebration and event on GrammyPro.com!
#FBF — Bells for Stokowski
With our new recording of Jerry Junkin leading The University of Texas Wind Ensemble, Wine Dark Sea available for pre-order on Amazon, here’s a Friday Flashback to our previous release from this combination: Bells for Stokowski Nine delightful Renaissance dances by Tielman Susato start this program with a bang. The ever-popular English Folksong Suite by Ralph Vaughan Williams in its original scoring continues the crowd-pleasing mood. Two important new works follow. David Del Tredici’s first…
Honeck and Pittsburgh’s Beethoven a Recording for the Ages
The Pittsburgh Symphony and Manfred Honeck’s BEETHOVEN: Symphony Nos. 5 & 7 recording receives perfect 10 ratings from ClassicsToday: “No matter how many billion recordings of this music we already have, a great performance offers its own justification, these are very great performances. … It’s not easy to offer interpretations of this music that sound new without turning capricious–that both respect the music and personalize it. Honeck and the orchestra manage to pull it off…
Doug MacLeod and Fiona Boyes are Digital Blues Best of 2015
The Digital Blues Podcast names the recent Reference Recordings releases from Doug MacLeod and Fiona Boyes to their Best of 2015 list! Listen to the podcast today: Fiona Boyes: Box & Dice Order from RR!Order on Amazon.comListen on Apple MusicListen on Spotify Doug MacLeod: Exactly Like This HDCDVinyl LP
ClassicsToday Enjoys Utah Symphony’s Mahler Symphony No. 1
ClassicsToday editor David Hurwitz reviews the Utah Symphony’s new Mahler: Symphony No. 1 recording: “Under Music Director Thierry Fischer, it’s clear that orchestral standards are considerably higher today … just as this SACD reflects improvements in engineering since the 1960s. Fischer leads a singularly appealing performance of this perennially fresh and engaging music. The first movement builds inexorably, the tempo accelerating steadily through the exciting final pages exactly as Mahler requests. Indeed, Fischer’s control of…
Classical MPR Features Pittsburgh Symphony Beethoven
Classical MPR‘s Julie Amacher interviews the Pittsburgh Symphony’s principal horn, William (Bill) Caballero on New Classical Tracks! On the latest recording, Manfred Honeck leads the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in two of Beethoven’s most popular symphonies, No. 5 and No. 7. Bill Caballero says what makes this recording remarkable is that it’s live. “So in one sense that’s a plus,” he says. “You’re getting a vibrant performance here. But what comes across in the recordings, which…
Wine Dark Sea Now Available for Pre-Order!
Now available for Pre-order on Amazon — Wine Dark Sea Wine Dark Sea Jerry JunkinThe University of Texas Wind EnsembleNathan Williams The University of Texas Wind Ensemble has firmly established itself as one of America’s elite wind bands Active in the area of commissioning new music since 1988, the group has offered world premiere performances of works by many composers including John Corigliano, Michael Daugherty, Donald Grantham, David Maslanka, and Dan Welcher. One of the…
Culture Spot LA Says You Need Another Beethoven Recording
Culture Spot LA‘s Henry Schlinger asks whether “we really need another record of Beethoven’s fifth or even seventh symphony”, and answers, “when it’s Manfred Honeck and the PSO, the answer is a resounding yes.”! “Honeck’s fifth is fresh right out of the gate, beginning with the way he plays the first four fateful notes. As he indicates in the liner notes, “The use of the more deliberate tempo gives the opening bars a grandiose weight,…