A 2021 GRAMMY Nominee for Best Orchestral Performance and for Best Engineered Album!

Celebrate Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in a new and definitive interpretation from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra! Recorded in superb audiophile sound, this release is the eleventh in the highly acclaimed Pittsburgh Live! series on the FRESH! imprint from Reference Recordings. This series has received GRAMMY® Nominations in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Its recording of Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5 /Barber Adagio for Strings won the 2018 GRAMMY® Awards for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Engineered Classical Album. The album booklet includes Maestro Honeck's meticulous music notes, in which he gives us great insight into his unique interpretation as well as the history and musical structure of Beethoven’s most famous symphony.

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REVIEW:

Manfred Honeck is one of today’s leading Beethoven conductors. As music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, he has created notably exciting recordings of the Third, Fifth and Seventh Symphonies. Now he and the orchestra, founded 125 years ago this month, are releasing their interpretation of the mighty Ninth.

What makes Honeck’s approach so stimulating in this most standard of repertoire is the sense that he has rethought each bar of the music.

– New York Times

Reference Recordings proudly presents this unique album containing 11 works of early Baroque composers. They are performed by Pacific MusicWorks, founded by GRAMMY® Award winner Stephen Stubbs, Artistic Director. Artists on this album are featured soloist Tekla Cunningham, baroque violin; William Skeen, bass violin; Stephen Stubbs, baroque guitar and chitarrone; Maxine Eilander, baroque harp; and Henry Lebedinsky, organ and harpsichord. "Stylus Phantasticus" was produced by GRAMMY® award winner David Sabee, and recorded by GRAMMY® award winning engineers Dmitry Lipay, Aleksandr Lipay and Kory Kruckenberg.

The first audio recording of Lowell Liebermann’s complete score to Liam Scarlett’s ballet adaptation of Mary Shelley's classic Gothic novel. FRANKENSTEIN was recorded during live ballet performances at War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco by RR’s engineering team, comprised of GRAMMY®-winning engineer and Technical Director Keith O. Johnson, and multi-GRAMMY® nominated engineer Sean Royce Martin. The album was produced by the GRAMMY® winning team, Marina A. Ledin and Victor Ledin. The producers state: “The live audience, the special effects, beautiful sets and incredible dancers allowed us to document an “event” rather than simply recording a musical score… The composer, Lowell Liebermann was with us at all of the performances, the orchestral musicians were collaborative throughout, and, of course, conductor Martin West worked tirelessly with us at the performances as well as in the editing and mastering of the final resulting release. “ A masterpiece!

Reference Recordings proudly presents the beloved Symphony No. 6 "Pastoral" of Ludwig van Beethoven, with Steven Stucky’s "Silent Spring," in exceptional performances from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. "Silent Spring" was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in honor of the 50th anniversary of the publication of the book "Silent Spring", the seminal work by Pittsburgh native Rachel Carson. The music, like the book, can be heard as a call to action to love and to save nature and the earth. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, known for its artistic excellence for more than 125 years, is credited with a rich history of the world’s finest conductors and musicians, and is deeply committed to Pittsburgh and its region. This release is the thirteenth in the highly acclaimed Pittsburgh Live! series of multi­channel hybrid SACD releases on the FRESH! imprint from Reference Recordings. This series has received GRAMMY® Nominations in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2022.

Please note: this Hybrid SACD will play on any CD player.

REVIEW:

This is yet more fine Beethoven from Honeck and his orchestra. The coupling with the Stucky is fitting. Taken with the album’s bracingly clean engineering and insightful liner notes (including the conductor’s in-depth discussion of his approach to Beethoven interpretation), and we’ve got ourselves another winner in this ongoing Pittsburgh/Beethoven series. Warmly recommended.

-- The Arts Fuse

Silent Spring is not a novel, but more a treatise on how mankind’s pursuit of profit, particularly with the use of certain pesticides in intensive farming methods, is slowly destroying the planet. Unsurprisingly condemned and dismissed by the agricultural industry, as well as, more surprisingly, the media at the time, Ms. Carson’s work has proven to be chillingly prophetic with as much relevance to the planet today as it was some sixty years ago when it was first published.

-- Lee Denham (MusicWeb International)

If you’ve followed Manfred Honeck’s Beethoven symphonies with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on Reference Recordings, presumably a complete cycle in the making, the first from an audiophile label (the third, fifth, seventh, and ninth have already appeared), you’ll know what to expect from this “Pastoral”—swift tempi, lean, even sec sonorities (vibrato held in considerable check), great clarity of line and texture, the live recording impressively wide in dynamic range if a tad short on atmosphere and bloom. The arrival in the countryside is brisk and bracing, the brook never dawdles along its merry way, the peasants’ dance is bumptious and high-spirited, the thunderstorm rages with hair-raising ferocity, and the plangent, beautifully phrased “Shepherd’s Song” rises to a strong climax. The late Stephen Stucky’s Silent Spring fills out the program, a powerfully expressive suite of four meditations on Rachel Carson’s environmental classic of the same title. The Pittsburgh Symphony play like gods and angels in both works. If a richer, more relaxed and expansive “Pastoral” is desired, try Bernstein/Vienna (DG) or Walter/Columbia (Sony), while Szell/Cleveland (Sony) ideally mediate classical rigor and early romantic ardor. Still, those who’ve liked Honeck’s previous Beethoven needn’t hesitate.

-- The Absolute Sound

Guitarist and singer-songwriter Fiona Boyes is the only Australian ever recognized by The Blues Foundation in Memphis, earning 8 Blues Music Awards nominations. Her international following has propelled her earlier recordings to the top of blues charts. She is truly “...one of the world’s best fingerpicking blues guitarists...” (The Guardian, Australia). This remastered 20th anniversary edition of her debut solo album includes Fiona’s diary-style liner notes, photo memories and original folk art in a single album package. Quoting Fiona, “Blues in My Heart is an acoustic album of finger-picking ragtime blues… the 16 tracks capture a unique performance moment, much like the historical recordings of the early players I so admire.”

Reference Recordings is proud to present our fifth album with the prolific singer, songwriter, engaging storyteller, and masterful guitarist, Doug MacLeod. For "A Soul To Claim," Doug teamed up with legendary producer and engineer Jim Gaines. Through twelve new MacLeod originals, Doug and his trusty Waterloo guitar "P-nut" are joined by Memphis studio veterans Rick Steff/keyboards, Dave Smith/bass, and Steve Potts/drums. A perennial Blues Music Award nominee and multiple Blues Music Award winner including Acoustic Artist of The Year and Acoustic Album of the Year, "A Soul To Claim" is Doug’s 22nd album.

Fiona Boyes is Australia s most successful and celebrated international Blues artist. Her previous Reference Recordings release, Professin The Blues, received the 2017 Acoustic Album of the Year award from Blues Blast Magazine. The Blues Foundation in Memphis honored her with six Blues Music Award nominations, including Acoustic Album of the Year. This new album, Voodoo in the Shadows, is a self-produced session by the multi-talented guitarist/singer-songwriter, exploring the allure of the back roads from Memphis, through Mississippi, to New Orleans and down to the Gulf. In 11 songs, including 9 originals, we hear stories of respect, partying, attitude, mystery, sensuality and love. Joining her are three Australian bandmates: multi-instrumentalist Tim Neal, percussionist Mark Gruden, and Johnny Sansone, one of New Orleans finest musicians. As is customary, Fiona plays a cornucopia of guitars: her 6-string Maton, three cigar-box instruments and her rare baritone National Reso-lectric. Players combine in several groupings, featuring their different instruments, and a collaborative magic emerges, taking listeners along on the journey.

Following two successful albums featuring Spanish and French composers, Roberto Noronn Perez performs selected works form the “Andres Segovia Archive,” this time showcasing the best compositions in the Archive from multiple countries. The genesis for this unique project is a collection of pieces recovered in May 2001 at Segovia’s home in Spain. These pieces were dedicated to Segovia or commissioned by him, involving composers from eight countries. They were subsequently published as “The Segovia Archive Series” by Edizione Musicale Berben. Guitarist Roberto Noronn Perez researched these newly recovered works and found some pieces that had never been recorded, and those that had were handicapped by poor visibility in the marketplace and limited distribution. This realization sparked the thought that here was an opportunity: a series of recordings organized around the nationalities of the composers in the Segovia Archive. Perez states: “My goal…is to put together a high-quality programme of little-known or in some cases, almost totally neglected gems excluded from the guitar repertoire, and to bring new life to these works, playing with the conviction that this music requires…”

Reference Recordings proudly presents Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 in an exquisite interpretation from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. It is coupled with a World Premiere recording of leading American composer Jonathan Leshnoff’s "Double Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon", featuring the extraordinary talents of the Pittsburgh Symphony’s own Principal Clarinet Michael Rusinek and Principal Bassoon Nancy Goeres. This album was recorded in beautiful and historic Heinz Hall, home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, in superb audiophile sound. Maestro Honeck honors us again with his meticulous music notes, in which he gives us great insight into his interpretation as well as the history and musical structure of Tchaikovsky’s great Symphony No. 4. This release is the tenth in the highly acclaimed Pittsburgh Live! series of multi-channel hybrid SACD releases on the FRESH! imprint from Reference Recordings. This series has received GRAMMY® Nominations in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2020. Its recording of Shostakovich’s Symphony No.5 /Barber Adagio for Strings won the 2018 GRAMMY® Awards for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Engineered Classical Album.

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REVIEW:

The Symphony No. 4 has rarely received such an intense performance. There is a feeling of urgency, amplified by slight changes to the score that Honeck details in his expansive liner notes and by a general high-contrast approach to dynamics. Listeners will have to make their own decisions about these, but it's quite arguable that Honeck does nothing that a conductor of the late 19th or early 20th century might have also considered. The Pittsburgh Symphony is in fine form in the symphony's thrilling brass passages and in the all-pizzicato strings of the third movement. The accompanying Double Concerto for clarinet and bassoon by Leshnoff is also a pleasure.

– All Music Guide (James Manheim)

The follow-up to 1995's from the Age of Swing reunites many musicians from the first recording with exciting new soloists for an uncannily realistic evocation of the days of Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa. Players include Jay Leonhart (bass), Peter Appleyard (vibraphone), Nancy Marano (vocals), Butch Miles (drums), Ken Pizzarelli (guitar), Randy Sandke (trumpet), Frank Wess (sax) and Dick Hyman (piano). This album was recorded live to 2-track in stunning HDCD sound.

This selection is a High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) recording.

Reference Recordings proudly presents two new works from leading American composer Jonathan Leshnoff. Distinguished by The New York Times as “a leader of contemporary American lyricism,” Leshnoff is renowned for his music's striking harmonies, structural complexity, and powerful themes. These world premiere recordings showcase the Kansas City Symphony performing his third symphony, inspired by World War I letters home, with texts sung by baritone Stephen Powell. It is coupled with Leshnoff ’s new and exciting piano concerto, dedicated to and performed by pianist Joyce Yang. This is the eighth album in Reference Recordings’ series with Kansas City Symphony. Previous albums are Shakespeare’s Tempest; the GRAMMY® Award-winning Britten’s Orchestra, an Elgar/Vaughan Williams project, Miraculous Metamorphoses, an all-Saint-Saëns album featuring the magnificent Organ Symphony, an album of works from contemporary American composer Adam Schoenberg (nominated for two GRAMMY® Awards), and most recently Gustav Holst’s The Planets and The Perfect Fool. Two additional projects, featuring one-movement symphonies by Barber, Scriabin and Sibelius; and a live recording of works of Johannes Brahms, have been recorded and slated for future release.

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REVIEW:

Here are two of the Leshnoff’s most impressive works, and the Third Symphony in particular will be relished by those who admire such 20th-century composers as Vaughan Williams, Walton, and Copland. It is music of great authority (inspired by World War I letters home, with texts sung by baritone Stephen Powell), with an equal tempering of drama and beauty, strikingly performed by the Kansas City Symphony under Michael Stern.

– Classical CD Choice (Barry Forshaw)

John Williams is a game changer. Early in his career he crossed the lines between music that was “art” and music that was “commercial,” and never looked back. He is one of the best known, most awarded and most successful composers in US history, and his name is inextricably connected to outstanding music for films. He has written scores for over 100 films, and his massive list of awards includes 51 Academy Award nominations and five wins, as well as 24 Grammy Awards. A less-known fact is his fondness for writing, arranging and conducting wind band music. This collection of his film music includes favorites from Star Wars, Superman, JFK, ET, and many more, arranged for concert performance by a top level wind ensemble. Brilliant performances by the Dallas Winds have been captured in spectacular audiophile sound by Reference Recordings’ own award-winning engineering team. The recording was made in Dallas Texas, in the Morton H. Meyerson Concert Center, one of the world’s greatest concert halls, and the site of an annual Dallas Winds concert featuring the film music of John Williams.

Dick Hyman plays Duke Ellington

On this release, his third album for Reference Recordings, Doug MacLeod continues to explore the breadth and depth of the human condition. Recorded by Reference's Grammy-winning engineer 'Prof.' Keith O. Johnson at Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California, Break The Chain brings twelve new MacLeod originals. Each song is extremely personal and at the same time, universal; covering subjects topical, humorous and soulful; from the satirical to the sublime. The title work, Break The Chains, composed and performed with his son Jesse, focuses on breaking the cycle of family violence and abuse. A powerful concern all too many are familiar with, Doug and Jesse confront this pervasive issue directly and personally, bringing it out of the shadows. Together, they share the healing, reconciliation and peace available to all who work to prevent the cycle from repeating and to Break The Chain. The album is co-produced by Doug Macleod and Janice Mancuso. Bassist Denny Croy, drummer Jimi Bott and percussionist Oliver Brown join Doug in duo, trio and quartet settings. Like all 'Prof.' Johnson's sessions, Break The Chain was recorded live, in real time, with no overdubs or effects. A prolific singer, songwriter, engaging storyteller, and masterful guitarist, Doug is a perennial Blues Music Award nominee and multiple Blues Music Award winner including Acoustic Artist of The Year and Acoustic Album of the Year. An active touring artist, MacLeod supports his beloved St. Louis Cardinals during baseball season and, when at home, enjoys cooking for his wife.