Brubeck: Danza del soul - Gandolfi: Line Drawings - Foss: Ce

In Formation

Brahms & Weber: Clarinet Quintets

Blazing Redheads

• This magnificent new symphonic recording with the Kansas City Symphony contains classic modern masterpieces by Hindemith, Prokofiev and Bartok. Conductor Michael Stern's interpretations of these great works have been captured in brilliant HDCD sound by GRAMMY-winning engineer Keith O. Johnson. This is RR’s fourth release with the Kansas City Symphony.

Copland: An Outdoor Overture, Appalachian Spring & 8 Poems o

World Keys

Groundbreaking new music from Mason Bates and the Richmond Symphony! Reference Recordings is proud to present a World Premi�re recording of MASON BATES: Children of Adam, songs of creation- Commissioned by the Richmond Symphony; coupled with RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Dona nobis pacem. These pieces both draw inspiration from Walt Whitman's poetry and this release celebrates his bicentennial (born 1819). Children of Adam is a collection of exuberant celebrations of creation, from American poets to sacred and Native American texts. The title comes from a Whitman poem that appears throughout the work in the form of brief "fanfare intermezzos." Between these choral fanfares, each movement of the work offers a different perspective on creation. Recently named the most-performed composer of his generation and the 2018 Composer of the Year by Musical America, Mason Bates serves as the first composer-in-residence of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Championed by renowned conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Leonard Slatkin, his symphonic work has received widespread acceptance for it's unique integration of electronic sounds, and his opera The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, won a GRAMMY� Award for "Best Opera Recording.

The Times of Day

Holiday Musical Treasures- Newly Imagined! Eric Holtan, founder and conductor of True Concord Voices and Orchestra states: "Every December, True Concord presents it's popular Lessons and Carols by Candlelight concerts in the Tucson area. Unique in the local milieu of seasonal offerings, the focus is on sacred Christmas carols. Even in their simplest form, carols evoke emotionally powerful memories of personal and family experiences that enrich and enliven annual holiday celebrations. With this album, I wanted to capture the essence of our much-loved concerts with the mostly familiar carols presented here, but in musical settings by American composers that are new or not widely known. With the kind assistance of advisor Dale Warland - who set the standard of excellence with several cherished Christmas recordings over the years by The Dale Warland Singers - True Concord offers these holiday treasures, most of which are receiving their world premiere recordings. This is Christmas With True Concord - Carols in the American Voice."This is the group's second album on Reference Recordings. True Concord's first album, "Far in the Heavens,"received a GRAMMY� nomination for Best Choral Performance, and composer Stephen Paulus won posthumously the GRAMMY� for Best Classical Contemporary Composition.

REFERENCE RECORDINGS® proudly presents an imaginative album of three compositions by Johannes Brahms, in an outstanding interpretation from Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony. It features the first recording of American composer and Kansas City native Virgil Thomson’s 1957/8 orchestration of Brahms: Eleven Chorale Preludes for organ, op 122. It also contains composer Bright Sheng’s enchanting orchestration of the Brahms Intermezzo for solo piano, op. 118, No. 2, and the beloved and spectacular Arnold Schoenberg orchestration of the Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, op. 25. "Brahms: Reimagined Orchestrations" was produced by GRAMMY® winner Peter Rutenberg, who has over half a century of experience in the music industry as a producer, composer, director, and teacher. This album was engineered by RR’s esteemed technical team, composed of GRAMMY® winning engineer 'Prof' Keith O. Johnson and multi-GRAMMY® nominated engineer Sean Royce Martin.

REVIEW:

This is an enjoyable and beautifully performed release with some unusual material. What is impressive is that the three works each offer a different approach to the orchestrator’s art. Brahms’ 11 Chorale Preludes, Op. 122 were orchestrated in the 1950s by Virgil Thomson, who was always an eclectic-spirited figure. The entr’acte is Bright Sheng’s Black Swan for orchestra, a version of the Intermezzo in A major for piano, Op. 118, No. 2; despite the retitling, this is the most straightforward of the three orchestrations, although Sheng’s orchestra is quite large. Perhaps the best-known item here, although it is hardly commonplace on orchestral programs, is Arnold Schoenberg’s orchestration of Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25. This is also the most unconventional of the group; it actually sounds as much like Schoenberg as it does like Brahms. Reference Recordings’ sound from Helzberg Hall in Kansas City is clear and detailed, and this is a fascinating look at how composers from various periods have heard the music of Brahms.

— AllMusic.com (James Manheim)

"Between Two Worlds" features clarinetist Guy Yehuda. Hailed by composer John Corigliano as “One of the most awe-inspiring clarinetists today,” Mr. Yehuda is widely recognized as one of the most outstanding and unique talents on the international concert stage. Reference Recordings is very pleased to release this beautiful musical program of three works from the early- to mid-20th century by Prokofiev, Engel, and Ben-Haim. We hope this new album will provide joy and comfort to many, especially to those who love Jewish music, history, and folklore. Featuring clarinetist Guy Yehuda and an ensemble of 7 award-winning performers.

The Hermitage Piano Trio will take your breath away! Reference Recordings is pleased to announce Spanish Impressions, our second album with this elite Trio which consists of three accomplished and established soloists, now playing together for more than a decade. Misha Keylin plays violin; Sergey Antonov, cello; and Ilya Kazantsev, piano.

On this new album they perform two extraordinary Spanish trios by Turina and Cassadó; these are lush, exotic, and Romantic works. In addition, they perform three Spanish dances by Arbós and three Spanish impressions by Perello, which are musical gems and rarities.

This project has been years in the making. The album was recorded in April 2023 by RR’s own GRAMMY® winning and multi-nominated engineering team at legendary Skywalker Sound, in Marin County, California.

REVIEW:

Hermitage are passionate, skilled players, so these works sound great in their hands. The 3 Spanish Dances by Enrique Fernandez Arbos begin with a stylish Bolero, continue with a saucy Habanera, and end with the lively ‘Seguidillas Gitanas’. The Piano Trio 2 by Joaquin Turina has a sensual I, nervous II, and bold III. Even bolder is the Trio by Gaspar Cassado.

The album ends with the 3 Impressions by Mariano Perello, where a kaleidoscopic ‘Pensando en Albeniz’ gives way to a passionate ‘Capricho Andaluz’, and then to a hard-driving ‘Escena Gitana’. All are given first-rate, committed readings by this fine Trio.

-- American Record Guide

Pianist, composer, and producer Sergei Kvitko’s new album, Schubert by Candlelight - Live in Madrid is a stunning collection of Schubert’s piano works. The album features thirteen piano works that showcase the beauty and depth of Schubert’s music, as well as the artistry and versatility of Kvitko, who is not only an award-winning, critically acclaimed pianist, but also a composer, arranger, producer and sound engineer. The album was recorded at Hinves Pianos, Madrid, Spain on April 7, 2022. (Reference)

Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony has accompanied me since my earliest years as a conductor. Additionally, it took on special significance for me as it was the first major work that I conducted together with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2006, unaware that they were looking for a new Music Director at the time. I take pleasure in returning to this symphony and continually discovering new elements in the score and it gives me the greatest joy to record this work with the fantastic musicians of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

When I heard Erwin Schulhoff ’s Five Pieces for String Quartet in a wonderful concert by the Pittsburgh based Clarion Quartet a few years ago, I immediately had the idea to arrange these five jewels for large orchestra. Upon listening to them again, it was quite clear to me how to orchestrate this effectively for full orchestra and I knew that I wanted this to be the next in our line of new works performed and recorded for the first time. - MH

In late 1888, after a performance of his Fifth Symphony, Tchaikovsky wrote that he was now “convinced that this symphony has failed. There is something so repulsive in it, such a degree of screwiness and in addition insincerity, artificiality....” History would prove his assessment entirely incorrect, as the Fifth Symphony has long been regarded an indisputable masterpiece.

Following some years of study in Vienna, Schulhoff returned to his native Prague in 1924/ It was in that same year, on August 8, 1924, that the Five Pieces for String Quartet (composed the year before) received their premiere in Salzburg as part of the festival of the International Society for New Music.

REVIEWS:

Most defining is Honeck’s attempt to make Tchaikovsky’s struggle with fate believable and gripping. There are an infinite number of details in this interpretation that make one sit up and take notice and which are also described in detail in the introductory text by Honeck himself. Immensely important is the enhancement and intensification of secondary lines and the transparency achieved in the orchestral sound, the inner dialogue as well, for example between strings and winds. Not since Kitajenko’s recording have I experienced this symphony with such intensity, and the beginning of the Andante is simply unforgettable.

The dance-like pieces for string quartet by Erwin Schulhoff, which the latter dedicated to Darius Milhaud, have been arranged for orchestra by Manfred Honeck together with Tomas Ille. And because this arrangement is so well done, real value is added. Honeck and Ille, together with the brilliantly disposed Pittsburgh orchestra, get to the heart of the matter with great esprit. Finesse, imagination and orchestral color enhance the expressivity and sonic pleasure. The result is, as it were, a whole new, absolutely brilliant piece that is far from the original and a lot of fun to listen to.

This was a breakthrough moment for the visionary Schulhoff who desired to provoke and push forward to new ground, thoroughly interested in the modern trends of the time including expressionism, Jazz, and Dadaism.

-- Pizzicato

The dilemma of how to bring a venerable old warhorse back to life is admirably resolved by Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in a very attractive new offering on the Reference Recordings label. The nag in question is none other than Peter Illich Tchakovsky’s Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, arguably the most popular symphony in the repertoire. In Honeck’s hands, it comes across as the most spirited of young thoroughbreds.

Beginning with Honeck’s superb control of dynamics in the slow, quiet dawning of the Andante in the opening movement, with bassoon and flutes making their presence felt in a very quiet mid-section before the music really flares up dramatically in the Allegro con anima section. We’ve heard it all before, of course, in this most-frequently presented of symphonies, but it really makes a stirring impression here.

The companion to the Tchaikovsky in this program is Five Pieces for String Quartet by the Austro-Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff (1894–1942), here realized in a splendid arrangement for orchestra by Manfred Honeck and Tomáš Ille. The movements are (1) Alla Valse Viennese, with a very energetic opening, (2) Alla Serenata: Allegro con moto, featuring perky, whimsical flutes and other woodwinds and brass that are used very effectively, not to say aggressively, (3) Alla Czeza (in the manner of a Czech dance), marked Molto Allegro, very impetuous, with percussive accents, (4) Alla Tango Milonga: Andante, originally a Brazilian dance, with a languid, mysterious opening, later marked by an upsurge of emotion as it progresses, and (5) Alla Tarantella, a lively, perpetual-motion dance marked Prestissimo con fuoco (as fast as possible, and with fiery intensity), its savagery interspersed with murky interludes.

There’s a lot of musical substance in Five Pieces, packed into a mere 15 minutes’ playing time.

-- Audio Video Club of Atlanta

Manfred Honeck began his long association with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra way back in 2006 by conducting a critically acclaimed performance of Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony that was subsequently released on CD on the Exton label. Returning to this work after many years, his interpretation has, if anything, become even more compelling and here enjoys the benefits of a far superior recording with a wide dynamic range and a wonderful richness of sound.

As before, Honeck’s overriding objective has been to revivify a work that in lesser hands can easily lose its freshness and originality. To achieve this, he has followed Tchaikovsky’s carefully delineated performance instructions to the letter, investing every musical phrase with a wealth of insight, detail and colour. From the outset, Honeck’s infinitely varied texturing creates a huge amount of suspense and uncertainty in the gloomy lower string harmonies that underpin the clarinet’s first statement of the fate motif. The ensuing Allegro con anima, taken at a fast and driving tempo, has plenty of forward momentum, but Honeck adopts a sufficiently flexible approach in the contrasting second idea to ensure the more reflective moments have that necessary feeling of repose. As you’d expect, the Pittsburgh Symphony responds with phenomenal virtuosity to all the twists and turns in Honeck’s interpretation. The swooning string melodies are delivered with the same degree of warmth that you’d find in the great central-European orchestras, while the brass, in particular the quartet of horns, bring thrilling urgency to the big climaxes. But perhaps the most startling passage comes at the end of the movement where for once the murky descending line in the double basses is strikingly audible. With this particular sound image lodged in your mind, there’s an almost seamless transition into the resonant chords that open the slow movement, and this provides a wonderful cushion of sound for the magical horn solo.

There are many other moments in this performance that made me sit up and appreciate Tchaikovsky’s inventiveness in a completely new light. A good example comes in the third movement, where the isolated notes on the muted horn cut through the texture casting dark shadows over the elegant mood of the Waltz. Likewise, Honeck’s finely attuned concept of orchestral balance and brilliantly choreographed control of tempo brings tremendous dividends to the Finale. The roaring timpani roll that unleashes the Finale’s Allegro vivace section is simply electrifying, and what follows, with the raucous almost Stravinksian dialogue between wind and strings imitating the sound of balalaikas, is even more arresting.

There’s plenty of energy and imagination in Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet, an unexpected coupling performed here in a fantastically resourceful full orchestral arrangement by Honeck and Tomás Ille. Schulhoff’s sequence of dances, ranging from a distorted waltz and a sultry Tango to a frenzied Tarantella, is a typical product of the roaring 1920s, and in this new version should certainly gain more admirers for this fascinating and immensely talented composer.

-- BBC Music Magazine