Album Sampler: Last Tango Before Sunrise 
Featuring the Music of José Serebrier conducted by José Serebrier
FR-743/030911174323
Available via FRESH! From Reference Recordings on May 7, 2021
https://referencerecordings.com/recording/last-tango-before-sunrise/

GRAMMY®-winning conductor and composer José Serebrier is one of the most-recorded classical artists in history. Reference Recordings is proud to present nine works of José Serebrier, including four World Premières and the first digital recording of his dramatic Symphony for Percussion, performed by the Gnessin Percussion Ensemble of Moscow. The album features a variety of musical ensembles ranging from solo piano and  a percussion ensemble, to full orchestra playing tangos,  flute concerti and a harp concerto, written throughout the span of Maestro Serebrier's long career. 

Sampler Tracks: 
Tango in Blue - Artists: Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra (orchestra); José Serebrier (conductor)
Candombe - Artists: Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra (orchestra); José Serebrier (conductor); Nestor Torres (performer)
Last Tango Before Sunrise - Artists: Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra (orchestra); José Serebrier (conductor)
Piano Sonata: Moto Perpetuo: Presto - Nadia Shpachenko (pianist)

Last Tango Before Sunrise

Last Tango Before Sunrise (Sampler)

Album Sampler: One Movement Symphonies
Artists: Kansas City Symphony; Michael Stern, conductor
RR-149/030911114923
Available on May 28, 2021
https://referencerecordings.com/recording/one-movement-symphonies/

Reference Recordings proudly presents a unique album of one movement symphonies composed by Barber, Sibelius and Scriabin, in an outstanding interpretation from Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony. This album was recorded in the beautiful and acoustically acclaimed Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. It was produced by David Frost, seven-time winner of the Classical Producer of the Year GRAMMY® award. It was recorded by RR’s engineering team, comprised of GRAMMY®-winning engineer and Technical Director Keith O. Johnson, and multi-GRAMMY® nominated engineer Sean Martin. Music Director Michael Stern is in his second decade with the Kansas City Symphony, hailed for its remarkable artistic ascent, original programming, organizational development and stability, as well as the extraordinary growth of its varied audiences since his tenure began. The Kansas City Symphony has a vision to transform hearts, minds and its community through the power of symphonic music. Founded in 1982, the Symphony has established itself as a major force in the cultural life of the community. Praised for performances of uncompromising standard, the orchestra is the largest in the region and holds a national reputation for excellence.

One Movement Symphonies (Sampler)

Music: Symphony No. 4: I. Allegro non troppo (excerpt)
Composer: Johannes Brahms
Artists: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; Manfred Honeck, Music Director
Album: Brahms: Symphony No. 4; MacMillan: Larghetto for Orchestra (FR-744)
Label: FRESH! From Reference Recordings
UPC/EAN: 030911274429
Order: https://referencerecordings.com/recording/brahms-symphony-4-macmillan-larghetto/

Reference Recordings proudly presents the Symphony No. 4 of Johannes Brahms, with James MacMillan’s Larghetto for Orchestra, in exceptional performances from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. We are excited that this release coincides with the orchestra’s 2021­–2022 season and triumphant return to live concerts! These works were recorded live in beautiful and historic Heinz Hall, now celebrating its 50th Anniversary season.

Maestro Honeck honors us again with his meticulous music notes, in which he gives us great insight into his unique interpretation as well as the history and musical structure of Brahms's final and beloved tragic symphony.

James MacMillan is the preeminent Scottish composer of his generation. His Larghetto for Orchestra was commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in honor of the tenth anniversary of Manfred Honeck as Music Director. It had its world premiere performance in October 2017. This album contains the world premiere recording. The composer generously includes his own album notes about this solemn and repentant, but ultimately hopeful work.

Brahms: Symphony No. 4: I. Allegro non troppo (excerpt)

Music: Frankenstein: ACT II - Victor and the Creature
Composer: Lowell Liebermann
Artists: San Francisco Ballet Orchestra; Martin West (conductor)
Album: Lowell Liebermann: Frankenstein (RR-148)
Label: Reference Recordings
UPC/EAN: 030911114824
Coming November 19, 2021
Order: https://newalbm.link/frankenstein/

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 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, Martin West worked tirelessly with us at the performances as well as in the editing and mastering of the final resulting release.” This is the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra’s fifth release with Reference Recordings.

Lowell Liebermann: Frankenstein

Frankenstein: ACT II - Victor and the Creature

Music: The Happy Workshop: Menuet, etwas lebhaft
Composer: Richard Strauss
Artists: Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble & George Vosburgh, Conductor
Album: Richard Strauss: The Happy Workshop and Serenade Op.7 (FR-745)
Label: FRESH! From Reference Recordings
UPC: 030911174521
Order: https://referencerecordings.com/recording/strauss-happy-workshop-serenade/

Reference Recordings is proud to present our first album with the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble, conducted and produced by George Vosburgh.

Unusual and underperformed repertoire has long been a hallmark of the ensemble’s programming. This album exemplifies that, with the pairing of Strauss’ 1945 Symphony for Winds in E­flat Major (The Happy Workshop) and his 1881 Serenade for Winds in E­-flat Major, Op. 7. Notes writer Amanda Vosburgh states: “Taken together, the Serenade Op. 7 and The Happy Workshop form the bookends to a long and diverse body of work, marked by innovative chromaticism and complexity, but tethered at either end to the classical tradition.”

Richard Strauss: The Happy Workshop and Serenade Op.7

Strauss: The Happy Workshop: Menuet, etwas lebhaft

Album: A Soul To Claim (FR-746)
Artists: Doug MacLeod, Dave Smith, Rick Steff, Steve Potts
Label: FRESH! From Reference Recordings
Available April 8, 2022
UPC/EAN: 030911174620
Order: https://referencerecordings.com/recording/a-soul-to-claim/

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 with legendary producer and engineer Jim Gaines (Santana, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Luther Allison, Steve Miller Band) in Gaines’ East Tennessee studio, not far from Doug’s new home on the Mississippi River in Memphis.

Like the old masters who taught him, MacLeod’s music expresses life and times through an elusive quality that may simply be a keen sense of what matters most. “There’s humor in my songs, but also messages on how to make it through this life. That’s what I learned from the old guys.”

Through twelve new MacLeod originals, Doug and his trusty Waterloo guitar P­nut are joined by Memphis studio veterans Rick Steff/keyboards, Dave Smith/bass, and Steve Potts/drums for five tracks, six tracks feature Doug alone and one is a solo instrumental. Liner notes from Doug MacLeod and Deems Taylor award­winning journalist Dan Forte (Vintage Guitar), provide liner notes for the release.

Doug MacLeod: A Soul To Claim (Sampler)

Music: Symphony No. 6 Pastoral - IV. Thunderstorm - Allegro (Excerpt)
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Artists: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra & Manfred Honeck, Music Director
Album: Beethoven: Symphony No. 6; Stucky: Silent Spring (FR -747SACD)
Label: FRESH! From Reference Recordings
UPC/EAN: 030911274726
Street Date: June 10, 2022
Order: https://listn.fm/beethovenstucky/

Reference Recordings proudly presents the Symphony No. 6 of Ludwig van Beethoven, with Steven Stucky’s Silent Spring, in exceptional performances from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Maestro Honeck honors us again with his meticulous music notes. He gives rare insight into his conducting and interpretation, as well as the history and musical structure of Beethoven’s beloved Pastoral Symphony.

Steven Stucky’s 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. It had its world premiere performance in February 2011. The composer generously includes his own album notes about this work, which like the book can be heard as a call to action to love and save nature and the earth before it is too late.

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. Since 2008, the Pittsburgh Symphony has been led by its worldwide acclaimed Music Director Manfred Honeck. Past music directors have included many of the greats, including Fritz Reiner, William Steinberg, Andre Previn, Lorin Maazel and Mariss Jansons. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has always been at the forefront of championing new works, including recent commissions by Mason Bates, Jonathan Leshnoff, James MacMillan and Julia Wolfe. The Pittsburgh Symphony has a long and illustrious history in the areas of recordings and live radio broadcasts dating back to the 1930s. It has toured frequently both domestically and overseas since 1900—including more than 40 international tours. The Pittsburgh Symphony continues to be critically acclaimed as one of the world’s greatest orchestras.

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. 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 Pittsburgh Live! series are recorded and mastered by Soundmirror, whose outstanding orchestral, solo, opera and chamber recordings have received more than 130 GRAMMY® nominations and awards.

Hybrid SACD contains 5.0 and Stereo SACD and CD stereo with HDCD (downloads are Stereo-only)

Beethoven: Symphony No. 6 Pastoral - IV. Thunderstorm Allegro - Excerpt

Music: Migration – Movement III: Escape
Composer: Adam Schoenberg
Artists: The University of Texas Wind Ensemble; Jerry Junkin, artistic director
Album: Migration (RR-150)
Label: Reference Recordings
UPC/EAN: 030911115029
Release Date: August 5, 2022
Order: https://listn.fm/migration/

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, John Mackey and Dan Welcher. One of the guiding principles of the ensemble is contact with the leading musical minds of the twentieth and twenty­first centuries.

Serving for more than 30 years on the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Vincent R. and Jane D. DiNino Chair for the Director of Bands, JERRY JUNKIN is recognized as one of the world’s most highly regarded wind conductors. He has also served since 1993 as the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Dallas Winds, and as Music Director and Conductor of the Hong Kong Wind Philharmonia since 2003.

Four outstanding contemporary composers are represented on this album. The title piece by ADAM SCHOENBERG: Migration —Symphony No. 2 for Wind Ensemble, is the World premiere recording of this important new work. Reference Recordings is proud to present it beside two additional World Premieres: The Eyes of the World Are Upon You by JENNIFER JOLLEY, and Intrada 1631 (after Juan Pérez Bocanegra) by STEPHEN MONTAGUE. And last but certainly not least, this release contains the premiere of a new wind ensemble transcription of JOHN CORIGLIANO’s Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble, with clarinet soloist Jonathan Gunn.

The repertoire on this new album was performed by the UTWE on their CDNA National Conference Tour in March of 2017, and recorded in sessions at Bates Recital Hall, The University of Texas at Austin, and at Meyerson Symphony Center, in Dallas Texas concluding in August of 2017. The exciting performances were captured by the Reference Recordings engineering team, GRAMMY® award winner and multiple nominee Keith O. Johnson and multiple GRAMMY® nominee Sean R. Martin.

Migration

Adam Schoenberg: Migration – Movement III: Escape

Music: Exerpt from Symphony No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 78: Maestoso – Allegro
Composer: Camille Saint-Saëns
Artists: Jan Kraybill, organ; Michael Stern, conductor; Kansas City Symphony
Album: Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 “Organ”
Reference Recordings RR-136

http://referencerecordings.com

Composed at his artistic peak, Camille Saint-Saëns said of his Symphony No. 3 “With it I have given all I could give, what I did, I could not achieve again.”

We are proud to present conductor Michael Stern’s interpretations of these great works, captured in brilliant HDCD sound by GRAMMY® award winners Keith O. Johnson (engineer) and David Frost (producer). The Symphony has released four previous titles with Reference Recordings to great acclaim — Shakespeare’s Tempest, the Grammy®-winning Britten’s Orchestra, an Elgar/Vaughan Williams project and most recently, Miraculous Metamorphoses, which highlights composers Hindemith, Prokofiev and Bartók. Two additional projects have
been recorded and slated for future release, including the music of contemporary American composer Adam Schoenberg (recorded in June 2014) and Gustav Holst: The Planets and Ballet Music from The Perfect Fool (recorded in January 2015).

The Kansas City Symphony is the region’s only full-time professional symphony orchestra. Led by Music Director Michael Stern since 2005, the Symphony has experienced impressive artistic growth, garnering national and international acclaim. The orchestra’s 80 full-time musicians are area residents, and each season they reach more than a million people through their concerts, educational programs and community outreach performances. They also serve as the orchestra for the Lyric Opera and the Kansas City Ballet.

Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 78: Maestoso – Allegro (Excerpt)

Music from the new recording “Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus”
True Concord Voices & Orchestra; Eric Holtan, Conductor
Street Date: September 11, 2015
Label: FRESH! From Reference Recordings

World Premiere Recordings! Choral Music by beloved composer Stephen Paulus

iTunes/Apple Music: http://apple.co/1U2Oq5C
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1J4qYg1

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, chorus, chamber ensembles, solo voice, keyboard and opera.  He was a recipient of both NEA and Guggenheim Fellowships. Described as uniquely American, his musical language was characterized as “irresistible in kinetic energy and haunting in lyrical design” by the Cleveland Plain Dealer, while The New York Times praised him for “melodic patterns that are fresh and familiar at the same time” and scoring that is “invariably expert and exceptionally imaginative in textures and use of instruments.” His music is represented on over fifty recordings.

Far In The Heavens is comprised of recently composed and previously unrecorded works by Stephen Paulus, including two works that were commissioned and premiered by True Concord Voices & Orchestra: The Incomprehensible for their fifth anniversary season in 2009, and Prayers and Remembrances for the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 tragedy in 2011. GRAMMY®-award winning producer Peter Rutenberg of Los Angeles produced the album, and Mr. Paulus supervised the recording in Tucson, Arizona.  Tragically, Stephen Paulus suffered a major stroke just six weeks after recording the album. He never recovered, and passed away in October 2014 after being in a coma for more than a year.

True Concord Voices & Orchestra, founded in 2004 by music director Eric Holtan as Tucson Chamber Artists, draws on the first rank of choral and instrumental musicians from Arizona and the United States. True Concord’s artistic mission is to enrich lives through the transformational power of classical music. It accomplishes this primarily through the performance of masterworks and the diverse music of the United States, making its New York City debut at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall with Paulus’s Prayers and Remembrances in September 11, 2015, and its international debut with this recording. With this album, True Concord seeks to bring together hearts from Tucson with those from around the world, through the power of music by one of America’s greatest and most beloved composers. "This CD is the culmination of everything Stephen ever wrote in his entire career...he must have had a premonition that this CD needed his final touch." -Patty Paulus, wife of the late Stephen Paulus.

Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus 

Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus (Sampler)

Tracks include “Juke Joint on Moses Lane” and “Louisiana”, written by Fiona Boyes, and “Black Mountain Blues” written by JC Johnson (for Bessie Smith)
Artist: Fiona Boyes
FRESH! From Reference Recordings
Street Date: October 9, 2015

Order on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1KTKY9d

Fiona Boyes plays deep Blues, influenced by a myriad of traditional regional styles. She has carved an international reputation as a blues guitarist, vocalist and songwriter, and American reviewers have described her as a ‘musical anomaly’ and ‘Bonnie Raitt’s evil twin’!

Equally at home on acoustic or electric guitars, her mostly original repertoire is like a Blues travelogue. Listen to her play and you’ll hear pre-war Delta slide, single chord Mississippi Hills grooves, intricate country blues finger picking along with material drawn from the classic blues sounds of New Orleans, Chicago and Memphis. Fiona continues to joyfully explore the music she loves with recent acquisitions such as cigarbox guitar and a rare National Reso-Lectric Baritone adding new textures to her live shows and recordings. Reference Recordings is excited to announce the worldwide release of her brand new album - Box & Dice! - her first recording with her long-time Australian rhythm section, drummer Mark Grunden and Dean Addision, double bass.

A distinctive finger-style guitarist, her soulful, authoritative style has earned her unprecedented recognition overseas as an Australian artist. Winner of the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, Fiona has also received Blues music’s highest international accolade with 4 successive USA Blues Music Awards nominations for both her electric and acoustic playing.

In 2014 Fiona was the first Australian blues musician to be invited to play at prestigious USA traditional acoustic festival ‘MerleFest’, followed by an extended European tour of jazz and blues festivals, clubs and cultural centers in 7 different countries.

Come and enjoy an original, intriguing road-trip through the Blues!

FRESH! is part of Reference Recordings’ mission to encourage unique and fine artists, and give them a strong platform for promotion and sales nationally and internationally.

Reference Recordings are distributed in North America by Naxos USA, and internationally through a network of independent distributors listed at: http://referencerecordings.com

Box & Dice

Fiona Boyes: Box & Dice

Jerry Junkin conducts The University of Texas Wind Ensemble
Excerpts from (in order):
Dan Welcher: Spumante
Donald Grantham: Jai Été Au Bal
Frank Ticheli: Concerto for Clarinet (Nathan Williams, Clarinet)
John Mackey: Wine Dark Sea: Symphony for Band (World Premiere Recording)
Album: Wine Dark Sea
Label: Reference Recordings
Available March 11, 2016
Pre-Order: http://amzn.to/1OCcGGk

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 guiding principles of the ensemble is contact with the leading musical minds of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

JERRY JUNKIN conducts The Universiy of Texas Wind Ensemble, and is also the Artistic Director and Conductor of The Dallas Winds, and Music Director and Conductor of the Hong Kong Wind Philharmonia. Reference Recordings is proud to have released 9 albums conducted by Jerry Junkin.

Four outstanding wind band composers are represented on this album. The title piece by JOHN MACKEY, Wine Dark Sea, is the world premiere recording of this important new work. Commissioned by the UTWE for the 100th Anniversary of The Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music, it has been performed in front of ecstatic audiences and received raves around the world. Reference Recordings is proud to present it alongside important works by DAN WELCHER, DONALD GRANTHAM, and FRANK TICHELI. This is contemporary wind band music at its best, in extraordinary performances.

The repertoire on this new album was performed internationally by the UTWE on their 25 Day Around–the–World Tour in Summer 2014, then recorded in September 2014 by Reference Recordings’ GRAMMY®–award winning engineer Keith Johnson at Bates Recital Hall, The University of Texas.

Wine Dark Sea

Jerry Junkin & The University of Texas Wind Ensemble — Wine Dark Sea Sampler

Excerpt from Fackeltanz (Torch Dance), Opus 51 — World Premiere Recording!
Composer: Moritz Moszkowski
Artists: San Francisco Ballet Orchestra and Martin West
Album: Moritz Moszkowski: From Foreign Lands
Label: Reference Recordings RR-138
Street Date: September 9, 2016

Moritz Moszkowski (1854-1925) is most known for his scintillating piano compositions. he also composed an opera, a full-length ballet, three orchestral suites, a symphony (still in manuscript form), songs, concertos, and chamber music—almost all of which remain neglected or forgotten. How unfortunate!

San Francisco Ballet Orchestra music director and principal conductor, Martin West, approached Reference Recordings with the hope that there were enough orchestral works by Moritz Moszkowski to record a CD-length program. After identifying and locating numerous scores, this project of re-discovering the music of Moritz Moszkowski became a reality. Using From Foreign Lands as a starting point, we were able to assemble an intriguing program of, largely, first recordings of Moszkowski’s most memorable and melodious orchestral compositions. This delightful program is the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra’s fourth release with Reference Recordings and 2016 marks the 40th anniversary of the SF Ballet orchestra!

From Foreign Lands

Moszkowski: Fackeltanz (Torch Dance), Opus 51 World Premiere (Excerpt)

Music: American Symphony: Movement I: fanfare
Composer: Adam Schoenberg
Artists: Michael Stern, music director; Kansas City Symphony
Album: Adam Schoenberg: American Symphony • Finding Rothko • Picture Studies
Label: Reference Recordings RR-139
Release Date: January 20, 2017

Says Schoenberg: “I have dreamt of having an orchestral disc of my music since first becoming a composer. This is an extraordinary gift, and I am thrilled to be sharing my music with all of you. The three pieces that you will soon experience embody my growth from student to professional composer. They each explore different styles, but my artistic voice remains consistent throughout.” Recently named one of the Top 10 most performed living classical composers by orchestras in the United States, ADAM SCHOENBERG’s (b. November 15, 1980) music is “invigorating” (Los Angeles Times), and full of “mystery and sensuality” (The New York Times). This most recent season included performances and premieres at the Library of Congress, Kennedy Center, New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Hollywood Bowl.

We are proud to present these new works, two of them commissioned by the Kansas City Symphony: American Symphony and Picture Studies. The collaboration between Schoenberg and MICHAEL STERN is extraordinary. Schoenberg states: “He is the first conductor to champion my music. He understands it, embraces it, and gives it an emotional dimension that would otherwise not exist. I also must thank the musicians of the Kansas City Symphony. This is an orchestra that plays with tremendous vigor, spirit, and emotion.“ The performances were brilliantly captured by GRAMMY® award winners Keith O. Johnson (engineer), David Frost (producer) and GRAMMY® nominee Sean R. Martin (engineer). The album will be released as a hybrid SACD, compatible with all CD and SACD players; and digitally in standard and high resolution.

The Kansas City Symphony is the region’s only full-time professional symphony orchestra. Led by Music Director Michael Stern since 2005, the Symphony has experienced impressive artistic growth, garnering national and international acclaim. The orchestra’s 80 full-time musicians are area residents, and each season they reach more than a million people through their concerts, educational programs and community outreach performances. They also serve as the orchestra for the Lyric Opera and the Kansas City Ballet.

For over 40 years, Reference Recordings has been one of the most innovative and respected independent labels in the music business. RR releases have been highly praised for their dedication to high quality sound in the service of great music. Founder Tam Henderson (1998 GRAMMY® nominee for Producer of the Year), was joined in 1978 by engineer Keith O. Johnson. Some 140 projects later, RR is still recording what many consider to be the finest-sounding classical, jazz and blues discs in the world.

Adam Schoenberg: American Symphony, Finding Rothko, Picture Studies

Adam Schoenberg - American Symphony: Movement I: fanfare

Track: Danza del Soul - III. Celebraçion de Vida
Composer: Chris Brubeck
Artists: Concord Chamber Music Society

The Concord Chamber Music Society Premieres New Recordings

Brubeck, Gandolfi and Foss 
RR-122

The prestigious Concord Chamber Music Society, featuring musicians of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, mark their debut on Reference Recordings with two premiere recordings. These new works by Chris Brubeck and Michael Gandolfi, two of America's most-commissioned composers, are both accessible and adventurous. Rounding out the program, the Lukas Foss duo for violin and piano, Central Park Reel, hints cheerfully at a kind of musical twin bill. "Central Park" suggests a scene in New York but "Reel" hints at a characteristic dance often accompanied by a bluegrass band. Grammy award winning engineer "Prof." Keith Johnson did an outstanding job of recording this music in the superb natural acoustics of Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts. 

Concord Chamber Music Society: Chris Brubeck - Danza del Soul - III. Celebraçion de Vida

Music: Who's Driving This Bus?
Artist: Doug MacLeod
Album: Break The Chain'
Label: Reference Recordings (RR-141)
Available July 7, 2017
Order: https://referencerecordings.com/recording/break-the-chain/

In 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 Chain, 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. It is being released on compact disc with HDCD, as high-resolution and conventional downloads and later, as a premium 2-LP set.

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 wife Patti Joy.

Break The Chain

Who's Driving This Bus?

Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances – finale 4:28
Eiji Oue / Minnesota Orchestra
from RR-96 Rachmaninoff [with Etudes-Tableaux; Vocalise]

Now available in HDCD, HRx, and on LP from http://referencerecordings.com!


Widely believed to be the finest orchestral recording RR has ever made.

Sergei Rachmaninoff was one of the most beloved composers of the twentieth century. His music is redolent of his Russian homeland, and it sings long, lush melodies that define the term "romantic." Everyone who knows and loves his piano concertos will enjoy these lyrical and dynamic works for orchestra. The "Symphonic Dances" in recent years have become one of Rachmaninoff’s most-performed scores. "Vocalise" is one of the great classical melodies, and is hummable by everyone. Grammy® Nominated 2002– Best Engineered Album – Classical; Keith O. Johnson, engineer


Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dances - Finale

Samples from Tracks:
Sylvia: Les Chasseresses, Valse Lente, Marche et Cortége de Bacchus
Coppélia: Mazurka, Czárdás (Danse hongroise), Valse des Heures, Galop Final

Purchase: http://referencerecordings.com

DELIBES 
Sylvia/Coppélia 
Martin West
San Francisco Ballet Orchestra
Extended Suites From the Ballets

RR-125HDCD

“... what charm, what wealth of melody!” —Tchaikovsky on Delibes

Leo Delibes’ COPPÉLIA is pure delight, a feast of musicality and humor for all ages. Probably the greatest ballet comedy ever written! On this disc we also present Delibes’ SYLVIA, a romance filled with sighs of longing and the thrill of infatuation. Set in antiquity, the ballet literally places love on a pedestal in the person of the Greek god Eros.

Like many popular compositions, Delibes’ works, including pieces of these ballets, have repeatedly been used in films dating back to the earliest talkies. His music is also a favorite of cartoon series “Ren and Stimpy” and “The Simpsons.”

The San Francisco Ballet, the oldest professional ballet company in America, was also one of the first dance companies to have its own permanent body of musicians. By the 1990s the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra was generally regarded as one of the finest ballet orchestras in the world. Notably, in 1995, the Orchestra accompanied 12 international dance companies, as well as San Francisco Ballet, during the ambitious, weeklong United We Dance Festival, which promoted international communication and understanding.

The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra performs a vast repertory including hundreds of works spanning four centuries of music history, from Monteverdi and Mozart to film scores. The San Francisco Ballet Orchestra has made critically acclaimed recordings of composers from Handel to Goldenthal, as well as five televised recordings for the PBS series “Dance in America” (Helgi Tomasson’s Nutcracker; Lar Lubovitch’s Othello; Michael Smuin’s The Tempest, Cinderella, and Romeo & Juliet)

CONDUCTOR MARTIN WEST is acknowledged as one of the foremost conductors of ballet, garnering critical acclaim throughout the world. West conducted the English National Ballet starting in fall 1997 until 2007. He has worked with many of the top companies in North America, such as New York City Ballet, Houston Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada. In fall 2005, West was appointed music director & principal conductor for the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra.

Founded in San Francisco in 1976, Reference Recordings believes that how a recording sounds is as important as the music itself. RR thanks everyone who was instrumental in bringing this outstanding album to life including Conductor: Martin West; Producers: Victor and Marina Ledin (Multi-Grammy Nominations for Producer of the Year, Classical); Engineer: “Prof.” Keith O. Johnson (Grammy® award-winning engineer, inventor and entertainment technologist) and very special thanks to all the Sponsors of the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra without whom this recording could not have been made.

REVIEWS:

"Both scores receive first-rate performances... [Martin West] obviously knows the scores like the back of his hand... As such, both Coppélia and Sylvia are performances of grace and elegance... [Keith] Johnson captures his usual glorious sound." —Anthony Kershaw, Audiophilia.com

"The beautifully full and rich Keith Johnson recording will please most music lovers with not even a hint of harshness or distortion to be heard." —Karl Lozier, PositiveFeedback.com


Delibes: Sylvia/Coppélia Sampler Pack

Music: Слава…Единородный Сыне / Glory… Only Begotten Son
Composer: Pavel Chesnokov
Artists: PaTRAM Institute Male Choir; Vladimir Gorbik, conductor
Album: Teach Me Thy Statutes (Научи мя оправданием Tвоим)
Label: FRESH! From Reference Recordings
Release Date: May 18 2018
https://referencerecordings.com/?p=11545

We are very pleased to present our first release in a new series from the PaTRAM Institute. The music performed on this recording of Orthodox choral music in the Slavonic language was written by famed Russian composer Pavel Chesnokov (1877-1944). Teach me Thy Statutes is performed by the PaTRAM Institute Male Choir, a highly professional group which is a collaboration of Russian and American singers. The male choir is considered by many to be the mainstay of traditional chant and Orthodox monasticism. PaTRAM Institute Singers and Reference Recordings are planning several more CD releases over the next 5 years with Dr. Peter Jermihov as artistic director and conductor. Alexis Lukianov, Founder, Chairman and CEO of PaTRAM Institute states: “I am very pleased that PaTRAM Institute Singers has partnered with one of the top labels in the classical music industry. We are excited about our newest prospects and opportunities to produce and distribute world-­class orthodox liturgical music.”

Teach Me Thy Statutes was recorded in Russia in July of 2016 in the Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian Orthodox Church, at the Saratov Orthodox Theological Seminary. PaTRAM’s objective was to immerse the listener in the beautiful Russian monastic style of singing through its fullness and richness of sonority. Highly-esteemed conductor Maestro Vladimir Gorbik, whose pedigree is from the Moscow Conservatory and as choirmaster of the Holy Trinity—St. Sergius Lavra Representation Choir (monastery), skillfully unites strong musicianship with superb diction to a degree that is seldom heard outside of Russia, but which epitomizes the best traditional culture of singing in the Russian Orthodox Church.

Teach Me Thy Statutes

Pavel Chesnokov: Glory... Only Begotten Son

Excerpts from the album “John Williams at the Movies”
Artists: Dallas Winds, Jerry Junkin (music director), Christopher Martin (trumpet)
RR-142SACD
Reference Recordings
Release Date: July 6, 2018
https://referencerecordings.com/recording/john-williams-at-the-movies/

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 top­level wind ensemble.

Brilliant performances by the DALLAS WINDS, have been captured in spectacular audiophile sound by Reference Recordings’ own award­winning engineering team: Keith O. Johnson and Sean Royce Martin. John Williams: At The Movies features soloist CHRISTOPHER MARTIN, principal trumpet of the New York Philharmonic. 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.

John Williams: At The Movies is our first wind band recording to be released as a hybrid SACD. The disc contains stereo SACD, 5.1 Surround SACD and a stereo compact disc layer encoded with HDCD, and is simultaneously being released as high resolution and standard resolution digital downloads and streams. A two­LP set will be released later in 2018. This is our 18th album with The Dallas Winds, and is a project of which we are extremely proud, that was years in the making.

The DALLAS WINDS is the leading professional civilian wind band in the United States today. In his 25th season as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Dallas Winds, JERRY JUNKIN is recognized as one of the world’s most highly regarded wind conductors. He has also served as Music Director and Conductor of the Hong Kong Wind Philharmonia since 2003, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music Wind Symphony in Tokyo since 2007. Additionally, 2017­18 marks his 30th year on the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin, where he holds the Vincent R. and Jane D. DiNino Chair for the Director of Bands.

John Williams: At The Movies

John Williams at the Movies (Excerpts)

Music: Symphony No. 3: I. Allegro con brio (Excerpt)
Composer: Ludwig Van Beethoven
Artists: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; Manfred Honeck, conductor; 
Album: Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 "Eroica"/Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1
Label: FRESH! From Reference Recordings
Release Date: September 21, 2018
Order: https://referencerecordings.com/recording/beethoven-symphony-3-strauss-concerto/

Reference Recordings proudly presents these two iconic works in definitive interpretations from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, in superb audiophile sound. This hybrid SACD release was recorded in beautiful and historic Heinz Hall, home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

In this fascinating and scholarly music notes, Maestro Honeck gives us great insight into the history of both pieces, and describes how he conducts and interprets each. He reminds us that the “Eroica” was a bold departure from earlier symphonies, a “dance symphony with dramatic inventiveness, full of new elements that had never been heard before.” He quotes Beethoven’s student Ferdinand Ries, who wrote “Beethoven played recently for me (the “Eroica”) and I believe both heaven and earth must tremble when it is performed.” Honeck puts his own inimitable stamp on this interpretation, giving the listener a chance to experience the novelties of the “Eroica” as if hearing it for the very first time.

William Caballero, soloist on the Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1, provides a thrilling and masterful performance of this youthful Strauss work. Mr. Caballero is Principal Horn with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and solos regularly under Manfred Honeck. Before joining PSO in 1989, he held Principal Horn positions with the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera and Hartford Symphony. He has performed as guest Principal Horn with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony. The booklet notes include his very interesting thoughts on the history and performance of the Concerto, in a question/answer format joined with Maestro Honeck.

This release is the eighth in the highly acclaimed Pittsburgh Live! series of multi-channel hybrid SACD releases on the FRESH! series from Reference Recordings. Their previous release Shostakovich 5/ Barber Adagio (FR-724SACD) won the GRAMMY® in February 2018 for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Engineered Classical Album, and the series had back-to-back GRAMMY® nominations for Best Orchestral Performance in 2015 and 2016 for Dvořák/Janaček (FR-710SACD) and Bruckner 4 (FR-713SACD).

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Beethoven: Symphony No. 3: I. Allegro con brio (Excerpt)

Music: Party At Red's
Artist: Fiona Boyes
Album: Voodoo in the Shadows
Label: FRESH! From Reference Recordings
FR-729
Release Date: October 19, 2018
Order Now: https://referencerecordings.com/?p=12350

Fiona Boyes: Party At Red's

Music: The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom: The Beatitudes
Composer: Kurt Sander
Artists: PaTRAM Institute Singers; Peter Jermihov, conductor
Album: The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
FRESH! From Reference Recordings (FR-713)
Available April 26, 2019
https://referencerecordings.com/?p=13443

Reference Recordings is very pleased to present the second release in our series from the PaTRAM Institute, rising stars whose debut album on our label, Chesnokov: Teach Me Thy Statutes (FR­727SACD), has recently garnered a GRAMMY® nomination for Best Choral Performance. The music performed on this new recording of Russian Orthodox choral music in the English language was written by Dr. Kurt Sander.

Conductor Peter Jermihov writes: “The Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom by Kurt Sander is unique in several respects. Within the body of repertoire contained in the Russian­based jurisdictions of North America (Moscow Patriarchate, Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, and the Orthodox Church in America), it is the first and only complete setting of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom in English. Rooted in the 19th Century Russian models of such masters as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Gretchaninoff, and others, Sander’s Liturgy grows out of the monumental choral edifices of these masters and rightfully belongs in their midst.”

The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom is performed by the PaTRAM Institute Singers, a highly professional group of Russian and American male and female vocalists, joined by soloists Evan Bravos, Keven Keys, Protodeacon Vadim Gan, Glenn Miller, and Daniel Shirley. PaTRAM Institute Singers and Reference Recordings are planning several more CD releases over the next 5 years with Dr. Peter Jermihov as artistic director and conductor.

The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom

Kurt Sander: The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom: The Beatitudes

Two different transcriptions of Verdi’s Grand March from Aïda were recorded by Jan Kraybill for “The Orchestral Organ” project. Track 11 on the album features the 1885 organ transcription by Harry Rowe Shelley (1858-1947). This bonus track features the 1931 organ transcription by Edwin Henry Lemare (1865-1934).

See the recording at https://referencerecordings.com/recording/the-orchestral-organ/

The Orchestral Organ

Bonus Track - Verdi: Grand March, from "Aida" (Edwin Henry Lemare)

Music: Asphalt Cocktail (Excerpt)
Composer: John Mackey
Artists: Dallas Winds; Jerry Junkin, conductor; Christopher Martin, trumpet;
Album: Asphalt Cocktail: The Music of John Mackey (RR-144)
Label: Reference Recordings
Available June 21, 2019
Order: https://referencerecordings.com/recording/asphalt-cocktail-john-mackey/

Brilliant performances by THE DALLAS WINDS have been captured in superb audiophile sound by Reference Recordings’ award-winning engineering team: Keith O. Johnson and Sean Martin. ASPHALT COCKTAIL was crowd-funded by fans of Mackey and of the Dallas Winds. Their support made this unique, all-John- Mackey release possible. The recording was made in Dallas Texas, in the Morton H. Meyerson Concert Center, one of the world’s greatest concert halls.

Mackey is one of today’s most popular and sought- after composers of contemporary classical music, with an emphasis on wind band and orchestral music. His music runs the gamut of human emotion, from the sublime to the ridiculous. One minute he offers the sound of ripping metal, then suddenly gives you a melody that's achingly beautiful. John always writes with a purpose, be it jostling you through the wildest Manhattan cab ride ever, or painting that ethereal hour just before sunset.

Special guest artist on ASPHALT COCKTAIL is Principal Trumpet of the New York Philharmonic, Christopher Martin, performing Mackey's recently written Antique Violences: Concerto for Trumpet. Also included is the World Premiere of This Cruel Moon based on the second movement of Mackey's Wine-Dark Sea: Symphony for Band.

Asphalt Cocktail

John Mackey: Asphalt Cocktail (Excerpt)

Music: Children of Adam: I. Walt Whitman, "From Pent-Up Aching Rivers" 
Composer: Mason Bates
Artists: Richmond Symphony; Richmond Symphony Chorus; Steven Smith, Conductor; Erin R. Freeman, Chorus Director
Album: Bates: Children of Adam; Vaughan Williams: Dona nobis pacem (FR-732)
Label: FRESH! From Reference Recordings
Available August 16, 2019 
Order Now: https://referencerecordings.com/?p=14101

Groundbreaking New Music from Mason Bates and the Richmond Symphony!

Reference Recordings is proud to present a World Première 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.” Whitman’s celebrations of sensuality, considered provocative at the time, explore the connection of the body and the soul. Between these choral fanfares, each movement of the work offers a different perspective on creation.

These works are brilliantly performed by the Richmond Symphony conducted by Steven Smith, and the Richmond Symphony Chorus, Erin R. Freeman, Director. Solo performers on the Vaughan Williams are Michelle Areyzaga, soprano, and Kevin Deas, bass-­baritone. Recorded live at the Carpenter Theatre, Dominion Energy Center, Richmond Virginia; engineered by Ed Thompson; and produced by Ed Thompson, Victor and Marina A. Ledin.

Bates: Children of Adam; Vaughan Williams: Dona nobis pacem

See The Album

Children of Adam: I. Walt Whitman, "From Pent-Up Aching Rivers"

Music: Excerpt from Symphony No. 9 in D minor, (1896; unfinished) ed. Nowak: II Scherzo: Bewegt, lebhaft – Trio: Schnell
Composer: Anton Bruckner
Artists: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck, conductor
Album: Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 (FR-733SACD)
Label: FRESH! From Reference Recordings
Available August 23, 2019
Order Now: https://referencerecordings.com/recording/bruckner-symphony-no-9/

Reference Recordings proudly presents this iconic work in a new and definitive interpretation from Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, in superb audiophile sound. This hybrid SACD release was recorded in beautiful and historic Heinz Hall, home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

In his deeply personal and scholarly music notes, Maestro Honeck gives us great insight into the history and the musical structure of Bruckner’s final composition, and describes how he conducts and interprets this masterwork. To conclude his notes he quotes Bruckner biographer Max Auer: “The Ninth Symphony surpasses all its predecessors in sublimity and consecration. If Arthur Schopenhauer describes the arts as an image of an idea, but music as an idea in itself, then Bruckner’s swan song, his Ninth Symphony, appears to us as the idea of the beyond, of the deity itself. Already from the very beginning of the richly structured first movement, one feels surrounded by the twilight light of a Gothic cathedral—a mood that releases us from the heaviness and fatigue of matter and leads us to the afterlife.”

This release is the ninth in the highly acclaimed Pittsburgh Live! series of multi-channel hybrid SACD releases on the FRESH! series from Reference Recordings. This series has received GRAMMY® Nominations in 2015, 2016, 2018 and 2019. 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.

Bruckner: Symphony No. 9

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Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D minor: II. Scherzo (Excerpt)

Music: Excerpt from The Planets: Mars, the Bringer of War
Composer: Gustav Holst
Artists: Kansas City Symphony, Michael Stern, conductor
Album: Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool (RR-146SACD)
Label: Reference Recordings
Available October 11, 2019
More Info: https://referencerecordings.com/?p=14254

Reference Recordings proudly presents Holst’s best known and beloved works in an outstanding interpretation from Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony. This hybrid SACD release was recorded in the beautiful and acoustically acclaimed Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. It was produced by David Frost, six-time winner of the Classical Producer of the Year GRAMMY® award. It was recorded by RR’s engineering team, comprised of GRAMMY®-winning engineer and Technical Director Keith O. Johnson, and multi-GRAMMY® nominated engineer Sean Martin.

The Kansas City Symphony has a vision to transform hearts, minds and its community through the power of symphonic music. Founded in 1982, the Symphony has established itself as a major force in the cultural life of the community. Praised for performances of uncompromising standard, the orchestra is the largest in the region and holds a national reputation under the artistic leadership of Music Director Michael Stern.

This is the seventh 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 CD featuring the magnificent Organ Symphony, and the music of contemporary American composer Adam Schoenberg (nominated for two Grammy® Awards). 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.

Holst: The Planets; The Perfect Fool

Holst: The Planets: Mars, the Bringer of War (Excerpt)

Music: Lieutenant Kijé Suite: IV. Troika
Composer: Sergei Prokofiev
Artists: Utah Symphony; Thierry Fischer, music director
Album: Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky – Lieutenant Kijé Suite
Label: FRESH! From Reference Recordings (FR-735SACD)
Available October 25, 2019
Order: https://referencerecordings.com/?p=14377
Also featuring Alisa Kolosova, mezzo-soprano; Utah Symphony Chorus, University of Utah A Capella Choir, University of Utah Chamber Choir, and director Barlow Bradford

Reference Recordings is proud to present the Utah Symphony conducted by Thierry Fischer, in grand new performances of Alexander Nevsky and the Lieutenant Kijé Suite, two of his most brilliant and dramatic musical works. The music of Lieutenant Kijé was originally written as the score to the film of the same name, released in March 1934. It was Prokofiev’s first film music and his first commission. Prokofiev soon adapted it into the five-movement Lieutenant Kijé Suite, first performed in December 1934, and which quickly became a favorite in the international concert repertoire. Then, in 1938, Prokofiev collaborated with film director Eisenstein to create the score for the film Alexander Nevsky. He later adapted much of his score into the large-scale cantata for mezzo-soprano, orchestra and chorus featured on this recording.

Prokofiev: Alexander Nevsky; Lieutenant Kijé Suite

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Prokofiev: Lieutenant Kijé Suite: IV. Troika

Excerpts from Christmas With True Concord
Artists: True Concord Voices & Orchestra, Eric Holtan (conductor), Cait Frizzell (soprano)
Album: Christmas With True Concord: Carols in the American Voice
Label: FRESH! From Reference Recordings (FR-734)
Coming November 1, 2019 - Order: https://referencerecordings.com/?p=14440

Holiday Musical Treasures – Newly Imagined

Eric Holtan, founder and conductor of True Concord Voices and Orchestra states: “Every December, True Concord presents its 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 much­loved 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.”

Christmas with True Concord: Carols in the American Voice

Christmas With True Concord (Sampler)

Track: Line Drawings: Chickens
Composer: Michael Gandolfini
Artists: Concord Chamber Music Society

The Concord Chamber Music Society Premieres New Recordings

Brubeck, Gandolfi and Foss
RR-122: https://referencerecordings.com/recording/brubeck-gandolfi-foss-concord/

These new works by Chris Brubeck and Michael Gandolfi, two of America’s most-commissioned composers, are both accessible and adventurous. Grammy award winning engineer “Prof.” Keith Johnson did an outstanding job of recording this music in the superb natural acoustics of Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts, an historic 19th-century landmark. Johnson’s approach exemplifies the label’s pursuit of the absolute sound: capturing special music in outstanding spaces.

A native and lifelong resident of the Boston area, Michael Gandolfi (b. 1956) began his musical involvement in rock and jazz improvisation as a self-taught guitarist. His increasing skill in improvisation drew him to composition, and he began formal study in his early teens. Gandolfi frequently finds musical inspiration in art and literature. Line Drawings derives its musical ideas from drawings of Pablo Picasso. He notes, “None of my pieces is tethered to a precise Picasso drawing but they are written in the spirit of the Picasso works: concise, clear, written with a sense of immediacy and sureness of ‘stroke,’ light and ‘airy.’ This trio for violin, clarinet and piano is full of variety and vitality, a rewarding listen.

Concord Chamber Music Society (HRx)

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Michael Gandolfini: Line Drawings: Chickens

Music: The Theotokos, Who Is Ever-vigilant in Prayer
Composer: Sergei Rachmaninoff
Artists: PaTRAM Institute Singers; Peter Jermihov, conductor
Album: Blessed Art Thou Among Women (FR-737)
Label: FRESH! From Reference Recordings
Release Date: April 17, 2020
https://referencerecordings.com/?p=16842

Reference Recordings® is very pleased to present the third release in our series from the PaTRAM Institute™, rising stars whose previous two albums on our label, Teach Me Thy Statutes (FR­727SACD) and The Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom (FR­731), have been honored with GRAMMY® nominations for Best Choral Performance. The music performed on this new recording of Russian Orthodox choral music comprises works of many great Russian composers, all celebrating the theme of Russian Orthodox hymns dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Blessed Art Thou among Women is performed by the PaTRAM Institute Singers™, a professional group of Russian and American male and female vocalists, joined by soloists Glenn Miller (basso profundo), Fotina Naumenko (soprano), Protodeacon Leonid Roschko, and two vocal quartets.

Conductor Peter Jermihov writes: “We are privileged to present a program of masterpieces, both those that are rarely or never heard before and those that have worked their way into the rank­and­file of tradition. We are pleased, also, to bring a personal dimension to this project, honoring the memory of a special man, Fr. Valery Lukianov, with a lasting musical tribute.”

Alexis and Katherine Lukianov, Cofounders of PaTRAM Institute™ and Executive Producers state: “We are delighted to present Blessed Art Thou among Women, dedicated to our beloved father, Protopresbyter Valery Lukianov, who passed into eternity on May 25, 2018. The Patriarch Tikhon Russian American Music Institute™ strives to present Orthodox sacred music in its highest possible form, uniting deep spirituality, a profound love for the rich traditions of Orthodox Christian singing, and an uncompromising standard of musical professionalism rooted in the great traditions of Russian choral composers. In addition, we seek out unique church venues for our recordings to couple the music with an acoustically rich, Orthodox Worship environment. For this new album, we chose the St. Alexander Nevsky Diocesan Cathedral in Howell, New Jersey which was engineered and built by Fr. Valery. This magnificent structure is considered to be one of America’s architectural gems and is adorned with frescoes of stunning beauty and a rich and worshipful acoustic. We are thrilled that our personal tribute to Fr. Valery was recorded in an acoustical space created by him!

This release was recorded and mastered by the team at Soundmirror, whose outstanding orchestral, solo, opera and chamber recordings have received more than 100 Grammy® nominations and awards. For over 40 years, Soundmirror has recorded for every major classical record label, including Reference Recordings®.

Blessed Art Thou Among Women

The Theotokos, Who Is Ever-vigilant in Prayer

Music: Double Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon: Movement II
Composer: Jonathan Leshnoff;
Artists: Michael Rusinek, clarinet; Nancy Goeres, bassoon; Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; Manfred Honeck, music director
Album: Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4/Leshnoff: Double Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon (FR-738SACD)
Label: Fresh! From Reference REcordings
Release Date: May 22, 2020
Order: https://referencerecordings.com/?p=16997

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 hybrid SACD release was recorded in beautiful and historic Heinz Hall, home of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, in superb audiophile sound.

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4/ Leshnoff: Double Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon

Jonathan Leshnoff: Double Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon: Movement II

Track: Danza lejana
Composer: Jaume Pahissa
Artist: Roberto Moronn Peréz
Album: Andrés Segovia Archive
Label: Fresh! From Reference Recordings

Purchase from RR.com: http://bit.ly/18fR8cD

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 Bèrben.

Guitarist Roberto Moronn Pérez 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. The Spanish composers recorded here are the first in the series,to be followed soon by an album of the French composers.

Spanish-born Roberto Moronn Pérez studied in Madrid, Italy and the UK, graduating with first-class honours and a degree in Musicology from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He completed a postgraduate program at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London,where he received the Julian Bream Prize and was selected to participate at the Wigmore Hall Award. A prize-winner of many international competitions, Roberto has appeared as soloist in Spain, Switzerland, Italy, the USA, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, Germany and Japan, and in concert with numerous Spanish orchestras. Recently, he played the famous Concierto de Aranjuez with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine.

This new album was recorded in the lovely acoustics of Holy Trinity Church, Weston, Hertfordshire, U.K. It was produced, recorded and edited by the outstanding U.K. engineer John Taylor. Mastering is by Reference Recordings’ own Grammy®-winning engineer Keith O. Johnson.

Roberto Moronn Pérez - Andrés Segovia Archive - Track 15: Jaume Pahissa - Danza Lejana

Music: Excerpts from Symphony No. 9 - IV. Finale
Composer: Ludwig van Beethoven
Artists: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck (conductor); the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh; and soloists Christina Landshamer (soprano), Jennifer Johnson Cano (mezzo-soprano), Werner Güra (tenor), and Shenyang (bass-baritone)
Album: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 (FR-741SACD)
Label: FRESH! From Reference Recordings
UPC/EAN: 030911274122
Release Date: February 12, 2021
Pre-order/Pre-Save: https://newalbm.link/psobeethoven9/

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9

Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 - IV. Finale (Excerpt)

We at RR believe that how a recording sounds is as important as the music itself. "Prof." Keith O. Johnson, our chief engineer and Technical Director, is a true audio legend, having designed and patented many innovative products in the professional and consumer fields. The RR Sound comes from his singular methods and equipment, hand-built or extensively modified by him. Microphone techniques range from single-point Blumlein to spaced omnis to complex studio mixes, depending on the musical forces and the performing space involved. Our goal is to recreate the sound of real musicians making music in real space.

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