TWO NEW FREE HRx DOWNLOADS AT COMPUTER AUDIO PHILE
Two Tracks from Dick Hyman's Thinking About Bix RR-116 and Eiji Oue/MNO's Reveries RR-99.

WOW!!
STEREOPHILE magazine online has just reprinted an historic 1989 interview (by editor John Atkinson) with our founder and President J. Tamblyn Henderson Jr.

Read the full interview and story of Reference Recordings' beginnings on Stereophile.com!

NOW AS MULTI CHANNEL/STEREO SACD

Britten's Orchestra
Michael Stern - Kansas City Symphony
Click for more information and track listing.

The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra is a symphonic tour-de-force and audio spectacular, featuring all sections of the symphony, separately and together. Based on a famous theme by Henry Purcell, Britten writes in essence his “Concerto for Orchestra,” taking the ensemble apart, then reassembling it in a grand and jubilant finale. Dynamic range is extreme. Also available as RR-120HDCD - $16.98 - and HR-120.

What our customers are saying about Britten's Orchestra!

Britten's Orchestra - KCS - RR-120 HYBRID Multi-Channel/Stereo SACD - $22.98

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ADDITIONAL RR SACD RELEASES!!

FOUR New HRx Titles: HR-70 Stravinsky, HR-95 Respighi, HR-99 Reveries - Eiji Oue - MNO; and HR-101 Organ Sensation - Felix Hell
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NEW JAZZ SAMPLER

JAZZ KALEIDOSCOPE

RR-910 HDCD - Now Available

Top tracks by Dick Hyman, Clark Terry, Red Norvo, Mike Garson, The Hot Club of San Franciso, Jim Brock and The Blazing Redheads.

Jazz covers a lot of musical territory, and many of its varied styles are represented here. Stride piano from the 1920s rubs shoulders with swing from the 1940s, classic combo sounds from the 1950s, salsa-flavored dance music, and recently-created pieces that stretch the very boundaries of jazz.

Don't miss this "cream" collection from the RR catalogue, at the bargain price of Only $9.98.

Track Listing:Red Norvo Quintet: Rhee Waahnee; Dick Hyman, piano: I’m Goin’ To See My Ma; Blazing Redheads: Tribute To Dollar Brand; Mike Garson Quartet: Nothin’ To Do Blues; Clark Terry/DePaul U. Big Band: I Want A Little Girl; Hyman Swing All-Stars: You’re Driving Me Crazy/Moten Swing; Jim Brock Ensemble: O Vazio; DICK Hyman, piano: I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart; Hyman Swing All-Stars: I Hope Gabriel Likes My Music; Hot Club of San Francisco: Lullabye; Dick Hyman, piano: In A Mist; Brock/Manakas Ensemble: Jordan

RR-910 HDCD - JAZZ KALEIDOSCOPE - $9.98 - discount item

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THE EQUATOR REDUX

LETTERS FROM THE EQUATOR
RR-56 - newly remastered with HDCD

Master percussionist Jim Brock features the music of guitar wizard Van Manakas, with bass, drums, keyboards and winds.

From the Tango stylings of Argentina to the celebrations of Brazil, LETTERS FROM THE EQUATOR, takes the armchair traveler on an exciting journey into the furthest regions a sound system can reproduce. "Prof." Keith Johnson has made a new high-resolution digital transfer from the original analogue masters, with much-improved sonics. This has long been one of RR's highly-regarded studio productions, of dynamic and colorful originals with a Latin tinge. If the first release escaped you, don't hesitate about this significant re-issue, still only $12.98. NOW AVAILABLE!

Track Listing:Jumbie Dance; Cantina; Cholla; Lovers’ Eyes; Letters from the Equator; Smile Elis; Los Pompas; Twenty-Nine Palms; Jordan

Sound Samples / Downloads - HDTracks.com

RR-56 HDCD - Letters from the Equator - $12.98 - discount item

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EXCITING SHOWPIECES BY BENJAMIN BRITTEN!

Britten's Orchestra

Michael Stern
Kansas City Symphony

The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra is a symphonic tour-de-force and audio spectacular, featuring all sections of the symphony, separately and together. Based on a famous theme by Henry Purcell, Britten writes in essence his “Concerto for Orchestra,” taking the ensemble apart, then reassembling it in a grand and jubilant finale. Dynamic range is extreme.

Britten was a dedicated pacifist, and the Sinfonia da requiem from 1940 is his musical plea for peace. It begins with stark and dramatic drumbeats that will be a test for even the finest sound systems, and builds to tremendous climaxes. This early work is regarded by many as the finest of all his orchestral scores.

Peter Grimes, Britten’s most popular opera, is heard most often in the orchestral Sea Interludes and Passacaglia, some of his most haunting and atmospheric orchestral music. “Prof.” Johnson’s transparent sonics allow one to “hear into” all these scores as never before.

Perhaps the most striking aspect of this new recording is the exceptional performance by Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony. RR has made many fine orchestral recordings, and we feel that this is one of our very best.

This new release was produced by four-time Grammy Award winner David Frost. Frost says he is honored to work with engineer Keith Johnson for the first time, and is full of enthusiasm for the sound quality of the masters.

REVIEWS: "In a brilliant display of orchestral power and poetry from the country's heartland, Michael Stern leads the Kansas City Symphony in an all-Britten programme that speaks eloquently . . . As always with this great audiophile label, the skill and commitment of Reference's recording team need to be accorded special recognition. In either stereo or HDCD, the sound is better than being in the hall: rich in detail, gold in colour and equal to any volume." --Laurence Vittes, Gramophone

"Britten's Orchestra...is not only deeply satisfying on a musical level, but will also, I predict, become an instant "demo" disc classic. Great music and great sound -- now that's my kind of "audiophile" recording." --Wayne Garcia, The Absolute Sound

“A new release from [RR] brings us Benjamin Britten’s best-known orchestral works in disciplined readings, dazzlingly recorded in HDCD sound… These are strong performances, and they sound great. What more do you need to know?” –Phillip Scott, Fanfare

“You immediately sense that this will be a musical and sonic treat… The opening of the Sinfonia da requiem is truly cataclysmic, with a powerful drumbeat that no other recording remotely approaches… This becomes the preferred recorded performance of the Sinfonia… Get this fine collection to complete a very basic survey of Brittten’s full orchestral music.” --Arthur Lintgen, Fanfare

“Time after time as I went through this disc I was struck by [Stern’s] fresh and interesting takes on this familiar music, and by his ability to clarify orchestral texture and draw exciting, committed playing from the Kansans. The orchestra is solid, with exceptional brass, expressive winds and precise, vigorous work from all the string sections.” –Wayne Donnelly, EnjoyTheMusic.com

"The (Guide) is a delight, a voyage of discovery through the resources marshalled by a modern symphony orchestra. . . The Kansas City Symphony...is pretty much flawless in its execution of music which depends so much on the beauty of the instruments... The sound is of great help as well... more than once the music and the sound gave me major goose bumps... Perhaps you'll have the epiphany I did, and if you do, it can change your life." --Gerard Rejskind, Ultra High Fidelity (Canada)

Sound Samples / Downloads - HDTracks.com

Track Listing: 1 The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra; 2–4 Sinfonia da requiem: 2 Lacrymosa, 3 Dies irae, 4 Requiem aeternam; 5–9 Peter Grimes: Four Sea Interludes & Passacaglia: 5 Dawn, 6 Sunday Morning, 7 Moonlight, 8 Passacaglia, 9 Storm.

RR-120 HDCD - Kansas City Synphony - Britten's Orchestra- $16.98 - discount item

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Prepare to be AMAZED!

Dallas Wind Symphony
Sampler

conducted by
Howard Dunn
Frederick Fennell
Jerry Junkin

“The Dallas Wind Symphony is one of America’s elite cultural institutions, up there with the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.” –Gene Gaudette.com

At last, a collection of the very best tracks from all RR releases with The Dallas Wind Symphony, America’s only full-time professional wind band! All wind music enthusiasts need to have these knockout performances, conducted by the legendary Frederick Fennell, Jerry Junkin and Howard Dunn. Recorded in the acclaimed acoustics of the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, the great music and spectacular sonics are perfectly captured by RR’s world-renowned team of engineer Keith Johnson and producer Tam Henderson.

The Dallas Wind Symphony has recorded thirteen critically-acclaimed titles for RR. This first DWS Sampler, at the special-value price of $9.98, is a collection of “primo” tracks, one from each program, that can serve as an introduction to the exciting world of the extensive wind-band repertoire, and as an audio spectacular to give the finest high-end audio systems a workout!

“The DWS matches every varied mood with skill and spirit. And RR, known for super-duper sonics, again captures the ensemble, and the generous acoustics of the Meyerson Symphony Center, with reach-out-and-touch-it realism. –Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News

Track Listing - Conducted by HOWARD DUNN: H. OWEN REED: La Fiesta Mexicana, Prelude and Aztec Dance; GUSTAV HOLST: Suite #2 in F – excerpt; Conducted by FREDERICK FENNELL: RUBIN GOLDMARK: Rustic Wedding Symphony – Scherzo; ISAAC ALBENIZ: Feast-Day in Seville; JAROMIR WEINBERGER: Polka and Fugue from Schwanda the Bagpiper; MORTON GOULD: Pavanne; LEON JESSEL: Parade of the Wooden Soldiers; Conducted by JERRY JUNKIN: MALCOLM ARNOLD: Scottish Dance; RON NELSON: Rocky Point Holiday; JOHN PHILIP SOUSA: Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; PAUL HINDEMITH: Kammermusik #7–finale; PERCY GRAINGER: Gumsuckers March; DAVID MASLANKA: Symphony #4–finale

RR-909 HDCD - Dallas Wind Symphony - Sampler - $9.98

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A new release with piano virtuoso Joel Fan

Joel Fan

West of the Sun

Joel Fan’s second album for Reference Recordings, further solidifies his reputation for innovative programming and dazzling keyboard technique. Drawing on composers from North and South America, Fan makes brilliant work of major sonatas by Ginastera and Barber, along with “entertainments” by Gottschalk, Piazzolla and Villa-Lobos. Of particular interest are two little-known works by Amy Beach and the African-American composer Margaret Bonds. Another highlight is the world premiere recording of a recent suite by William Bolcom! Any piano enthusiast will enjoy this wide-ranging recital, recorded at Skywalker Sound by RR’s renowned technical guru, “Prof.” Keith O. Johnson.

REVIEWS: "Fan is hardly a child prodigy. Despite his youthful looks he is now 40, and he has a lot of playing time behind him. That experience explains his awesome musicianship, but also his natural sensitivity to the emotional side of music, and control of fine nuances... The sound is clearer and more detailed than if one had good seats to a concert." --Gerard Rejskind, Ultra High Fidelity (Canada)

"[Fan] offers nine stunningly brilliant renditions drawn from a wide range of styles and sources... Capping it all off is an arresting interpretation of Samuel Barber's fearsome 1949 Piano Sonata. Wow." --John Terauds,Toronto Star - [Artistic Quality:10, Sound Quality 10] - Complete Review

"Fan is just marvelous... A well-curated, excellently engineered program of this caliber warrants our highest recommendation." --Jed Distler,ClassicsToday.com - [Artistic Quality:10, Sound Quality 10] - Complete Review

"Fan's piano textures are worth hearing in themselves, for he is an exceptionally fluent, lyrical player with a fine sense of mystery in the slow movements of the piano sonatas by Ginastera and Barber... The result is a program that alternates very gracefully between simpler and more complicated pieces; the music almost seems to breathe and ruminate on the nature of Americanness... With fine engineering, this is a masterful performance." --All Music Guide - (****1/2 performance/****1/2 sound) - Complete Review

"Fan's rendition of Barber's technically challenging sonata, whose knockout last movement was written at the insistence of Vladimir Horowitz, is the performance by which most listeners will judge his achievement. He acquits himself wonderfully, even when compared to Horowitz and speed demon Marc-Andre Hamelin. The adagio is especially touching, and becomes more moving with repeated listening." --Jason Victor Serinus,San Francisco Classical Voice - Complete Review

"His playing was the picture of textural clarity... The program's highlight was the New York premiere of William Bolcom's Nine New Bagatelles, a set of aphoristic, vividly drawn character pieces... Mr. Fan gave it an agile reading, with delicacy and heft carefully balanced." --Allan Kozinn, The New York Times (about the CD release recital, 4/2009)

Sound Samples / Downloads - HDTracks.com

Track Listing - (sound samples are MP3 files) NAZARETH: Vem cá, Branquinha; GOTTSCHALK: Suis Moi! Caprice; PIAZZOLLA: Flora's Game – Milonga Prelude; GINASTERA: Piano Sonata #1; Allegro marcato ; Presto Misterioso; Adagio molto appassionato; Ruvido ed ostinato; VILLA-LOBOS: Chôros No. 5, “Alma Brasileira”; BEACH: Fire-flies, Op. 15 #4; BONDS: Troubled Water; BOLCOM: Nine New Bagatelles; (“...and then what happened?”); (...what happened); (...a bird comments–to another bird?) 0:55 14 (...Lord Lovell’s trunk); (...a little story); (...take no prisoners); (...valse oubliable); (...benediction); (...pavane for the dead/hope’s feathers; BARBER: Piano Sonata, Op. 26; Allegro energico; Allegro vivace e leggero; Adagio mesto; Allegro con spirito.

RR-119 HDCD - JOEL FAN - West of the Sun - $16.98

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Jean-Philippe Rameau’s PIÈCES DE CLAVECIN EN CONCERTS, from the new and exciting period-instrument ensemble Baroque Nouveau (Charles Sherman, harpsichord; Anthony Martin, violin; Stephen Schultz, baroque flute; and Josh Lee, viola da gamba). All of these superb musicians perform with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and other specialist groups.

This repertoire is a collection of Rameau's most appealing, tuneful compositions with improvisational embellishments galore! We recorded this project in June 2008 at famed Skywalker Sound.

NEW REVIEWS - "What more can be said about these delightful pieces?...The only pity is that there aren't more to devour... [Baroque Nouveau] turns in lively, virile readings, full of energy and sparkle. I look forward to hearing future outings from this fine group." --Tom Moore, Early Music America

"The results are wonderful: fresh, full of verve and creative spirit. This may not be a live recording, but it’s a recording that is refreshingly alive... I recommend without reservation that this [CD] become a part of every listener’s library." --Jonathan Rhodes Lee, San Francisco Classical Voice --complete review

Review: "The instrumental balance among the four instruments is perfect -- especially as regarding the harpsichord -- and the noise floor is extremely low, the recording having been made in the renowned studios of Skywalker Sound in Marin County, California." --John Sunier, Audiophile Audition --complete review

Sound Samples / Downloads - HDTracks.com

Track Listing - RAMEAU: Pièces de Clavecin Concert

RR-118 HDCD - Rameau's Pièces de Clavecin Concert - $16.98

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Percy Grainger
LINCOLNSHIRE POSY
performed by the Dallas Wind Symphony

Showcases the wind band music of Percy Grainger, including favorites Lincolnshire Posy and Irish Tune from County Derry ("Danny Boy"). Australia considers Grainger its greatest composer; the U.S., where he lived most of his life, praises him as a music educator, composer and arranger of band music; and England considers him supremely important in the preservation and arrangement of British folk songs.

Grainger's gems are performed to perfection by America's only full-time professional wind band, conducted by Jerry Junkin. Grainger specified many unusual, optional, instruments, and this recording has them all. Hear these "original instrument" performances in the spectacular sonics captured by Reference Recordings' world-renowned team of engineer Keith Johnson and producer Tam Henderson.

"How could you not enjoy this disc? The sound has the clarity, timbral fidelity, floor-shaking dynamic range, and spatial reality that we’ve come to expect from Reference. The performances are first-rate... this CD offers playing of prodigious quality—and no one who purchases it will be disappointed. Strongly recommended." --Peter J. Rabinowitz, Fanfare

"The sound of Reference's disc is simply fantastic... If one is looking for a single disc of Percy Grainger's wind band music that contains a good amount of his "hits" in addition to some surprises, in great sound and well played, then you can hardly go wrong... it's terrific in every way." --Uncle Dave Lewis, AllMusic.com -- complete review

"Wow. Just plain wow. Out of left field comes one of the best classical CDs of the year — an all-Percy Grainger program... The strongest impression left by this disc is the spectacular playing of the Dallas Wind Symphony — the best overall playing I have yet heard from such an ensemble on recorded media of any kind. This disc is proof positive that the DWS is one of America's elite cultural institutions, up there with the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Don't believe me? Then get a copy of this disc and judge for yourself. If you're not saying to yourself "Wow, just plain wow," then you need to clean your ears out." --Gene Gaudette, Synaphaï (Artistic Impact: 11 - Sound Quality: 11) -- complete review

"They're all played with appropriate gusto but also, where required, delicacy of spirit... The excellent sound quality is augmented by fine detail..." --Jonathan Woolf, Music Web International -- complete review

"Led by artistic director Jerry Junkin, the DWS matches every varied mood with skill and spirit. And RR, known for super-duper sonics, again captures the ensemble, and the generous acoustics of the Meyerson Symphony Center, with reach-out-and-touch-it realism; the bass drum will give your subwoofer a workout." --Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News -- complete review

"An exquisitely well-played collection of Grainger's folk-flavored compositions and arrangements for concert band... What he didn't know about scoring for concert band wasn't worth knowing. This might just be the best Grainger album to come along since Benjamin Britten's 1969 Salute to Percy Grainger." --Terry Teachout, Arts Journal -- complete review

"All of the pieces sparkle and captivate . . . Sonics are excellent, an audiophile gem." --John Sunier, Audiophile Audition -- complete review

Sound Samples / Downloads - HDTracks.com

Track Listing - The Duke of Marlborough Fanfare; Lincolnshire Posy; The Merry King; Children’s March; Colonial Song; Mock Morris; The Gum-Suckers March; Molly on the Shore; Spoon River; After-Word; Lads of Wamphray; Irish Tune from County Derry; Shepherd’s Hey.

RR-117 HDCD - Lincolnshire Posy - $16.98

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Thinking About Bix

DICK HYMAN
solo piano

Dick Hyman, one of the most accomplished and versatile musicians alive, is especially known as an authority on early jazz. After a lifetime of playing and studying the music of Bix Beiderbecke, Hyman announced he’d like to record for RR a solo program of music associated with Bix, including all five original pieces Bix wrote for piano. (Most likely, these are a recorded first.) Hyman arranged other numbers Bix performed with various groups, and plays and improvises upon these in his distinctive, brilliant style. The title track is an infectious Hyman original reminiscent of the period. An attractive bonus is a piano four-hands performance with Hyman’s friend and stride authority, Mike Lipskin

Listen to Dick Hyman on NPR

"Dick treats us to his take on songs written performed and inspired by Leon Bix Beiderbecke. Bix was an amazing self-taught musician who amazed audiences on piano and later on cornet from childhood to his early death at 28. There's a ragtime bounce to the music, a style that influenced the signature of Hyman. We hear it unencumbered, as this is 100% solo piano captured in all of its glory. This session gives us a clear view of Bix as well as Hyman's talent both as a performer, composer and historian."Performance: 4, Sound: 5 out of 5 --O's Place

"This is a real winner... There are few people around, be they musicians or engineers, who could have made such a wonderful CD as this." -- Andre Gauthier, StereoMojo - complete review and more RR reviews ( you must scroll way down!)

4/5 Stars "There's a ragtime bounce to the music . . . We hear it unencumbered, as this is 100% solo piano captured in all its glory. This session gives us a clear view of Bix as well as Hyman's talent both as a performer, composer and historian." --Oscar Groomes, O's Place Jazz Newsletter

"The musicianship is dazzling. At times, I just shook my head and laughed out loud at his level of virtuosity and musical invention — all in the service of the song. And the sound is swooningly beautiful." —Wayne Garcia, FI magazine (about Dick Hyman In Recital, RR-84)

"Throughout a busy musical career that got underway in the 1950s, Dick Hyman has functioned as pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and composer. His versatility in all of these areas has resulted in film scores, orchestral compositions, concert appearances, and well over 100 albums recorded under his own name. While developing a masterful facility for improvisation in his own piano style, Hyman has investigated ragtime and the earliest periods of jazz and has researched and recorded the piano music of Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson, Zez Confrey, Eubie Blake – and for RR, programs of Duke Ellington and Fats Waller."

“Prof.” Keith Johnson recorded THINKING ABOUT BIX in the renowned facilities of Skywalker Sound in California, using as always his own custom-made microphones, electronics and high-resolution digital converters. The compact disc is encoded with the High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) process, and the 176.4 kHz/24-bit masters will be released soon in RR’s HRx series, for computerized music servers.

Sound Samples / Downloads - HDTracks.com

Track Listing - 1 Thinking About Bix; 2 Singin’ the Blues (Till My Daddy Comes Home); 3 Ostrich Walk; 4 I’m Coming, Virginia; 5 Jazz Me Blues; 6 Candlelights; 7 ‘Tain’t So, Honey, ‘Tain’t So; 8 Since My Best Gal Turned Me Down; 9 In the Dark; 10 Clementine (From New Orleans); 11 Lonely Melody; 12 In A Mist; 13 Sweet Sue (Just You); 14 Wringing’ and Twistin’; 15 Flashes; 16 Davenport Blues; 17 You Took Advantage of Me, with Mike Lipskin (piano four-hands).

RR-116 HDCD - Thinking About Bix - $16.98

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