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Sketches of Spain
On Monday, Nov. 29, 2010, conductor Steve Richman was interviewed on WJFFradio.org on his historic new cd, the Miles Davis/Gil Evans Sketches of Spain, which Richman recorded with trumpeter Lew Soloff on the Sheffield Lab label. The cd was broadcast and discussed on the program, along with the Spanish classical (Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez and de Falla's El Amor Brujo) and flamenco music which influenced it.
Steven Richman and Harmonie Ensemble/New York featured in JazzSaints blog - Click here >>>
American Record Guide, July-August, 2004 (read full review)
Copland: Rarities and Masterpieces
"A stunning album. The best recorded piano sound that I've ever heard. The stellar playing is smooth and warm, pungent and edgy, and rhythmically hot...this is the best performance of (Music for the Theatre) I've ever heard, recorded or in concert. (In Appalachian Spring) Richman's brilliance as a conductor becomes crystal-clear...it's so alive, it'd quicken the dead. In every way, an extraordinary album filled with discoveries."
(read full review)
Christophe Huss, Classicstodayfrance.com (read review)
Read English translation
Copland: Rarities and Masterpieces
Artistic: 10 / Technical: 10 (highest rating)
"Here is a fascinating disc from the first to the last second. The sound recording, perfect, the sense of the characterization, the beauty of the colors, precision and rhythmic verve, accuracy, the desire for making music together: it's all there. "
Hi-Fi+ December 2004 (read review)
Copland: Rarities and Masterpieces
"There are also marvelous performances of the more significant works, which include a reference version of the Appalachian Spring Suite in its original chamber version ..."
Raymond S. Tuttle, International Record Review (England) (read review)
Copland: Rarities and Masterpieces
"This inspires more national pride than a dozen speeches from the current powers-that-be ... this music-making has a gentle modesty ... and honesty ... [Appalachian Spring] is played with tender loving care, and none of the bombast which often cheapens the 'Simple Gifts' climax...."
Benjamin G. Cohrs, Klassik heute, Germany (read review)
Copland: Rarities and Masterpieces
"... Conductor Steven Richman draws out the last drop of performance pleasure, bite and groove from his excellent musicians in Copland's well-known chamber orchestra composition ... The unity of sound is alive and deeply affecting ..."
James R. Oestreich, New York Times, September 17, 2004 (read review)
"Dvorák, a Warm and Witty Melodist"
Dvorák Discoveries
"Steven Richman's recordings of an early Octet version of the String Serenade on 'Dvorák Discoveries' is a particular delight: the revenge of the Wind Serenade, as it were."
Fanfare Magazine, March-April 2002 (read review)
Stravinsky: Histoire du Soldat, Rarities and Premieres
"With four premieres and wonderfully lively, idiomatic recordings of familiar and relatively obscure Stravinsky, this beautifully recorded disc is an absolute winner ...
... The winds play beautifully, precisely, and yet with ample verve and beautiful tone. The dance movements are played daringly. The accenting seems perfect, as is the balance and tact of the ensemble ... An excellent disc from a group well worth hearing, this homage to Stravinsky is a boon to all the composer's fans."
Lawrence A. Johnson, Gramophone Magazine (read review)
Dvorák Day CD
"Richman's reading [of the 'New World' Symphony] is worthy ... its formidable competition includes Reiner (Chicago Symphony), Davis and Harnoncourt (Concertgebouw Orchestra), and Fisher (Budapest Festival Orchestra)."
David Lewis, Allmusic.com (read review)
Symphonic Jazz: Grofé & Gershwin
"[Gallodoro] who at 93 is one of the last survivors of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra ... plays a lovely little tidbit written for him by Grofé ... [his] performance stands as proof that musicianship is one area where some humans are able to defy age ... These recordings by the Harmonie Ensemble are fabulously well made ..."
David Hurwitz, Classicstoday.com November 8, 2006 (read review)
Symphonic Jazz: Grofé & Gershwin
Artistic Quality 10, Sound Quality 10
"Ferde Grofé's arrangements for Paul Whiteman's band constitute a treasure-trove of early-to- mid-20th century Americana.... here we are treated to the rarely-performed Second Rhapsody as well as Grofé's own Grand Canyon and Mississippi Suites. The results are both delightful and ear-opening ..."
"... As a bonus, we have Gallodoro's Serenade, ... offered by Mayorga and the piece's dedicatee, Al Gallodoro himself, something of a living legend ... Richman and the Harmonie Ensemble deserve lots of credit for digging up these arrangements and bringing them back to life with such gusto and polish."
Donald Rosenberg Gramophone (England) / February, 2007 (read review)
"Thrilling Originals from Grofé and Gershwin, In That Order"
Symphonic Jazz: Grofé & Gershwin
"Richman's spot-on sense of pacing, balance and emphasis guarantee that every Grofé-conjured utterance receives discerning and shapely animation. The ensemble and solo playing likely would bowl over both the composer and Whiteman."
Laurent Barthel, Repertoire Magazine, France April 1991 (read review)
Read English translation
Salute to France
"The interpretation is fresh, without bombast, always finding just the right style. A remarkable piece of work, and for us, the French, carelessly forgetful of our patrimony, certainly an object lesson."
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