Goodwin's High End

 

● Music - Reference Recordings HRx

 

HRx DVD-R data discs contain exact, digit-for-digit copies of the original Reference Recordings 176.4 kHz / 24-bit digital masters. This is the ultimate in fidelity for two-channel sound: TRUE high-resolution audio, ready to load from DVD-R data discs onto your computer music server!

Best of Show award for “Greatest Technological Breakthrough: Reference Recordings’ HRx ultra-high resolution (176.4/24) digital music format.” (Alan Taffel: The Absolute Sound April/May 2008)

To play HRx, the files on the DVD-R data disc must be uploaded to a computer music server, which then will play the music files through your audio system.

(NOTE: Unless otherwise specified, you cannot play them on regular CD, DVD, or SACD players)

 

Joel Fan
West of the Sun
solo piano

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. World Keys, Joel Fan’s debut CD, hit the Billboard chart at #3, so expect great things from this new release!

"[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)
 

TRACK LISTING:

 

                                    

 HR-119 HRx - $45                                                   HR-119 HRx
                                                                                 & RR-119 HDCD - $55
Joel Fan
West
of the Sun
Music of the
Americas
Solo Piano

 

Note: If you mention that you saw this on our website and purchase 3 or more HRx or HRx/HDCD titles, you will receive 15% quantity discount.
   
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