Płyta nagrodzona: THE ABSOLUTE SOUND's 2004

"Keith Johnson's sonics are, as usual, as appealing as most high-rez sources--full and richly detailed, with a killer bottom end and extremely natural decay." --Andrew Quint ClassicalCDReview.com "I can't get over how good this group is. First, it has a superb sound--full, yet texturally clear--sharp rhythm, and a real elan, a joy in playing . . . The spectacular sound knocked me over . . . Yowza!" --S.G.S. From Arrangers Gone Bonkers, Glorious Noise By JAMES R. OESTREICH Published: April 4, 2004 "Concert bands are the Rodney Dangerfields of the music world: they get no respect. But a new CD from Reference Recordings, "Bells for Stokowski," with Jerry Junkin leading the University of Texas Wind Ensemble, is a delight." Nine delightful Renaissance dances by Tielman Susato start this program with a bang. The ever-popular English Folksong Suite by Ralph Vaughan Williams in its original scoring continues the crowd-pleasing mood. Two important new works follow. David Del Tredici’s first composition for wind band, In Wartime, is based on the popular hymn “Abide With Me” and the Persian national anthem. Michael Daugherty is one of the most performed and commissioned American composers of his generation. Bells for Stokowski is a fantasy in which the composer imagines Leopold Stokowski in Philadelphia, hearing all the bells of the city resonate. It’s a sonic spectacular, captured to perfection by “Prof.” Johnson in his most dazzling HDCD sound. NEW CLASSICS TODAY 10/10 REVIEW: " The disc title (Bells for Stokowski) promises sonority, sonority, sonority. The 24-bit HDCD stereo recording begins with timpani, then more drums, then other percussion, then brass, all roaring and pounding out the start of a brilliant arrangement by Patrick Dunnigan of selections from Susato's The Danserye. The sound is just as real as it can be, utterly without strain or congestion, the contrabassoons buzzing, the horns barking, the trombones and trumpets crackling. I'm a fan for SACD surround, but this sounds cleaner, more natural, and even more spatially defined than at least 85 percent of the discs I've heard in the newer format. Jerry Junkin and the University of Texas Wind Ensemble are first rate throughout.