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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! 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. (You cannot play them on CD, DVD, or SACD players!!!)
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)
"Reference Recordings, a company at the forefront of technical advancements for the past 30 years, has broken through the technical barriers to deliver to listeners the exact high-resolution digital bitstreams created during the recording sessions. The company's HRx format encodes as WAV files on a DVD the master recording, which was sampled at 176.4kHz with 24-bit resolution. For the first time, you can listen to the original high-resolution datastream of some spectacular titles from the Reference Recordings catalog." - Robert Harley, The Absolute Sound, January 2009
Under the dynamic direction of Music Director Michael Stern, The Kansas City Symphony covers itself in glory with incidental music for The Tempest by Sir Arthur Sullivan and Jean Sibelius. Reference Recording's HDCD (RR-115CD) was the first high-resolution digital recording of the Sullivan (of Gilbert & Sullivan fame), and a masterful performance of the colorful Sibelius suites, including the seldom-heard Prelude, which depicts the Shakespearean tempest in all its fury.
The Kansas City Symphony has previously recorded for Naxos, and Michael Stern, son of famed violinist Isaac Stern, has recorded for Sony, Arabesque, Denon, Hyperion and Naxos. RR is hopeful that this successful new release is the first in a long and fruitful association with Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony.
The highly-varied, colorful orchestration of the Sullivan and Sibelius scores gave RR's legendary recording engineer "Prof." Keith Johnson a challenge, which he met brilliantly.
"The Sullivan is solid music, strongly in the Mendelssohn vein but with moods all its own - from tender melancholy to mild turmoil. The Sibelius is at turns rich, moody, exotic and humorous...its crunchy dissonances and distinctive coloristic textures are effective." - Kansas City Star
"Coupling these two works... was a brilliant idea — a "concept" album that really makes good musical sense. Happily...the performances are as smart, atmospheric, and vibrant as the music itself...and they're stunningly recorded..." - David Hurwitz, Classics Today
"The Sibelius music for the shipwreck and storm is almost Wagnerian. The Kansas City players sound the equal of one of the Top Five U.S. orchestras... Nice to see a rare new recording of a U.S. orchestra made in the U.S. by a U.S. record label!" - John Sunier, Audiophile Audition
Musicians:
Kansas City Symphony Orchestra
Michael Stern, conductor
Features:
• HRx DVD-R
• First Edition August 2008
Selections:
Sir Arthur Sullivan
Incidental Music for The Tempest
1. Introduction
2. Act III Prelude
3. Banquet Dance
4. Act IV Overture
5. Dance of Nymphs and Reapers
6. Act V Prelude
7. Postlude
Jean Sibelius
Prelude & Incidental Music to The Tempest
8. Prelude
Suite #2, Op. 109
9. Chorus of the Winds
10. Intermezzo
11. Dane of the Nymphs
12. Prospero
13. Song I
14. Song II
15. Miranda
16. The Naiads
17. Dance Episode
Suite #1, Op. 109
18. The Oak Tree
19. Humoresque
20. Caliban's Song
21. The Harvesters
22. Canon
23. Scene
24. Intrada
25. Berceuse
26. Ariel's Song
27. The Storm
