“I doubt there's an orchestra in America that has grown this much this fast.   They sounded terrific.” - Paull Horsley, Kansas City Star

RR115CD Cover - 18074 Bytes
Shakespeare's
TEMPEST
Works by Sullivan & Sibelius

KANSAS CITY SYMPHONY
MICHAEL STERN

RR-115CD
[HDCD]

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.   This is 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 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
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.   Reference Recordings 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 Reference Recordings' legendary recording engineer “Prof.” Keith Johnson a challenge, which he met, as always, brilliantly.   The master tapes were recorded at 176.4 kHz, 24 bits and prepared for CD release with HDCD technology.


Incidental music for THE TEMPEST
by William Shakespeare

SIR ARTHUR SULLIVAN     23:30
  1. Introduction     5:44
  2. Act III Prelude     1:51
  3. Banquet Dance     4:06
  4. Act IV Overture     4:46
  5. Dance of Nymphs and Reapers     5:05
  6. Act V Prelude     4:38
  7. Postlude     2:02

JEAN SIBELIUS
  8. Prelude, Op. 109 #1     5:37

SUITE #2, Op. 109 #3     14:29
  9. Chorus of the Winds     3:26
10. Intermezzo     1:22
11. Dance of the Nymphs     1:32
12. Prospero     1:34
13. Song I     0:56
14. Song II     0:51
15. Miranda     1:27
16. The Naiads     1:16
17. Dance Episode     2:01

SUITE #1, Op. 109 #2     20:06
18. The Oak Tree     2:59
19. Humoresque     1:07
20. Caliban's Song     1:15
21. The Harvesters     2:07
22. Canon     1:27
23. Scene     1:28
24. Intrada     0:41
25. Berceuse     1:43
26. Ariel's Song     3:53
27. The Storm     3:22

      Total Time - 68:40    


Reference Recordings are distributed in Australia by Rockian Trading