Want to get a great gift for the up and coming audiophiles on your list? How about our Samplers and Test albums? Purchase these samplers from the RR website and receive 20% off everything you buy during our Holiday Sale!
TEST DISC
XLO/ REFERENCE RECORDINGS TEST & BURN-IN CD"The Absolute Sound Super Disc List"
This is THE step-by-step guide to setting up and fine-tuning your audio or home theatre system. Roger Skoff of XLO Electric (innovators in the field of cables and interconnects) and "Prof." Keith O. Johnson (audio guru and co-inventor of HDCD) lead you through a quick and easy system set-up. Included are tracks dealing with Balance, Wiring and Polarity, Speaker Placement, Soundstaging, Imaging and Depth, Absolute Phase, Component Demagnetization and Burn-In, PLUS a varied selection of RR jazz and classics to show off your fully-tweaked system! (Music includes: "Stormy Weather"; "Shiny Stockings"; GOULD: Derivations; JANACEK: Sinfonietta (excerpts); BIEBL: Ave Maria; WEINBERGER: Polka and Fugue)
RX-1000 - 24K GOLD CD ONLY $29.98
SAMPLERS
Our samplers offer an exciting and inexpensive way to introduce yourself (or a friend) to our artists and our recording style. All samplers include entire tracks, no fades. Samplers are great holiday gifts!!
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Prepare to be AMAZED!
Dallas Wind Symphony
Sampler
conducted by
Howard Dunn
Frederick Fennell
Jerry Junkin
“The Dallas Wind Symphony is one of America’s elite cultural institutions, up there with the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.” –Gene Gaudette.com
At last, a collection of the very best tracks from all RR releases with The Dallas Wind Symphony, America’s only full-time professional wind band! All wind music enthusiasts need to have these knockout performances, conducted by the legendary Frederick Fennell, Jerry Junkin and Howard Dunn. Recorded in the acclaimed acoustics of the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, the great music and spectacular sonics are perfectly captured by RR’s world-renowned team of engineer Keith Johnson and producer Tam Henderson.
The Dallas Wind Symphony has recorded thirteen critically-acclaimed titles for RR. This first DWS Sampler, at the special-value price of $9.98, is a collection of “primo” tracks, one from each program, that can serve as an introduction to the exciting world of the extensive wind-band repertoire, and as an audio spectacular to give the finest high-end audio systems a workout!
“The DWS matches every varied mood with skill and spirit. And RR, known for super-duper sonics, again captures the ensemble, and the generous acoustics of the Meyerson Symphony Center, with reach-out-and-touch-it realism. –Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News
Track Listing - Conducted by HOWARD DUNN: H. OWEN REED: La Fiesta Mexicana, Prelude and Aztec Dance; GUSTAV HOLST: Suite #2 in F – excerpt; Conducted by FREDERICK FENNELL: RUBIN GOLDMARK: Rustic Wedding Symphony – Scherzo; ISAAC ALBENIZ: Feast-Day in Seville; JAROMIR WEINBERGER: Polka and Fugue from Schwanda the Bagpiper; MORTON GOULD: Pavanne; LEON JESSEL: Parade of the Wooden Soldiers; MALCOLM ARNOLD: Scottish Dance; RON NELSON: Rocky Point Holiday; Conducted by JERRY JUNKIN: JOHN PHILIP SOUSA: Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; PAUL HINDEMITH: Kammermusik #7–finale; PERCY GRAINGER: Gumsuckers March; DAVID MASLANKA: Symphony #4–finale
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30th ANNIVERSARY SAMPLER
Reference Recordings declares, “It’s party time!”
1976 seems a long time ago, but that's when RR was born. Remember direct-to-disc LPs? That's how we started, but being inexperienced and naïve, our first recording project fell short of expectations, and was never released. The label got started for real in 1978 when we connected with Keith Johnson and his home-brew focused-gap tape machine, which provided extraordinary material for Prof. Johnson's Astounding Sound Show. That's the short version; you'll find more information on our About RR webpage. In recent years, RR beta-tested and introduced the High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD®) process, co-invented by Keith Johnson— in our view, the best way to make a digital compact disc.
As Exhibit A, we present RR's 30th Anniversary Sampler, a singular bargain. For only $9.98, we offer a generous helping of primo tracks from recent RR releases, featuring the Minnesota Orchestra, the Utah Symphony, the Pacific Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the University of Texas Wind Ensemble, organ legend Virgil Fox and organ prodigy Felix Hell, great American pianist Gary Graffman, and our latest piano whiz, Joel Fan. All this marvelous music, including several world premieres (and one first release not available elsewhere), is delivered in "Prof." Johnson's most dazzling HDCD® sound for your listening pleasure or for system evaluation. Included in the booklet is a catalogue of current RR releases.
RR-908 track listing—1-Susato: The Dansyere—La Morisque (Jerry Junkin/University of Texas Wind Ensemble) 2-Enescu: Romanian Rhapsody #1 (Eiji Oue/Minnesota Orchestra)—FIRST RELEASE 3-Satie: Gymnopedie #1 (Eiji Oue/Minnesota Orchestra) 4-Gabriela Lena Frank: Mestizo Waltz (Keith Lockhart/Utah Symphony) 5-John Tavener: Ikon of Eros—excerpt (Paul Goodwin/Minnesota Orchestra & Chorale) 6-Liszt: Prelude on B-A-C-H (Felix Hell, organ) 7-Dominick Argento: For the Angel Israfel (Eiji Oue/Minnesota Orchestra) 8-Liszt: Paraphrase on Verdi’s Rigoletto (Joel Fan, piano) 9-Danielpour: An American Requiem—Dies Irae (Carl St.Clair/Pacific Symphony Orchestra & Chorus) 10-Rachmaninoff: Symphonic Dance #3 (Eiji Oue/Minnesota Orchestra) 11-Skrowaczewski: Concerto Nicolò—finale (Gary Graffman/Skrowaczewski/Minnesota Orchestra) 12-J. S. Bach: Prelude in D (Virgil Fox, organ) 13-Respighi: The Pines of Rome—finale (Eiji Oue/Minnesota Orchestra).
RR-908 30th ANNIVERSARY SAMPLER - $9.98
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Eiji Oue / Minnesota Orchestra
SHOWCASE
One of America's finest symphonic ensembles, the Minnesota Orchestra has a distinguished recording career going back to 1924. Its list of renowned music directors include Eugene Ormandy, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Antal Dorati, Sir Neville Marriner, Edo de Waart and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. For the past five years, Eiji Oue's fresh and dynamic interpretations have been preserved for posterity by RR's "Prof." Keith Johnson in state-of-the-art HDCD sonics.
MINNESOTA ORCHESTRA SHOWCASE contains highlights from each of these critically-acclaimed recordings - plus the first release anywhere of the orchestra's sizzling new performance of Richard Strauss' DON JUAN!
TRACK LISTING:1 Richard Strauss: Don Juan - FIRST RELEASE; Deems Taylor: Looking Glass Insects; 3 Dominick Argento: Valentino Dances (excerpt); 4 Sibelius: Finlandia; 5 Liadov: Baba Yaga; 6 Stravinsky: The Firebird Suite (excerpt); 7 Tchaikovsky: Hopak from Mazeppa; 8 Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde (excerpt) withy Jon Villars, tenor 9 Copland: Appalachian Spring Suite (excerpt); 10 Bernstein: Candide Suite, arr. Charlie Harmon (excerpt); 11 R. Strauss: Ein Heldenleben (excerpt); 12 Ravel: Alborada del Gracioso.
RR-907 HDCD $9.98
TUTTI! AN ORCHESTRAL SAMPLER
TUTTI! is Italian for "all together now," as in the sound of a full orchestra playing in perfect ensemble. TUTTI! is also the new full-length sampler of RR's recent classical orchestral releases -- PLUS a special BONUS track available nowhere else! Artists include Eiji Oue and the Minnesota Orchestra, Nicholas McGegan and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Jose Serebrier and the Czech State Philharmonic, Eugene Istomin, Gerard Schwarz and the Seattle Symphony, Jerry Junkin and the Dallas Wind Symphony,and the Turtle Creek Chorale. NOTE: The cover of the Box Slipcase is a shiny metallic.
Audiophile Audition - Best Of The Year Discs for 2008 - complete list
REVIEW: "I don't see how they could have come up with a more exciting and interesting classical sampler... A quick A/B comparison with the CD layer of this hybrid disc shows again the sometimes subtle but often shockingly major enhancement that the higher-res format provides..." --John Sunier, Audiophile Audition - complete review
TRACK LISTING:1 Rimsky-Korsakov: Dance of the Tumblers, Eiji Oue/Minnesota Orchestra; 2 Chadwick: Intermezzo e Humoreske from Suite symphonique, Jose Serebrier/Czech State Philharmonic; 3 Ron Nelson: Rocky Point Holiday, Jerry Junkin/Dallas Wind Symphony; 4-5 Igor Stravinsky: The Firebird—Berceuse and Finale, Eiji Oue/Minnesota Orchestra; 6 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21—Andante, Eugene Istomin, piano, Gerard Schwarz/Seattle Symphony; 7 Paul Paray: Symphony No. 1 (excerpt), James Paul/Royal Scottish National. Orchestra; 8 Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 9—Scherzo, Skrowaczewski/Minnesota Orchestra; 9 Antonio Vivaldi: Concerto in F, RV 569—Allegro, Nicholas McGegan/Philharmonia Baroque; 10 Malcolm Arnold: The Padstow Lifeboat, Jerry Junkin/Dallas Wind Symphony; 11 Jacques Ibert: Escales—animé (Valencia), Eiji Oue/Minnesota Orchestra; 12 R. Strauss: The Times of Day—Der Morgen, Timothy Seelig/Turtle Creek Chorale, Fort Worth Chamber Orchestra; 13 Leos Janácek: The Makropulos Case, Symphonic Synthesis, Act II, José Serebrier/Czech State Philharmonic; 14 Eiji Oue, E.C.F., from Presque Isle, Eiji Oue/Minnesota Orchestra (World Premiere); 15-16 Mussorgsky-Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition(excerpts), Eiji Oue/Minnesota Orchestra.
RR-906 SACD $22.98
NOTE: Now Also Available as HDCD $9.98 - To Order RR-906HDCD
FIRST SAMPLING: CLASSICS
COPLAND:An Outdoor Overture (from RR-22); PACHELBEL: Canon & Gigue in D (RR-13); WALTON: Facade (excerpts) (RR-16); LISZT: Feux Follets (RR-25); RESPIGHI: Church Windows (St. Michael Archangel) (RR-15); BRITTEN: Interlude (RR-21); WEILL: Threepenny Opera Suite (excerpts) (RR-29); RAMEAU: La Cupis (RR-27); RUTTER: Nativity Carol (RR-21); CHIHARA: The Tempest (excerpts) (RR-10); STRAVINSKY: L'Histoire du Soldat (excerpts) (RR-17); BERLIOZ: Symphonie fantastique: Witches' Sabbath (RR-11). (TT: 71:46) (Released 1990)
RR-S1 CD $9.98
FIRSTSAMPLING: JAZZ & VOCALS
Includes tracks by Jim Brock (from RR-31), Blazing Redheads (RR-26), Matt Catingub (RR-14), Eileen Farrell (RR-30,32,34,36), Mike Garson (RR-18,20), Dick Hyman (RR-33), Marni Nixon and Lincoln Mayorga (RR-19,28), and Airto Moreira (RR-24). (TT: 65:50) (Released 1990)
RR-S2 CD $9.98
HDCD SAMPLER VOL l
Highlights from the first four HDCD releases.
Includes: NELHYBEL: Trittico (from RR-52); NELSON: Behold Man (RR-49); ALBÉNIZ: Feast Day in Seville (RR-52); THOMPSON: The Testament of Freedom (RR-49); MIKE GARSON: All Blues (M. Davis) (RR-53); DICK HYMAN: The Gal From Joe's (D. Ellington) (RR-50). (TT: 33:37) (Released 1993)
RR-S3 HDCD $9.98
HDCD SAMPLER VOL II
Highlights from more recent HDCD releases, plus comparison tracks, HDCD Includes: CHADWICK: Noel (from RR-64); WILLS: The Vikings (RR-58); CHESNOKOV: Spaséñiye sodélal (RR-61); HAMLISCH: A Chorus Line medley (RR-62); RUTTER: Requiem (Lux Aeterna) (RR-57); JANÁCEK: Sinfonietta (excerpts) (RR-65); SHAW: Concerto for Clarinet (RR-55); DICK HYMAN & BAND: Moten Swing (RR-59); DICK HYMAN: Dooji Wooji (RR-59). (TT: 73:16) (Released 1995)
RR-905 HDCD $9.98Labels: Christmas Ideas, Christmas Presents, SACD, Samplers, Test discs, Tutti