[CD] Michael Stern - Shakespeare's Tempest

Reference Recordings CREF 115, 0030911111526 - Classical HDCD CD - "I doubt there's an orchestra in America that has grown this much this fast. They sounded terrific." – Kansas City Star 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 the best performance ever of the colorful Sibelius suites, including the seldom-heard Prelude, which depicts the Shakspearean 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