In his second album for Willowhayne Records, virtuoso pianist Dominic John presents 24+1, a truly ground-breaking recording based on the ‘circle of fifths.’ From the power of Eduard Abramyan’s Prelude in F sharp minor to the poetry of John Ireland’s The Holy Boy, 25 composers extending across 2 centuries of music are represented in this unique musical journey that is sure to delight the listener. Dominic’s pianism has won him several prizes, including First Prize in the 22nd Brant International Piano Competition, British Music Society Awards, RCM Chappell Gold Medal, a Director’s Golden Jubilee Award at the RCM, and a laureate of the Corpus Christi, USA International Competition for Piano and Strings. He has performed in the Wigmore Hall, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and abroad in France, Holland, Poland, Ameica, Korea, and Japan. He studied at Chethams School of Music, the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal College of Music where he held the RCM Society Junior Fellowship from 2004-2006. A versatile musician, Dominic is in demand as a soloist, member of various chamber ensembles and accompanist to a wide variety of singers and instrumentalists.
This album from Naxos' acclaimed Wind Band Classics series presents three highly contrasting new works. David Maslanka' Concerto for Trombone and Wind Ensemble is a heartfelt memorial to the late Christine Nield Capote, flutist, teacher and friend.
Prokofiev: Romeo and Juliet Suites Nos. 1 and 2 - Pushkin Wa
Naxos
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$9.99$19.99Save 50%Jul 31, 2012
Sergey Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet was completed after the composer's final repatriation to Soviet Russia after a period abroad. It was written for the Kirov Ballet but early productions faltered, and Prokofiev soon adapted his music to the concert hall. The Suites avoid narrative sequence, selecting crucial moments such as the famous "balcony scene", and dramatic climaxes such as the Death of Tybalt. Composed to celebrate the famous author's 150th anniversary, the Pushkin Waltzes are relaxed, easygoing, and with a typically witty edge.
In The World Of The Spirits: Christmas Classics For Wind Band
Naxos
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$9.99$19.99Save 50%Oct 30, 2012
The Emory Symphonic Winds, comprised of members of the Emory Wind Ensemble and the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony, are American leaders in the commissioning of new music. Bruce Broughton’s In the World of Spirits was dedicated to the ensemble and is a work of action, dynamism and electric physicality. Christmas carols and hymns are explored by Gustav Holst while Jennifer Higdon charts the intangible beauty of music itself. Alfred Reed’s Russian Christmas Music is a classic of symphonic band writing: rich, colorful and sonorous.
Flagello: Symphony No. 2; Rosner: Symphony No. 8 / Bertman, U. Of Houston Wind Ensemble
Naxos
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$9.99$19.99Save 50%May 28, 2013
FLAGELLO Symphony No. 2, “Symphony of the Winds”1. Concerto Sinfonico (trans. Merlin Patterson).1,2 Odyssey1. Valse Noire (trans. Walter Simmons)2. ROSNER Symphony No. 8, “Trinity”1 • 1David Bertman, cond; 1University of Houston Wind Ens; 2University of Houston Sax Qrt • NAXOS 8.573060 (74:37)
The first thing regular readers will notice about this release is a heavy Fanfare presence. Our longtime reviewer Walter Simmons transcribed Flagello’s Valse Noire for saxophone quartet; that haunting, minor-key waltz was originally composed in 1964 for accordion. A more recent contributor, Merlin Patterson, transcribed Flagello’s Concerto Sinfonico (a concerto for saxophone quartet and orchestra) for symphonic band. The disc was produced by Merlin Patterson, with Walter Simmons as executive producer. Also, Fanfare reviewer Carson Cooman contributed to the digital editing of the recording. Under the circumstances it would be difficult for me to give this release a bad review; luckily, there is no need. The music is first-rate and the performances are excellent.
The second of Nicolas Flagello’s two symphonies was written for wind band in 1970 but did not receive its first public performance until nine years later. This kind of lengthy delay was typical during the final stages of the composer’s career, when his music was considered unfashionably romantic—if it was considered at all. The three movements’ subtitles convey the overall mood: The first is “The Torrid Winds of Veiled Portents,” the second, “Dark Winds of Lonely Contemplation,” and the third, a fugue, is called “The Winds of Re-birth and Vitality.” Like all of the composer’s works that I have heard, it is what I would call “high stakes” music. The emotional content is turbulent in the restless first movement, itself another ghostly waltz, but there is no relaxation of tension in the plaintive aria of the second movement nor in the finale, which engages in some tough contrapuntal writing. Throughout, Flagello’s sense of structure and the effectiveness of his scoring show the highest degree of expertise. This must be exciting music to play, and certainly stretching technically; I was struck by some tricky writing for trumpet in the second and third movements. Simmons’s notes do not mention it, but I wonder whether Flagello turned to this medium in the hope of emulating the success of his mentor Vittorio Giannini, whose Symphony No. 3 of 1958 for wind ensemble became a major repertory piece.
The characterful tone poem Odyssey of 1981 teems with even more “veiled portents” than the symphony, despite its comparatively jaunty central section. The tension of the grim opening is fearsome—so much so, I was reminded of Max Steiner’s atmospheric score for King Kong.
Naxos has previously released a fine recording of the original version of Flagello’s Concerto Sinfonico, and it is enlightening to compare the two. Patterson’s transcription is first-rate; like all good arrangements, it never hints that the work might have been conceived for different forces. Hearing the saxophone quartet as a sub-group of the wind ensemble clarifies the counterpoint (of which there is a lot in this work) and points up the intricacies of the interplay between the concertante and ripieno groups. The version with full orchestra sounds more like a concerto, with the soloists set in higher relief against the texture of strings. Again, it is a tough work but full of integrity, and though it was Flagello’s final completed composition it shows no sign whatsoever of his failing mental and physical condition.
Arnold Rosner is a younger composer than his discmate. Their two symphonies are quite unalike, except that both composers use tonal harmony. Rosner’s primary influence is the music of pre-Baroque eras, and I think the sonorities of the symphonic wind band emphasize this. The first movement of his symphony (titled “Ave Maria”) has an authentic feel of antiquity about it, almost as though it were a transcription of a Palestrina motet. A brass cantus firmus in the third movement (“Pythagoras”) brings overtones of Gesualdo, while the frequent use of sparkling tuned percussion across the top of the polyphonic texture suggests court music of the medieval period. Yet there is a freedom in the handling and development of this material that is distinctly 20th century. (The symphony was composed in 1988.) It is a fascinating and beautiful piece, probably my favorite of the composer’s works that I know.
The sound is close-up in the Naxos tradition, but that is no problem because the University of Houston Wind Ensemble plays magnificently. Its blend, attack, and range of dynamics are all this music requires and more, under Bertman’s strong direction. Playing standards have varied in the Naxos Wind Band Classics series, but this is one of the very best and a welcome addition to the growing Flagello discography.
Network / Ohio State University Wind Symphony, Mikkelson
Naxos
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$9.99$19.99Save 50%Mar 11, 2016
One of the most recognized wind bands in the United States, the Ohio State University Wind Symphony, conducted by Russel C. Mikkelson, has been a strong advocate for the composition of new works for wind band. This album by the ensemble features the title track, Network, as the explosive album opener. Following are works by Benjamin Britten, Gustav Mahler, and Steven Bryant. Soprano Katherine Rohrer is featured for Mahler’s Um Mitternacht.
American Classics - Fuchs: Canticle To The Sun, Etc
Naxos
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$9.99$19.99Save 50%Jan 29, 2008
Fuchs’s distinctive voice, flair for orchestral colours and sheer lyricism shine through.
Kenneth Fuchs is fortunate indeed to have not one but two discs of his music recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra. The first, in 2003, was nominated for two Grammys in 2005 and the second, recorded in 2006, should do well too, such is the quality of both the music and music-making. Holding it all together in the orchestral pieces and the mixed quintet is conductor JoAnn Falletta, who made such a strong impression in her recent disc of Respighi (review).
United Artists, the first item on the disc, was written specifically for the LSO as a gesture of thanks for their earlier recording of Fuchs’s works (Naxos 8.559224). At its core is a four-note motif, presented first in the Coplandesque opening fanfare. But this isn’t derivative music; indeed, the composer’s distinctive ‘voice’ is evident from the outset, and his flair for orchestral colours and sheer lyricism shine through in this atmospheric opener.
Quiet in the land is another of those vast musical landscapes that might provoke comparisons with Copland, yet Fuchs’s evocation of the Midwestern Plains just as the Iraq war was beginning is rather more complex and ambiguous in its sentiments. As the composer writes in the liner notes, ‘I wondered how quiet the spirit of our land might be’.
Even without this programme the opening bars hint at harmony, subtly undermined by vague discord - just listen to that quiet, agitated figure that begins at 1:30, beneath the more lyrical and expansive melody above. It is such lucid, ‘hear-through’ writing, yet it’s full of warmth. The members of the LSO manage to bring out both these aspects of the score, blending precision with feeling. And what a haunting close, too.
The recording venue – St Luke’s in London’s Old Street – is very well captured by the engineers, with no hint of brittleness or edge. The musicians seem ideally placed, too, which is particularly welcome in Fire, Ice, and Summer Bronze for brass quintet. Subtitled an ’Idyll ... after two works on paper by Helen Frankenthaler’ the first movement yokes together two eternal opposites – fire (the restless first section) and ice (the more muted second section).
There seems to be an underlying creative tension in some of these pieces, perhaps an attempt to reconcile musical and emotional extremes. For instance, in Summer Bronze the music is strangely mercurial – now lyrical, now dissonant, now both. But it’s that other dichotomy, between outward virtuosity and inner feeling, that these seasoned players – always secure, always poised – convey so well.
Based on a painting by Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm does contain some jazzy snippets, but the emphasis seems to be on sonorities, with long, lyrical melodic lines and, at times, a quirky bass. It is a strangely ‘in-between’ piece; to use the autumn analogy, summer is not quite done, yet winter is on its way. In his notes Fuchs describes how the two states are drawn together and, indeed, how one becomes the other: ‘An unusual aspect of this composition is that in its final section the flute, oboe, and clarinet metamorphose into their lower – perhaps autumnal – counterparts, the alto flute, English horn, and bass clarinet.’ It’s a remarkable sleight of hand, deftly constructed and seamlessly executed.
Canticle of the Sun – a hymn tune based on 13th-century texts by St Francis of Assisi – is built on a four-note motif. Written for the LSO’s principal horn player, Timothy Jones, this 20-minute gem has a radiant, all-embracing optimism that is just irresistible. Indeed, it is not unlike a stained glass window, all those fragments of high colour glowing in the light behind. But at the centre of it all is Jones’s supple and passionate playing, surely as seductive a performance of this piece as we are ever likely to hear.
As with Respighi’s Church Windows, Falletta displays a sense of line and phrase that is most welcome in this music. And while I’ve grumbled about the sound on some Naxos releases I’m prepared to eat humble pie on this one. The engineers have done an exceptional job capturing the sound of the LSO at St Luke’s; what a pleasant change from the dry-as-dust Barbican.
Early days, I know, but this could be one of my discs of 2008.
Italian Opera Arias / Zada, Yablonsky, Kiev Virtuosi Symphony Orchestra
Naxos
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$9.99$19.99Save 50%Oct 22, 2021
The Italian operatic repertoire offers some of the most passionate and much-loved music in the classical canon. In this outstanding collection, Azer Zada has selected music of moving intensity, dramatic power and spiritual resolve in works by Donizetti, Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Puccini and Verdi. Favorite tenor arias such as Nessun dorma!, Una furtiva lagrima, Recondita armonia and E lucevan le stelle are included, as well as three essential intermezzi by Mascagni. In the 2019–20 season, tenor Azer Zada made his debut in Cavalleria Rusticana /Pagliacci at Ravenna Festival, under the baton of maestro Riccardo Muti. He has alsosung leading roles under conductors Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Chailly, Nello Santi and Myung-Whun Chung. The Baku-born tenor has been awarded numerous prizes in competitions such as Concorso Lirico Internazionale di Portofino and First Prize in Concorso Voci Verdiane. This is also his first solo recording.
A.G.A Trio are three musicians from Armenia, Georgia and Anatolia (Asian Turkey), who have taken their heritage of melodies passed down through the ages and reinterpreted them to create vibrant ensemble music. From caravan travelers' lamentations in times of war to lively wedding dances in times of peace; this budding new group’s performances have captivated audiences in Europe. Born in Istanbul, Turkey, Deniz Kartal graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Turkish folk dance in 2005. He has since used his skillset to explore many different genres, including Balkan ska / reggae, electronic and folk music. He has performed with bands in Turkey, Sweden, Germany and the Czech Republic. Mikail Yakut studied classical accordion and jazz piano at university, he is a member of two bands and involved in numerous collaborations such as an electro-acoustic techno duo with Korhan Erel. One can hear influences of classical, contemporary, jazz and blues in his music. He enjoys mixing different styles and crossing genre borders while leaving room for improvisation in his live performances. Arsen Petrosyan is a young duduk master numerously awarded for his talent. He lives in Charentsavan, Armenia. Seen as a musical prodigy, he initially started his studies at the age of six. He has toured internationally and created diverse collaborations that go beyond the boundaries of traditional Armenian music.
Folk Music of China, Vol. 11 - Folk Songs of the Dai & Hani Peoples
Naxos World Music
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$10.49$20.99Save 50%Mar 26, 2021
China’s rich and diverse musical heritage has been recorded and documented in a stunning, original collection. With nineteen albums in the pipeline, this is a highly specialized series with the appeal of perhaps being the closest thing to the ‘complete works’ of traditional Chinese music. Each album features a different region of the vast territory; an historical snapshot of China’s heritage. Due to the cultural privacy China mandates, these are in fact rare, musical gems. This series explores China’s rich and diverse musical heritage. The songs featured in these recordings are folk songs from the Dai and Hani peoples of Yunnan province. As with Chinese traditional visual arts, the song titles explain their mood and origin.
Point Blank / Belongia, Illinois State University Wind Symphony
Naxos
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$9.99$19.99Save 50%Dec 09, 2014
ach of these five contemporary American pieces for wind band, performed by one of the country’s leading ensembles, explores its own very personal soundscape. Paul Dooley delves into the world of drum & bass with electronically inspired orchestrations, whilst for Steve Danyew the exploration of counterpoint is paramount. In composer Roy David Magnuson’s own words, Innsmouth, Massachusetts–1927 is “pulpy horror music” that depicts a night in H.P. Lovecraft’s terrifying The Shadow Over Innsmouth. In contrast, Scott McAllister’s Gone is meditative and prayerful. Pulitzer and GRAMMY® Prize-winner Jennifer Higdon’s Percussion Concerto is heard here in its arrangement for wind ensemble.
Brotons: Symphony No. 6 'concise'; Rebroll; Obstanacy; Glosa De L'emigrant
Naxos
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$9.99$19.99Save 50%Feb 10, 2015
The acclaimed conductor and composer Salvador Brotons is renowned for his music for symphonic band. It was Rebroll (Rebirth), a symphonic poem in one movement inspired by contemporary events, which first earned him international recognition, and is performed worldwide. Symphony No. 6 'Concise' charts a dramatic course between rhythmic dynamism, ceremonial grandeur and lyrical intimacy. Glosa de l'Emigrant is a nostalgic song cast as a sardana, the national dance of Catalonia, and features the beautiful sound of the tenora, a Catalan folk instrument. Brotons' Symphony No. 5 and his Oboe Concerto can be heard on 8.573163.
Berners: A Wedding Bouquet - Luna Park - March / Alwyn, RTÉ Sinfonietta, RTÉ Chamber Choir
Naxos
CD
$9.99$19.99Save 50%Oct 22, 2021
Lord Berners’ compositions, often satirical in intention, include ballets for Diaghilev and for Sadler’s Wells. While his first ballet, The Triumph of Neptune, is an ambitious and inventive example of his art (Naxos 8.555222), the choral ballet A Wedding Bouquet is Berners’ most original and successful work, if somewhat influenced by Stravinsky’s Les Noces. Written to a text by Gertrude Stein and choreographed by Frederick Ashton, this is music full of vivacity, festive brilliance and pathos. Set in a freak show pavilion, Luna Park is a ‘fantastic ballet in one act’, succinctly scored and wittily characterized.
A wild night, indeed! This isn’t exactly warm-breezy-night-on-the-square band fare, though it would certainly make an exciting concert if the municipal ensemble were up to the considerable virtuosic demands. As we know from their earlier Naxos release, “Redline Tango” (8.570074), the University of Kansas Wind Ensemble has virtuosity to burn. As in that inaugural release of the Naxos Winds Band Classics series, they produce a superb blend and sonority; brilliant and thrillingly massive in full flight and—thanks in large part to a collection of outstanding section soloists—beautifully refined in quieter passages. “Redline Tango” was conducted by long-time Director of Bands John Lynch, who left a fine legacy of technical excellence, musical sensitivity, and dedication to new music. Scott Weiss, holder of the director’s position since Lynch’s retirement in 2007, has plainly maintained the high standards.
The title work of the album starts the proceedings with a swagger. With high energy and high spirited, it lies stylistically somewhere between Copland’s An Outdoor Overture and Bernstein’s more manic moments. Inspired by the Emily Dickenson poem of the same name, it is more about the joy and ecstasy in that work than anything of the poet’s repressed sexual desires. In any case, jazzy and full of surprises, it is the perfect program opener.
Equally effective are David Dzubay’s magical Shadow Dance, a revisitation of Pérotin’s Viderunt omnes and John Mackey’s hyperactive Concerto for Soprano Sax and Wind Ensemble. Dzubay takes the concept of organum to remarkable extremes, creating a frenzied, irreverent modern equivalent of the 13th-century composer’s primitive polyphony. It has little to do with the medieval—excepting, of course, the concluding monk-like chanting of the cantus firmus—but everything to do with joyful celebration of the past. The Mackey Concerto, homage to his teacher John Corigliano, is five movements of nonstop technical demands on the soloist. Flanked by a Prelude and Finale that in themselves would provide a challenging work, the three inner movements celebrate the three materials in the saxophone. “Felt” shows off key work, with wild note bending and alternate fingerings. “Metal” exploits the beauty of the brass, with the sax playing high and sweetly, attended by bells and chimes. “Wood” displays the instrument’s warmth in a sensuous tango. Vince Gnojek, professor of saxophone at the University of Kansas, may not have the sweetest tone—more a reedy American jazz sound than a French quality—but his technical skill is staggering and he is matched by the band members who get an amazing workout.
The other two works, Steven Bryant’s Dusk, a chorale work that shows off the band’s beautiful control and Roshanne Etezady’s three-movement Anahita, inspired by a mural of the Zoroastrian goddess of the night, are attractive, but less-distinctive works. The locally produced recording has great dynamics but not a lot of air around the ensemble, and loud climaxes become congested. It is hard to tell if it is the hall or the miking, but it is not enough to detract significantly from the overall excellent impression. Enough said: those looking for Sousa and Broadway medleys, head for the ol’ band shell. Lovers of top-drawer wind bands and high octane, listener-friendly contemporary charts should apply within. And pick up that earlier Naxos release as well. Great stuff.
With a tradition going back to its formation in 1941, The United States Air Force Band has long been the Air Force’s premier musical organisation, inspiring audiences in America and all over the world. Many of the works on this album demonstrate the history and importance of flying, from Philip Wilby’s vision of a bygone era in Dawn Flight, Bruce Yurko’s Red Tail Skirmish dedicated to the heroism of Tuskegee Airmen in WWII, and the futuristic excitement of Asimov’s Aviary by Joel Puckett. The spectacular virtuosity of The United States Air Force Band can also be heard in Time Travels by the band’s chief arranger, Senior Master Sgt. Robert Thurston, and in the superb arrangement of three movements from Holst’s The Planets.
Comprising professors and band directors, the Taiwan Wind Ensemble is a leading international exponent of the wind repertory, not least in its exciting series of commissions. On this disc it presents a selection of music of orchestrations and originals from around the world. There are a variety of overtures and evocative dances from Bach to Bernstein, as well as Alfred Reed’s richly colorful Armenian Dances. They are complemented by Taiwanese composer Chia-Ying Chiang’s mysterious and beautiful recent composition A Chasing After The Wind, which takes its title from Ecclesiastes.
Krouse: Symphony No. 5 - Fanfare for the Heroes of the Korean War - Symphonies of Strings Nos. 1 & 2
Naxos
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$9.99$19.99Save 50%Nov 12, 2021
Underscoring the very special relationship between the United States and the Republic of Korea, the 2017 version of Ian Krouse'sSymphonyNo.5performed on this recording with a South Korean orchestra commemorates the 70thanniversary of the Korean War. At the heart of the second movement of this expressively powerful and wide-ranging work Krouse mingles three famous American melodies with the popular Korean tune Arirang. The two Symphonies of Strings show why he is so distinctive a composer: one is scored for strings but without violins and the other is a brilliantly inventive 'geometrical' exploration of La Follia.
