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.
Brahms originally wrote the Piano Quintet, Op. 34, for string quintet before recasting the work as a two-piano sonata. However, the sheet music has not ever been recovered. So, finnish cellist Karttunen set about its reconstruction. The result has all the vigor and power of the music we know but now recast in a different sonority.
REVIEW:
Another triumph for a small independent label. Brilliant thought provoking re-evaluations of ‘standard’ works by Brahms. The double viola version of the clarinet quintet in Brahms’ own arrangement is especially rewarding featuring some of the most beautiful viola playing I have ever heard from Steven Dann. Life-enhancing stuff.
