Catching the musical "bug" when given a trumpet at age nine, Fisher "Mickey" Tull (1934-94) and his older brother formed a high school jazz group called "The Dukes of Rhythm", even making some recordings at the local radio station. From there he went "on the road", gaining valuable professional experience. Enrolling at North Texas State Univ., he was immediately immersed in a trumpet studio overflowing with talented players, some being later immortalized in one of Tull's compositions, Eight Profiles for solo trumpet. He joined the faculty of Sam Houston State Univ. In 1957 as a music theory instructor. After completing a Ph.D. in Composition he was promoted to Chairmanship of the Music Department at Sam Houston State, his seventeen-year tenure spanning some of the Depts. #most successful years. The burgeoning city of Houston, with it's symphony orchestra and a ballet company, provided professional outlets for his compositions. This recording seeks to present some of Tull's lesser-known compositions deserving of attention. (Tim Tull, from the liner notes)

‘I doff my hat to these terrifically talented Texans’; that was my enthusiastic sign-off to this ensemble’s previous album, Shadow of Sirius, the latest of Naxos's Wind Band Classics. That series is particularly valuable, as it showcases the talents of American college groups. UTWE is high among them, so I was delighted to hear they would feature in this new disc from audiophile label Reference Recordings. In the past RR releases have certainly lived up to their name; indeed, Organ Polychrome impressed me so much that I made it one of my top picks for 2015.

The label’s in-house recordings – denoted by the album prefix RR – are masterminded by Keith O. Johnson. Something of a legend he uses both hand-made and carefully modified equipment to produce some of the most life-like recordings available today. The releases with the prefix FR are recorded by other production teams and licensed to Reference. Manfred Honeck’s Pittsburgh Beethoven 5 and 7 and Bruckner Fourth fall into that category. However, as good as those SoundMirror productions are they can’t beat a ‘Johnson Special’.

Now, back to the music. John Mackey, composer of the title piece Wine Dark Sea, came to my attention with his short but brilliantly plumed Kingfishers Catch Fire; that was one of the stand-out items on the Sirius album I mentioned earlier. As for Frank Ticheli he swum into my ken with An American Elegy, a deeply affecting response to the Columbine shootings in 1999. Landscapes, the collection from which it comes, is yet another of those Naxos Wind Band releases. I’ve also enjoyed The Shore, which finds the composer in confident choral mode.

Dan Welcher, whose Spumante opens with the popping of a cork, is new to me. This engaging piece, commissioned by the Boston Pops, is rather more subtle than its effervescent title might suggest. The arrangement is assured, the playing is crisp and the recording is immaculate. There are moments here that remind me of Leonard Bernstein’s overture to Candide; then again, Lenny looms so large in the history of 20th-century American music that he’s impossible to ignore. That said, Welcher casts the net wide, citing William Schuman, Samuel Barber and Walter Piston as his primary musical influences.

I’ve not encountered the music of Donald Grantham before, but his Louisiana-inspired J'ai été au bal (I went to the dance), with its artful use of Cajun tunes, is an ear-pricking, toe-tapping delight. The music’s panoply of colours and rhythms is superbly caught; even more astounding is the virtuosity of this band, whose stylish playing would put many a professional to shame. Would that we had such fine ensembles here in the UK; alas, the parlous state of music education in our schools seems to have extended to many of our universities as well. That's not to say there aren't any talented groups performing at this level, just that we don't have nearly enough of them.

Next up is Ticheli's clarinet concerto, with Eastman/Juilliard graduate and chamber-musician Nathan Williams as the soloist. The composer talks of his ‘playful allusions’ to the music of Gershwin, Copland and – of course – Bernstein, all of which are skilfully done. Williams is a lively and communicative player with a fine technique. He certainly impresses in the limpid loveliness of Song for Aaron, so redolent of Copland's signature pieces. As for the Bernstein riffs – with a nod towards West Side Story – they find composer, soloist and band at their deft and rhythmic best. There are some highly individual slips and slides here – all so confidently voiced – and the vigorous sign-off left me wanting more.

In his candid booklet notes John Mackey admits that he writes the music and his wife Abby comes up with the titles; that's a novel approach, but the wonderfully evocative results speak for themselves. Wine Dark Sea – a Jerry Junkin/UTWE commission – was to last 30 minutes, hence the decision to go for something both epic and programmatic; well, Homer’s Odyssey qualifies on both counts. The first movement, with its opening fanfares and thrilling echoes, certainly has the necessary boldness and sweep. The music’s compelling character – savor that snapping side-drum and Stygian bass one – is superbly realized in this very sophisticated recording. It’s a beguiling, velvet sound, just like the best of analogue but with an extraordinarily wide dynamic range.

Mackey’s score is most inventive, with much for the band to explore and execute, and I was struck by just how magnetic the outer movements are. Not only that, the music has muscle and sinew, its more rarefied moments complemented by passages of startling weight and trenchancy. By contrast the central movement, with its atmospheric harp part, is beautifully spun. The restless finale has undeniable tension, and the work builds to an emphatic close. Indeed, Wine Dark Sea is genuinely symphonic in its scope and impact; it's a fine piece, and it deserves to do well. As always the instrumental blend is faultless, there's passion aplenty, and the recording is first rate; really, what more could you possibly want?

Music of variety and substance, stylishly played; another Rolls-Royce recording from Reference.

– MusicWeb International (Dan Morgan)

This recording presents new music composed for, and commissioned by, the U.S. Air Force Band that is immediately accessible, joyful as well as powerful, and most of all, lasting. Col Lowell Graham's Grammy-winning recordings have been recognized in Stereophile's "Records to Die For" list and Absolute Sound's "The Super Disc List."

It's hard not to like Leroy Anderson, a skilled orchestral craftsman with a rich supply of clever ideas, an ingratiating musical imagination, and, thank heaven, a sense of humor. Most of his music embodies the term "American light classical", and you can't listen to pieces such as Sleigh Ride or Bugler's Holiday without a smile and feeling just a bit lighter of spirit. The selections featured here, billed as a "collection of Leroy Anderson's holiday music", are taken from Naxos' excellent multi-volume series devoted to Anderson's orchestral music. Although it's not clear why such numbers as Horse and Buggy, The Waltzing Cat, and The Golden Years are here, in style and mood they take nothing away from the more obvious Christmas/holiday pieces. And while it's possible to imagine just a bit more personality and panache in the articulation in some places (à la Boston Pops), Leonard Slatkin is an unqualified expert in this repertoire, and he leads his British orchestra with consummately entertaining style, all of it most favorably recorded.

Four years ago Decca released A Leroy Anderson Christmas, which contains many of the same works featured on this program--performed both by the Boston Pops and Arthur Fiedler (Sleigh Ride) and by Anderson conducting his own orchestra. Although that one is worthy for its historical aspects, this one is superior for its consistently high-quality performances, much more satisfying ambience, and first-rate sound. Highly recommended.

--David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com

Hearing Gabrieli's music live is a uniquely transporting aural experience. A recent Pittsburgh Symphony Concert conducted by Mariss Jansons featured three brass choirs placed on the stage and in the left and right balconies, creating marvelous spatial effects. It occurred to me that this would be the perfect music to demonstrate the surround sound capabilities of SACD and DVD Audio. While this new Naxos recording utilizes neither of those technologies, it's pretty impressive on its own, presenting Gabrieli's antiphonal constructions in vivid, three dimensional sound, recorded in London's All Hallows Church. Volume 3 begins with the Canzona in Echo Duodecimi Toni a 10 (1597), which uses two five-part choirs to create some marvelously imaginative echo effects (a favorite device of baroque composers).


Canzona X of 1615 is one of the more extensive works in this collection, full of spectacular flourishes and elaborate polyphonic passages. Spectacular in another way is the minor mode Canzona Quarti Toni, with its challenging writing for 15 voices in three choirs (mostly in the alto and bass registers). All 13 selections receive splendid performances by the London Symphony Orchestra Brass, a truly world-class ensemble that plays with ringing tone, beautifully blended sonority, and immaculate clarity. Eric Crees, who prepared new editions of Gabrieli's works for this series, conducts with scholarly authority, sparked by evangelical fervor. If you avoided all those "hip" brass ensemble discs in the 80s and 90s, give this a try. You'll be pleasantly surprised.
--Victor Carr Jr., ClassicsToday.com

American Salute: Spirit of the Nation is a tasteful collection of orchestral pieces devoted to the history and vitality of the United States. Performed by a series of orchestras, highlights include Aaron Copland's sweeping "Hoe Down," "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and Ferde Grofé's "Grand Canyon Suite 'Sunrise'," during which the anticipation of the sun hitting the lip of the canyon is palpable. The introspective moments of "Variations on 'America'" and Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" are also a nice touch, as they offset the collection's more bombastic moments. Basic versions of the "Star Spangled Banner" and "Stars and Stripes Forever" round out the set.

Admirers of the composer need not hesitate.

An hour’s worth of Hovhaness in ‘wind band plus percussion symphonic garb’ is the raison d’être of this Naxos release. It bears all his most obvious hallmarks, sometimes starkly: vistas, intense tattoos, hieratic brass, convulsive dialogues, chimes, noble perorations, edifices of almost Mayan splendour.

The Seventh Symphony dates from 1959. The purity of its rhythmic percussion tattoos and the hieratic nature of its brass calls give one an idea of the processional intensity of its dramaturgy. The loquacity of his wind writing implies a raft of interior monologues. The writing becomes more concentrated in the central movement where Hovhaness ensures themes are less fragmentary and by the finale things have turned positively Olympian. The percussion is now subservient to the to the brass calls, themselves more legato and ushering in a sunset glow, and a cooling, reflective consonance.

The following year he wrote Ararat, Symphony No.14. It makes much of ‘dragon fly’ sonorities, bright trumpets and glittering percussion once again but adds a further percussive layer via bell chimes and a buzzy series of terraced sonorities – dramatic, florid, and ground shaking in the central movement. The percussion starts up immediately in the finale but is gradually worn down by the sheer pugilistic insistence of the conquering brass.

The final symphony of the three is written on a much broader canvas than these two quarter of an hour works. But it too is a powerful construction, its chattering winds and terse declamation capturing the ear with great trenchancy. Drunken lowering lower brass add a leering patina as well, as do the aero engine and gamelan evocations. The finale is a wonderful example of nobility and processional tread with repeated figures passed from brass to wind adding a layer of sonic depth. We feel as if some vast castle is being evoked, as the brass calls resound from battlement to crenellation; Gormenghast in music.

Keith Brion has a long track-record with Hovhaness and he directs his forces with great vitality and precision. This splendid disc has been excellently engineered and admirers of the composer need not hesitate.

-- Jonathan Woolf, MusicWeb International

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These three symphonies for wind orchestra treat some recurring themes in Alan Hovhaness' work: mountains (Symphonies Nos. 7 and 14) and his Armenian heritage (Symphony No. 23, evocative of the medieval city of Ani, "The City of A Thousand and One Cathedrals"). The later work is by far the most substantial, but all of them constitute worthy additions to the repertoire for winds and percussion. They are very well played here by the Trinity College ensemble under Keith Brion, who has lived with this music for many decades. Perhaps the English horn soloist in "Sunset", the last movement of Symphony No. 7, is a touch "quacky", but this and any other criticisms would be mere quibbles. The brass play with confidence and the sort of imposing serenity that Hovhaness so often requires, while the drums, bells, and tam-tam punctuate the texture atmospherically. Sonics are very fine, and the entire production is dedicated touchingly to the memory of Lady Evelyn Barbirolli (d. 2008), who some readers may recall was a noted oboist in her day. Recommended to fans of the composer, and of good music for concert band.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

Milhaud’s La création du Monde used to be quite popular, at least on disc, but it seems to have vanished from the discography recently, at least until now. Christian Lindberg has assembled a varied and interesting program built around Milhaud’s jazz ballet masterpiece, and featuring solo saxophonist Claude Delangle. He’s featured in a splendid performance of Paul Creston’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Band (another unfairly neglected work), Roger Boutry’s really charming Divertimento for Alto Saxophone and Winds, John Williams’ rather commercial Catch Me If You Can, and the obligatory Piazzolla arrangement (Escualo).

The Swedish Wind Ensemble by itself stars in Anders Emilsson’s witty and harmonically entertaining Salute the Band, and in the Milhaud, which receives a performance of exceptional virtuosity, but also extreme mellowness. At the opening the sound is simply gorgeous, but as the work proceeds it would have been nice to hear a more “dirty” sound from the ensemble. Today’s players are so technically adept that they can do anything smoothly, but there are times when the music demands a certain edge that’s not generously evident here.

It’s not a huge problem, to be honest, especially when the program is so much fun, and BIS’s engineering is absolutely demonstration quality. In context, the playing is all of a piece, and it’s pretty excellent.

-- David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

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Here’s a colorful, sophisticated program showcasing the marvelous alto saxophonist Claude Delangle, who’s collaborated with Piazzolla, Boulez, Berio, Takemitsu, and Salonen and who has been singled out for praise on MusicWeb International before. His new album with the Swedish Wind Ensemble is consistently ear-catching.
 
The appetizer is a suite of three numbers from John Williams’ film score Catch Me If You Can, one of my favorites of Williams - it avoids cliché and captures the movie’s spirit well. Then it’s on to the title work, Darius Milhaud’s La création du monde. Delangle is absent, but some friends of the players join for the string parts. It’s a delightful, jazzy performance with spirited solos.
 
Roger Boutry’s Divertimento for saxophone and band has a seductive French swagger and incredible songlike slow movement which make its appeal instant. Boutry arranged the piece for this recording; it was originally for sax and strings, and the rescoring includes great touches like muted trumpets in the andante.
 
The introduction to Paul Creston’s concerto makes it sound like the American response to Khachaturian (xylophone!), but the solo saxophonist’s lyrical instincts take over the proceedings, including a great duet with flutes. The finale is bursting with wit; it feels like something I know and love and can’t quite put my finger on.
 
Anders Emilsson’s Salute the Band is the odd piece out, a mosaic of ideas: some pulsate, some clash, some have Elgarian pomp, some are tense, some are grindingly dissonant … and Piazzolla’s Escualo is a wonderful encore.
 
With good sound and BIS’s usual classy presentation - although this is not an SACD hybrid - I find this absurdly easy to welcome. Anyone interested in the saxophone or jazzy, snappy modern repertoire will find much to enjoy. It’s a cosmopolitan, sophisticated album to put on while enjoying a glass of red wine and some witty conversation.
 
-- Brian Reinhart, MusicWeb International

Grand music for coronations, for ceremonial occasions, for matters of state and for formal dancing is brought together in this special album. 400 years of quintessentially British music, from Matthew Locke to Eric Coates, centered around the peerless style of Sir Edward Elgar, whose ‘pomp and circumstance’ marches are familiar to us all.

Core band repertoire, worth exploring.

The Naxos Wind Band Classics series seeks here to plug some pretty significant holes in its catalog. With nearly two dozen entries in the series, the works on this disc had yet to make an appearance. The Holst and Grainger, in particular, are the band world’s “Beethoven 5” and “Brahms 1,” or something like that, so this disc seems guaranteed to sell copies to both the curious listener who doesn’t usually listen to band music and to the devoted band fan who could use another copy of these works at the attractive Naxos price.

The Holst is an extremely well-crafted three movement work, with the opening motif unifying the whole piece. It has a special place in the band repertoire as one of the first substantial pieces of music written for wind band by an established composer. A good high school band can play the piece well, but a band of this caliber can also play it and not feel like they’re playing “easy music” - it’s got a quality of deceptive simplicity which makes it easy to enjoy for both performer and listener. The Grainger has a similar melodic appeal, at times, but is much more complex, and is regarded by many Grainger aficionados as his single finest work in any medium. It was also probably the first piece in the band repertoire to deserve being described as an unqualified masterpiece. Its six movements chart a very satisfying emotional journey, and if this disc helps bring it to a wider audience, it will have done much good.

The Hindemith and Schwantner are altogether different. Both reward repeated listens, the Hindemith in particular, as its contrapuntal ingenuity becomes clearer with time. As with the Grainger, any fan of the composer would find much to admire in this wonderful piece. The Schwantner is arguably the least essential of these four works, but that is largely because it is the most contemporary composition here and has not had as long to become a repertoire staple. The colors explored, though, are rich and affecting, and it points a way forward to the explosion in wind band repertoire of the past thirty years or so.

So, for those who don’t know these pieces, it’s a fine way to gather four cornerstones of the repertoire. There are stronger performances of these four works elsewhere - the Eastman Wind Ensemble’s superlative “Live in Osaka” disc, available at a similar price, includes three of them - but these are certainly excellent performances. The band sounds great, and the straightforward interpretations and recorded sound allow the listener to hear every detail.

-- Benn Martin, MusicWeb International