Bite the Bullet was inspired by the Venetian artist Carlo Marchiori’s painting of the same name. The painting depicts two Pulcinelli, Venetian clowns dressed as bakers, shooting at one another with guns, bullets meeting in the middle, creating a white-orange-pink cloudburst. I was in awe of the vibrant colored landscape and the Pulcinelli, providing the creative impetus for this work. In Bite the Bullet, I portray the intensity of the painting and use my own sonic color scheme through orchestration and instrumental color. You will hear the intensity of the brass and percussion sections portraying the gunshots by the Pulcinelli with the woodwind flourishes emulating the painter’s brush strokes.
This new release is the latest title in The American Bandmasters Association’s Commemorative Recording Series, and focuses on the legacy of John R. Bourgeois. Colonel John R. Bourgeois, USMC (Ret), was the 25th Director of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. His acclaimed career spanned nine presidential administrations from Presidents Eisenhower to Clinton. A native of Louisiana, Colonel Bourgeois is a graduate of Loyola University in New Orleans. He joined the Marine Corps in 1956 and entered The President’s Own in 1958 as a French Hornist and arranger. Named Director in 1979, Colonel Bourgeois was promoted to his present rank in 1983. He retired from active duty on July 11, 1996. As director of The President’s Own, Bourgeois was Music Adviser to the White House. He selected the musical program and directed the band in its traditional place of honor at the US Capitol for four presidential inaugurations, a Marine Band tradition dating back to 1801. He regularly conducted the Marine Band and the Marine Chamber Orchestra at the White House, appearing there more frequently than any other musician in the nation.
The UNLV Wind Orchestra has received international acclaim for its fresh and creative approach to music making. Performing contemporary repertoire in addition to classical masterworks, the Wind Orchestra at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas has been responsible for commissioning and premiering numerous significant new works by America’s finest young contemporary composers. The ensemble is comprised of music majors, non-majors, and includes select graduate students enrolled in the masters and doctoral performance degree programs at UNLV. Under the baton of Professor Thomas G. Leslie, the Wind Orchestra has received acclaim for outstanding performances at conventions across the globe. They have also received outstanding reviews for twenty professional recordings of international repute. The cornerstone of this album- and the piece from where the album’s title comes- is Morton Gould’s Festive Music, penned in 1964 by the Tri-City Symphony Orchestra of Illinois. In 1991 Mark Jirousek transcribed the work for wind band- the arrangement heard on this release. This work is paired with other remarkable wind band pieces by composers Malcolm Arnold, Howard Hanson, Julian Tanaka, and Jean Francaix.
Julie Giroux has been composing since the age of 8, and has been hard at work ever since. Her first composition for band was published when she was only 13 years old. With over 100 film, television and video game credits, Giroux has collaborated with dozens of film composers, producers, and celebrities. She won an individual Emmy Award in the field of "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Direction." When she won her first Emmy, she was the first female and the youngest person ever to win that award. On this release, Shine, the University of North Texas Symphonic Band presents some of her most fantastic concert band pieces. The Symphonic Band at UNT has developed an exemplary national reputation for both their performances and recordings. Membership is drawn from the finest musicians attending the College of Music. The highest quality traditional, mixed with contemporary literature make up the foundation of musical repertoire performed by the group.
Music professor and conductor John Philip Paynter completed his formal music studies at Northwestern University. Paynter had received early musical training at the insistence of his father, an amateur bandsman who admired Sousa. As a child, Paynter took piano and organ lessons and, like his father before him, played the clarinet. In 1956 Paynter helped to establish the 113-member Northshore Concert Band. Under his leadership the ensemble developed into the role model for community bands nationally and worldwide. With members who have been in the band for thirty years as well as recent college graduates, NCB is a fine example of the idea, championed by Paynter, that music-making should play a role in the lives of people of all ages and professions. The Northshore Concert band is heard here performing Kalinnikov’s Symphony No. 1. Ensembles from the Northwestern University – where Paynter served as the second Director of Bands- are heard on the other works.
Of Shadow & Light / Popiel, University of Kansas Wind Ensemble
Klavier
CD
$18.99Feb 17, 2017
Ideas about lightness and shadow have inspired countless artists throughout the years as expressions of beauty and mystery, sources of comfort and harbingers of doom, and representations of divinity and chaos. Each in their own way, the works on this release engage with images of light and shadow, reflecting the breadth of emotions wrapped up in this basic dichotomy that shapes all of our experiences. The University of Kansas Wind Ensemble has been described as “one of America’s most esteemed concert bands.” (New York Times) After the group’s Carnegie Hall debut in 2013, New York Times described the ensemble as “performing with polish, assurance and copious spirit, eliciting a rousing ovation.” Pieces by leading contemporary wind band composers are featured on this new release, including Steven Bryant, Aaron Perrine, James Barnes, Joel Puckett, John Mackey, and Joni Greene.
Samuel Hazo has composed for professional, university and public school ensembles, as well as original scores for television, radio and the stage. Many of the compositions on this release are used around the world for educational purposes and are included in the series Teaching Music Through Performance in Band.
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)
Experience some of the world's most beautiful music, as performed by the U.S. Air Force Band, Col. Lowell E. Graham, Commander/Conductor. This album, the third in a series highlighting the art of transcription, displays all of the color, passion and flair that have made these musical works concert favorites. Featuring works by Emmanuel Chabrier, Jules Massenet, Camille Saint-Saëns, Claude Debussy, Jacques Ibert and Maurice Ravel.
William F. Santelmann: American Bandmasters Association Recording Series
Klavier
CD
$18.99Oct 14, 2014
William F. Santelmann (1902-84), USMC (Ret.), was 21st Leader/Director of the USMB, serving from 1940-55. His musical training began at age six with his father, then-Director of the Marine Band Captain William H. Santelmann. He was accepted into the Marine Band in 1923. Klavier presents a commemorative disc of recordings featuring this noted mid-20th c. USMB Band Director. (Klavier)
Since its founding in 1985, the Dallas Wind Symphony, led by Artistic Director and Conductor Jerry Junkin, has become one of the world’s top professional wind ensembles, providing a standard against which other bands measure excellence. Soaring lyricism, especially in the solo trumpet part, characterizes each of the three richly scored lyrical sections of Fisher Tull’s Rhapsody for Trumpet and Band (1980), which surround two faster, more technically demanding portions of the work. Harry Begian (1921-2010) created the transcription of the first movement of Reinhold Glière’s Concerto for Coloratura Soprano for a 1983 University of Illinois Symphonic Band concert. The movement is characteristically Russian, full of long, brooding phrases juxtaposed against upwardly spinning melodies. Receiving its world premiere recording, Brett William Dietz’s Redshift is full of color, contrast and fast-paced drama. The work contains a great amount of interplay between the trumpet soloist and ensemble, and prominently features the percussion section. Two additional works, Rachmaninov’s Vocalise and a second by Fisher Tull (Concerto No. 2 for Trumpet and Band), round out this disc.
The Eastern Wind Symphony present a program of 20th century works for winds, including Vincent Persichetti’s Serenade, op. 85 and Joaquin Rodrigo’s first work for winds, the 1966 Adagio. +The Eastern Wind Symphony’s professional members are accomplished and talented musicians who volunteer their time and talents to present the best in wind symphony repertoire. +Artistic Director Todd Nichols and Assistant Conductor Adam Warshafsky currently guide the ensemble.
"• Ventanas features Thomas G. Leslie conducting the UNLV Wind Orchestra.
• Jazz saxophonist Eric Marienthal is featured on Michael Kamen's Concerto for Saxophone.
• Works by well-known composers Malcolm Arnold and Silvestre Revueltas (“Ventanas”) are also featured."
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."
Recorded in 2006 and 2008 in Leamy Hall Auditorium and the U.S Coast Guard Academy, the Coast Guard Band under conductor Cap. Kenneth Megan presents American Journeys. The CD features compositions from American composers Williams, Gould, Daugherty, King, Grantham, Buckley and Cheetham.
Respighi: Fountains Of Rome, Pines Of Rome, Roman Festivals / Graham, US Air Force Band
Klavier
CD
$18.99Aug 31, 2010
If only the standard symphonic recordings of this music could boast sound this good! Actually, in "Pines" I still have a slight preference for the version recorded by the "President's Own" Marine Corps Band, but if you're looking for all three "Roman" tone poems, this stunningly recorded disc will be pretty hard to beat. The transcriptions, by Lawrence Odom, are amazingly faithful to Respighi's original concept, and you'll be surprised at how little you miss the presence of the strings. The soft, delicate passages ("The Pines of the Janiculum", or the outer sections of "Fountains") sound just fine here, though the very opening of "Festivals" lacks the slashing attack of the violins. Never mind.
The brass and winds of the U.S. Air Force Band play with a boldness and confidence that's breathtaking. Just listen to the trombones and other low brass in the "Trevi Fountain" (and to the way conductor Graham builds the section's climax). "The Pines Near a Catacomb" sounds even darker and more menacing than in the original, while the concluding sections of "Pines" and "Festivals" will blow you away, if your speakers can stand it.
It's also worth pointing out that Col. Lowell E. Graham's conducting is not just strong and forthright, but it's remarkably sensitive to balance and color, even in heavily scored passages. The very opening of "Pines" gives the harps a welcome prominence that they haven't enjoyed since Reiner's classic RCA recording. In short, even if you're not normally a collector of band music recordings, you might want to give this disc serious consideration. Great music-making, after all, speaks for itself.
CELEBRATION • Col. Lowell Graham, cond; United States Air Force Band • KLAVIER K11176 (66: 01)
COPLAND An Outdoor Overture. SCHUMAN New England Triptych. HOLST Hammersmith. BENNETT Suite of Old American Dances. CRESTON Celebration Overture
This collection of band repertoire staples benefits from performances that are never less than first-rate, captured in stunning sound. All were either originally composed for band or transcribed for the medium by the composer.
The two transcriptions—Aaron Copland’s An Outdoor Overture and William Schuman’s New England Triptych—are perhaps the least successful works on the program, especially when compared to their orchestral counterparts. This is especially true of Schuman’s three-movement suite based on Revolutionary War songs by William Billings, the band transcription of which is substantially inferior to its orchestral cousin. Schuman prepared the band version of the third movement, “Chester,” around the same time he composed the original work, altering and expanding the music until it essentially became a new piece. The resultant work, the brilliant Chester Overture, is more often than not performed as a freestanding, independent piece. Sadly, the other two movements of the triptych did not fare as well. For the band transcription of the first movement, “Be Glad Then, America,” Schuman added a good deal of gratuitous ornamentation, as well as additional percussion parts that can only be described as perfunctory. The mystery and ominous foreboding of the original introduction are completely absent here. This movement also suffers from thick, turgid textures, as does the second movement, “When Jesus Wept,” which was originally scored very transparently for strings with solo parts for oboe, bassoon, and tenor drum. In the band version, Schuman reassigned the oboe and bassoon solos to trumpet and euphonium. Why I don’t know, but as a result, the music’s poignancy and pathos are substantially diminished. There are also a couple of notational errors (actual wrong notes printed in the sheet music) in the solo euphonium part that are not corrected in this performance (though to be fair, they rarely are).
The remaining works are all band originals. Gustav Holst’s Hammersmith of 1930 was inspired by the composer’s evening walks along the Thames during which he not only absorbed the sounds of the river itself, but also the revelry and gaiety emanating from the numerous pubs and taverns along the river’s banks. A somber, dirge-like prelude, constructed over a brooding ground bass, gives way to a boisterous, rollicking scherzo, only to eventually return as the work’s solemn coda. Though considered to be something of a “sacred cow” in the band repertoire, I must admit that the work has always left me a bit cold. (Heresy, I know.) Robert Russell Bennett’s Suite of Old American Dances is exactly what the title describes, each of its five movements—“Cake Walk,” “Schottische,” “Western One-Step,” “Wallflower Waltz,” and “Rag”—perfectly evoking the simple nostalgia of bygone Americana. The program comes to an exhilarating conclusion with a rousing account of Paul Creston’s exuberant Celebration Overture, a masterly three-part work highlighted by a particularly lovely ballad as its central section.
These recordings, all of which are among the finest this music has ever received, were originally available only through official Department of the Air Force channels. First released in 1996, though only to schools, libraries, radio stations, and other “official” recipients, these superb performances are now available to the general public for the first time. As there are many other first-rate recordings from this source still in the vaults, we can only hope that this disc will be followed by many, many more.
Ron Nelson: To The Airborne, Mayflower Overture, Etc / Stamp, Keyston Wind Ensemble
Klavier
CD
$18.99Jun 24, 2008
This most recent of Klavier’s Wind Band releases is a collection of music by composer Ron Nelson whose wind band compositions span six decades of the 20th and 21st centuries. Included are some of Nelson’s earliest works such as the Mayflower Overture composed in 1958, and his most recent works like Pastorale: Autumn Rune written in 2006. Other pieces included that show the breadth and depth of Nelson’s music are Fanfare for the Kennedy Center (commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and Sir Neville Marriner) and a pyrotechinally brilliant work representing the optimism the world felt at the dawn of the 21st century, Fanfare for the New Millenium.
Lawrence Johnson of the Chicago Tribune has said that “Nelson’s music is ingeniously and beautifully crafted…that rarest of animals, contemporary music that is intelligently woven, fresh, audience-friendly and life-enhancing.” Ron Nelson was awarded the Medal of Honor of the John Philip Sousa Foundation in Washington, DC and an honorary doctorate from Oklahoma City University.
The album concludes with a fascinating interview with Ron Nelson.This extensive survey of Nelson’s composing career is brought to life by The Keystone Wind Ensemble under the leadership of Jack Stamp. The Keystone Wind Ensemble is comprised of approximately 50 woodwind, brass, and percussion players. All members are alumni, students, faculty or administrators from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Fanfare magazine has praised the ensemble by stating that “the group plays with precise intonation and ensemble, able to tackle tricky rhythms and keep dense textures clear.
