BrundibAr is part of an inspiring human legacy. Hans KrAsa' beautiful children' opera, performed 55 times at the Terezin concentration camp, stands as a memorial to it's original performers, the child inmates of Terezin. Tony Kushner' acclaimed new English.

Daphnis et Chloe, generally regarded as Ravel's masterpiece, is one of the numerous important scores that owe their existence to the famous ballet impresario Sergey Diaghilev, who commissioned new works for his Paris-based troupe.

Let us separate the crime from the execution. The Peabody Conservatory Wind Ensemble has to be rated among the very top wind bands in the US, right up there with the estimable Eastman Wind Ensemble.

I believe it was a Fanfare contributor who once wrote that if he ever had to listen to Orff’s Carmina burana again he would throw up. While the piece is not exactly an emetic for me, it’s not one I find to have many redeeming features. This arrangement for concert band by John Krance strikes me as the equivalent of a divide by zero error. It’s too bad that much brilliant playing has been spent on it, (therein lies the crime) when there are so many wonderful pieces, both original and arranged, for concert band.

Bird’s Serenade is one of them. Arthur A. Bird (1856–1923)—you will not learn from the enclosed booklet note—was born in Belmont, Massachusetts. In 1875, he was sent to Germany to study at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik; and except for brief visits home, he remained abroad for the rest of his life. He became a chess partner and close friend of Liszt, and wrote over 100 works. He was considered a “composer of promise” up until his marriage in 1888 to a wealthy widow, after which he apparently preferred to live the lazy life of the idle rich. Bird’s Serenade, here edited by Gunther Schuller, is a beautiful piece in late Romantic style that won the Paderewski Prize for best chamber work by an American composer in 1901. It was first performed in Boston by Georges Longy and his Woodwind Club in 1902. If you are familiar with and like the wind works of Richard Strauss, you will find much to enjoy here.

Herbert Owen Reed (b. 1910) in Odessa, Missouri, has quite an impressive calling card. Earning his baccalaureate and graduate degrees in music composition from Louisiana State University, he went on to the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Howard Hanson, among others, earning his Ph.D. in 1939. At Tanglewood, he met and furthered his studies with Martin?, Copland, and Bernstein. Then, in Colorado Springs, he continued to study under Roy Harris, and eventually he took lessons from Schoenberg. That’s quite a diverse background, a lot of which, except for the Schoenberg, is reflected in his La fiesta mexicana, Reed’s best-known work. Reed has made a serious study of the Native American musics of Taos, New Mexico, and his scores derive much of their material, not just from Native North American cultures, but from Mexican and Aztec sources as well. La fiesta is a major composition that embraces a number of musical styles and evokes an ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors and moods. Particularly moving is the movement titled Mass. It is the centerpiece of this Mexican folk song symphony that depicts a religious festival dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Bird and Reed items are more than worth the price of this budget Naxos disc. And you are not likely to hear these pieces better played. Recommended.

FANFARE: Jerry Dubins

The work that gives this disc it's name, Michael Colgrass' Winds of Nagual, was inspired by the writings of Carlos Castaneda and his experiences with a Yaqui Indian sorcerer, delving into the secrets of pre-Columbian wisdom.

Redline Tango launches the new line of Naxos recordings, Wind Band Classics.

The Bulgarian-born Emil Tabakov successfully combines the r'les of conductor and composer. His Concerto for Two Flutes and Orchestra, written in 2000 at the request of the French flautist Patrick Gallois.

The essence of Busoni's music lies in a synthesis of his Italian and German ancestry: emotion and intellect, imagination and discipline, often allied with a re-creative approach to the musical past.

The United States Marine Band was founded by an act of Congress in 1798, making it the oldest professional musical organisation in America. It is also one of the most respected Bands in the World, so expectations have to be high. The standard is indeed remarkable, with, as you might anticipate, faultless intonation, rhythmic control and instrumental balance. The recording location is not given on the CD notes, and the website gives nothing away either, the word ‘Studio’ having to suffice – no doubt a wise security precaution, and as such a sad sign for our times. There is a touch of resonance in the acoustic to take away what might otherwise be an overly dry recording, but certainly nothing which in any way interferes with the detail in the playing or scoring.

The grand title for this CD covers most of the work in the programme, with only the arranged and transcribed creating any cause for controversy. All of these arrangements were made many years ago however, and have therefore been a staple of the Band repertoire for as long as anyone can remember. The arrangement by Giuseppe Creatore of Verdi’s Triumphal March was made some time in the 1900s, and has a well-rounded feel, instruments all playing well within their range, and the voicings nicely spread.

After this agreeable overture, we have the original 1920 version of Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Winds, in an edition prepared by Robert Craft. Stravinsky revised the work in 1945-47, but to my ear the work remains essentially the same, with the reduced scoring of 23 instruments just giving the work more of a chamber-music feel. This performance is of course excellent, but I don’t quite ‘get’ the interpretation. Stravinsky’s neo-classical style demands a certain coolness, but Michael Colburn’s reading is almost matter-of-fact. Most of the other versions I know come in at around nine minutes, but this one leaves very little room between sections, shaving off half a minute from the average and not giving much space for the music to breathe. Listening to Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra on Decca shows how there can be more room for some expressive quasi-rubato in the more lyrical passages. Picking another 1920 version almost at random, Thierry Fischer and the Netherlands Wind Ensemble on Chandos wring much more contrast out of the reedy articulation-rhythm of the winds and the round kick of the brass. I’m not so keen on the American style of vibrato in the flutes either, but that is of course a question of taste. The funereal end is as always a moving moment, but could have had a heavier tread from the Marines – despite marvellous playing this version doesn’t come close to knocking any others off my shelf.

Vincent Persichetti is a new name to me, but his Symphony for Band has become one of the most frequently performed original works for band ever written. On just one hearing of the work you can easily understand its popularity among performers and audiences alike. It has everything, excitement in the opening Allegro, a moving chorale for the second Adagio sostenuto, a lilting and dance-like Allegretto, and a return to the ‘grit’ of the opening with a fun-filled Vivace finale. All of the instruments are given effective parts, and while there is an extrovert character in the outer movements the Americanism has a light touch and a refreshing lack of bombast. I have a feeling that this recording will be the reference to which many bands will be referring in the future.

Jaromír Weinberger’s famous Polka and Fugue from ‘Schwanda the Bagpiper’ was arranged for band by Glenn Cliffe Bainum in 1934, who was Director of Bands at Northwestern University. This provides some light relief between two heavyweight works for band in this programme, but the fugue provides the Marine woodwinds a chance to shine as well.

Emblems is Aaron Copland’s only work for band, and is certainly the most ‘modern’ sounding on this disc. Filled with grand gesture and some typical Copland resolutions, the opening does have a broadness and eloquence which plumbs greater depths than most Band music one could name. The second section is genuinely funky, starting with a kind of compositional finger-painting, lines and thematic fragments being thrown around like confetti in a high and turbulent wind. Toward the end the grand gesture returns, pungently resonant harmonies underpinning relatively simple melodic shapes – back at the ‘Copland Chorale’, and with a return of ‘Auld lang syne’ as well.

With these rarefied sonic heights still echoing in the memory, Percy Grainger kicks in with characteristic gusto with his Children’s March. This piece was written while Grainger was serving in the U.S. army as a member of the Coast Artillery Band, and resembles some of his folk-song settings, while remaining an original band piece. Striking elements include a prominent part for piano, and choral singing from the musicians – a master stroke among many fine details which turns a fun march into something rather haunting and special. My compliments to the low reeds as well – everyone seems on cracking form here.

Walton’s well-known Crown Imperial written for the coronation of King George VI appears here in a transcription made by W.J. Duthoit in 1937. The piece works very well as a flourish for band, with some virtuoso writing for the low brass. None of the Englishness in this work is lost in this setting, so there need be no fear of twitching moustaches in clubland.

This is a marvellous display of crack Wind Band performing, a superb recording and a stimulating programme. If you feel your red blood corpuscles need restoring then this might very well be the musical pep pill they require. With my reservations about the Stravinsky only mildly nagging in the back of my mind, I can wholeheartedly recommend this as a standard bearer for this form.

-- Dominy Clements, MusicWeb International

A KDFC CLASSICAL CHRISTMAS 3

Completed in 1887, Stanford' 'Irish' Symphony enjoyed immediate and widespread success, continuing to be played well into the twentieth century.

Many of Schubert' piano duets were written for his pupils, the daughters of Count EsterhAzy, during summer months at the Count' country estate. These include the 'Grand Duo', an ambitious, large-scale and challenging work of symphonic dimensions.

The music of Iranian-born, American-based composer Behzad Ranjbaran has been praised as 'noble and brilliantly conceived'. Awakening commemorates the triumph of peace over war. Moto Perpetuo combines moments of joy, humor and lyricism, ending with fe.

Includes christmas carol(s) by various composers.

Composed around 1771, Vanhal' Flute Quartets, Op. 7 Nos. 2, 3 and 6 are beautifully proportioned works, unfailingly elegant in their structural detail and above all masterly examples of this most urbane of genres.

Bagatelle means 'trifle' in French. The genre was often used by composers to 'disarm' their listeners, surprising them with a brilliant or poetic character piece.