Four compositions for winds performed by a diverse assemblage of brass groups. Robert Spradling conducts. The well-known American composers Richard Danielpour and Eric Ewazen each contribute one work to this recording.

Classical Music

Classical Music

"• 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."

Classical Music

Classical Music

Complete Tracks:

1 The Life Guards 1:12
2 (a) Grand March from Aida, (b)The Royals 1:56
3 (a) Radetsky March, (b) Rusty Buckles 1:29
4 The 3rd. DG's 2:18
5 Light Cavalry 1:17
6 God Bless the Prince of Wales 0:54
7 Royal Sussex 0:53
8 The White Lancers 1:00
9 My Boy Willie 1:11
10 Duchess of Kent 1:13
11 Begone Dull Care 1:11
12 (a) The British Grenadiers, (b) Hielan Laddie, (c) St Patrick's Day, (d) The Rising Of The Lark, (e) Milanollo 3:34
13 Dumbarton's Drums 0:37
14 Blue Bonnet's Over the Border 0:47
15 The Thin red Line 2:38
16 The Soldiers of the Queen 1:12
17 (a) Rule Britannia, (b) Speed the Plough 1:16
18 (a) John Peel, (b) Corn Riggs 1:18
19 (a) Ca Ira, (b) The Yorkshire Lass 1:29
20 Bonnie English Rose 0:55
21 (a) Widecombe Fair, (b) We've Lived and Loved Together, (c) The Maid of Glenconnel 1:17
22 The Kinnegad Slashers 0:29
23 Farmers Boy 0:40
24 Young May Moon 0:37
25 Light Infantry 1:45
26 (a) Huntsman's Chorus, (b) Italian Song 1:12
27 Ride of the Valkyries 1:02
28 Fare Ye Well Inniskilling 2:11
29 Light of Foot 1:57
30 (a) The Bold King's Hussars, (b) Haste to the Wedding 1:10
31 Scarlet and Green 1:31
32 (a) Scotland for Ever, (b) Cameron Men 0:59
33 New Fusilier 1:45
34 (a) The Attack, (b) The Rose 1:11
35 The Wellesley 0:42
36 The Hampshire 1:27
37 (a) Come Lasses and Lads, (b) The Days We Went A Gipsying 1:03
38 Men of Harlech 0:55
39 Lutzow's Wild Hunt 0:48
40 Marche Des Parachutistes Belges 3:03
41 Trumpet Voluntary 2:34

The Central Band of the RAF perform works by and under the baton of Nigel Hess. The works include “New London Pictures,” “The Old Man of Lochnager” based on a children’s book by Charles, Prince of Wales, and “Shakespeare Pictures” which originates in incidental music composed for productions of Much Ado About Nothing, The Winter’s Tale and Julius Caesar.

Classical Music

Classical Music

Classical Music

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.

This selection is a High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) recording.

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)

Classical Music

The Dallas Wind Symphony and the Jim Cullum Jazz Band team up on a new world premiere sonic spectacular! Composer Frank Ticheli’s works have become standards in concert band repertoire, and Playing With Fire weaves in enthusiastic playing by the famed Jim Cullum Jazz Band. All wind music and traditional jazz enthusiasts should have these knockout performances, conducted by Jerry Junkin. Recorded in the Meyerson Symphony Center, the great music is perfectly captured by Reference Recordings’ world-renowned team of engineer Keith Johnson and producer Tam Henderson.

‘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)

14.99

Classical Music

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

Classical Music

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

Classical Music

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 Grof�'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.