Reference Recordings
Horns for the Holidays / Junkin, Dallas Wind Symphony
$18.99
Details
- Composer
- ANDERSON BACH GIROUX KENT
- Artist
- DALLAS WIND SYMPHONY
- Format
- CD
- Label
- Reference Recordings
- Released
- Sep 11, 2012
- Catalog #
- RR-126
- UPC
- 030911112622
About
If you are a lover of Christmas music—carols, popular songs, and all manner of medleys and clever arrangements of such—and you miss this extraordinary recording by the first-rate Dallas Wind Symphony, then your holiday listening stands to be just a bit more dull, less festive, and more ordinary than it could have been. This is a terrific program, in exemplary sound, that not only celebrates the Christmas music tradition but exemplifies the best of the wind ensemble genre, with its unique sonorities and long tradition of both originality and sense of playfulness and humor on the part of composers and arrangers.
The program opens with the obligatory fanfare—suitably titled Festival Fanfare—a nifty arrangement by John Wasson commissioned by the Dallas Wind Symphony, not surprisingly a showpiece for horns, full of familiar Christmas tunes. A decent but kinda square Sleigh Ride follows, along with a straightforward arrangement of Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring that beautifully exhibits the colors and rich textures of a first-rate wind band.
Among the highlights: my favorite, a celebration of the much-maligned minor mode—DWS saxophonist David Lovrien’s Minor Alterations: Christmas Through the Looking Glass, a “recasting” of favorite Christmas songs and carols (and even snippets of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker combined with Deck the Hall!) into a wonderful medley of minor-key madness (along with some melodic and rhythmic twists) that definitely calls for repeated listening. Another standout is The Christmas Song, with its fine alto sax solo by Donald Fabian, swingingly accompanied by the ensemble.
The big “classical” work is an arrangement simply called Russian Christmas Music, which apparently draws its sources from “Russian folk and Eastern Orthodox church music”. At almost 14 minutes, it’s by far the program’s most substantial entry, and it does show a wider range of technical virtuosity and different aspect of interpretive awareness than required in most of the other works, even if Alfred Reed’s arrangement begins to seem a bit long for the material after about 10 minutes. Never mind; any drift of attention is quickly recalled front and center with the concluding Christmas And Sousa Forever—the title giving away the concept. Wait until you hear how arranger Julie Giroux juxtaposes excerpts from such Christmas favorites as Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker with The Stars and Stripes Forever (and a couple of other marches)—not to mention the way she accompanies Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with that famous piccolo solo! It’s tempting to use that well-worn line, “if you buy only one Christmas CD this season, this one should be it”—but I won’t; I’ll just say that if by chance it is the only one, you won’t be disappointed.
-- David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
The program opens with the obligatory fanfare—suitably titled Festival Fanfare—a nifty arrangement by John Wasson commissioned by the Dallas Wind Symphony, not surprisingly a showpiece for horns, full of familiar Christmas tunes. A decent but kinda square Sleigh Ride follows, along with a straightforward arrangement of Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring that beautifully exhibits the colors and rich textures of a first-rate wind band.
Among the highlights: my favorite, a celebration of the much-maligned minor mode—DWS saxophonist David Lovrien’s Minor Alterations: Christmas Through the Looking Glass, a “recasting” of favorite Christmas songs and carols (and even snippets of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker combined with Deck the Hall!) into a wonderful medley of minor-key madness (along with some melodic and rhythmic twists) that definitely calls for repeated listening. Another standout is The Christmas Song, with its fine alto sax solo by Donald Fabian, swingingly accompanied by the ensemble.
The big “classical” work is an arrangement simply called Russian Christmas Music, which apparently draws its sources from “Russian folk and Eastern Orthodox church music”. At almost 14 minutes, it’s by far the program’s most substantial entry, and it does show a wider range of technical virtuosity and different aspect of interpretive awareness than required in most of the other works, even if Alfred Reed’s arrangement begins to seem a bit long for the material after about 10 minutes. Never mind; any drift of attention is quickly recalled front and center with the concluding Christmas And Sousa Forever—the title giving away the concept. Wait until you hear how arranger Julie Giroux juxtaposes excerpts from such Christmas favorites as Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride and Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker with The Stars and Stripes Forever (and a couple of other marches)—not to mention the way she accompanies Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with that famous piccolo solo! It’s tempting to use that well-worn line, “if you buy only one Christmas CD this season, this one should be it”—but I won’t; I’ll just say that if by chance it is the only one, you won’t be disappointed.
-- David Vernier, ClassicsToday.com
Tracklist 12 tracks
-
1 Festival Fanfare for Christmas 03:48
- Track
- 1
- Title
- Festival Fanfare for Christmas
- Duration
- 03:48
- Composer
- John Wasson
- Ensemble
- Dallas Wind Symphony
- Conductor
- Jerry Junkin
-
2 Sleigh Ride 02:58
- Track
- 2
- Title
- Sleigh Ride
- Duration
- 02:58
- Composer
- Leroy Anderson
- Ensemble
- Dallas Wind Symphony
- Conductor
- Jerry Junkin
-
3 Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147: Jesus bleibet meine Freude (arr. A. Reed) 04:14
- Track
- 3
- Title
- Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147: Jesus bleibet meine Freude (arr. A. Reed)
- Duration
- 04:14
- Composer
- Johann Sebastian Bach
- Ensemble
- Dallas Wind Symphony
- Conductor
- Jerry Junkin
-
4 Minor Alterations 06:05
- Track
- 4
- Title
- Minor Alterations
- Duration
- 06:05
- Composer
- David Lovrien
- Ensemble
- Dallas Wind Symphony
- Conductor
- Jerry Junkin
-
5 I'll Be Home for Christmas (arr. for wind ensemble) 05:38
- Track
- 5
- Title
- I'll Be Home for Christmas (arr. for wind ensemble)
- Duration
- 05:38
- Composer
- Walter Kent
- Ensemble
- Dallas Wind Symphony
- Conductor
- Jerry Junkin
-
6 The Christmas Song, "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" (arr. for wind ensemble) 04:36
- Track
- 6
- Title
- The Christmas Song, "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" (arr. for wind ensemble)
- Duration
- 04:36
- Composer
- Robert Wells
- Ensemble
- Dallas Wind Symphony
- Conductor
- Jerry Junkin
-
7 Meet Me in St Louis: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (arr. for wind ensemble) 04:57
- Track
- 7
- Title
- Meet Me in St Louis: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (arr. for wind ensemble)
- Duration
- 04:57
- Composer
- Hugh Martin
- Ensemble
- Dallas Wind Symphony
- Conductor
- Jerry Junkin
-
8 A Christmas Festival 06:54
- Track
- 8
- Title
- A Christmas Festival
- Duration
- 06:54
- Composer
- Leroy Anderson
- Ensemble
- Dallas Wind Symphony
- Conductor
- Jerry Junkin
-
9 Deck the Halls (arr. for wind ensemble) 01:52
- Track
- 9
- Title
- Deck the Halls (arr. for wind ensemble)
- Duration
- 01:52
- Composer
- Traditional
- Ensemble
- Dallas Wind Symphony
- Conductor
- Jerry Junkin
-
10 Jingle Bells Fantasy 03:57
- Track
- 10
- Title
- Jingle Bells Fantasy
- Duration
- 03:57
- Composer
- John Wasson
- Ensemble
- Dallas Wind Symphony
- Conductor
- Jerry Junkin
-
11 Russian Christmas Music 13:56
- Track
- 11
- Title
- Russian Christmas Music
- Duration
- 13:56
- Composer
- Alfred Reed
- Ensemble
- Dallas Wind Symphony
- Conductor
- Jerry Junkin
-
12 Christmas and Sousa Forever! (after J.P. Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever) 03:43
- Track
- 12
- Title
- Christmas and Sousa Forever! (after J.P. Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever)
- Duration
- 03:43
- Composer
- Julie Giroux
- Ensemble
- Dallas Wind Symphony
- Conductor
- Jerry Junkin