Fresh! Hot! New! American!
Dr. Debra Jan Bibel | Oakland, CA USA | 02/19/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Don't let the masthead "Wind Band Classics" bring doubt, with visions of a college football game half-time show. Marketing should have said "Wind Ensemble Classics," with its sophistication and chamber music associations. This album of brand new 2005 to 2007 compositions from some leading classical American symphonic and academic composers is filled with vibrant and powerful music. The University of Kansas Wind Ensemble is actually more than winds: timpani, piano, harp, and various percussion support brass and reeds. Emily Dickinson's poetic exuberance, Gregorian chant, nature and time, Zoroasterian mythology, and the very qualities of a saxophone are the inspirations of these various works. Listening, I felt that Aaron Copland, Frederick Fennell, and Igor Stravinsky were in the audience, smiling and nodding approval. I best enjoyed the leading and title track by Frank Ticheli with its happiness and fun and John Mackey's self-referential concerto of and about the saxophone. A great album, a great ride!"
Worth listening to many times!
B. Rose | 05/29/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This band is magnificent, I listened to this again and again. I love the music!"