As has been the trend in this blog so far, this is yet another album from 1990s, specifically 1992. Craig Kirchhoff leads the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra in a fascinating and diverse programs of major transcriptions and original works. They may not be the best recordings I own for most of the pieces, but I think this album is worth a serious listen. The program is: New England Triptych by William Schuman Prelude in E-flat Minor, Op. 34 No. 14 by Dmitri Shostakovich, arr. H. Robert Reynolds Desi by Michael Daugherty Danzón-Memory by Warren Benson Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber by Paul Hindemith, arr. Keith Wilson If you do not know the background, the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra (TKWO) was created as an ensemble dedicated to making great recordings of band repertoire. It was led by the legendary Frederick Fennell for many years, and he made some of the best recordings of his career with them. They have dozens of albums and are prolific in my CD collection. They have covered everything from marches to showtunes, symphonies to suites. Some albums are dedicated to single composers (Alfred Reed, James Barnes), music from specific countries (Britain, Switzerland), and many with guest conductor, such as the album I am looking at today. I do not have many recordings of the bands of Craig Kirchhoff, and I have only heard him conduct ensembles live a handful of times. But I had always thought he tended to be a bit conservative. Not so on another listening of Symphonic Metamorphosis. Maybe I have mellowed over the years, but the playing in the first movement of New England Triptych - "Be Glad Then, America" - has drive and urgency. The playing can be aggressive almost to the point of crassness, but I think the playing fits the style of the piece. The playing in the second movement - "When Jesus Wept" - is lovely; I only wish it would be more relaxed. There is a tension to it that should be more resignation. The solos are thick with vibrato (especially the euphonium) as well. But it is a fine account. I rather enjoy their reading of "Chester." After the leisurely pacing of the opening in the Air Force Band recording I discussed in Blog #2, this one is refreshingly majestic and never dawdles. The brass hits at the start of the fast section tend to be "fwoppy," a distraction to be sure. As with "Be Glad Then, America" I love the intensity. A version worth hearing. Below are the YouTube links. The next two works are fascinating. The first is Bob Reynolds' arrangement of a Shostakovich piano prelude. The key (E-flat minor) can be tricky for some players, but I have heard it played by groups from middle school through professionals. The precision of the performers serves the piece well. Then there is "Desi" by Michael Daugherty. I have a soft spot in my heart for "Desi." I began my studies at Northern Illinois University in 1992, and "Desi" was of the first pieces I remember hearing in concert. I found it fascinating and humorous and entertaining. It is a joy to hear it on this recording. The Tokyo players play with rambunctious style, sometimes overdoing it to the point of being garish. And yet, it feels right. I do not remember why I purchased this album, but I am confident that "Desi" played a part.
The music of Warren Benson tends to be rather cerebral. With the exception of his fine junior high work "Ginger Marmalade," his music tends to be opaque. His "Danson-Memory" falls strongly into that category. It serves its purpose on the album, to contrast other works that are decidedly more tonal and mainstream. The rather lengthy work (almost 12 minutes) cleanses the aural palette for the largest work: "Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber" by Paul Hindemith. I am not a huge fan on large-scale orchestral transcriptions because they are often pale imitations of the original. The absence of strings leaves too great a deficit for the wind band to overcome. Not so with the Hindemith, who requested and oversaw the transcription of the "Symphonic Metamorphosis." Kirchhoff and Tokyo Kosei does a reputable job with the work, especially considering how many fine interpretations are available. As with the Schuman, there is sometimes less heart and warmth than is inherent in the music. However, it is one of the best recordings of the band version and one worth hearing. Craig Kirchhoff and the Tokyo ensemble created a great CD with an outstanding program. I recommend it highly.
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Here is another European band recording from the mid-1990s. Where I have a large collection of albums by the Belgian Guides, this is the only CD by the Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy. It is unusual for me to have a single album by an ensemble in my wind band collection, especially one as fine as the Netherlands Navy. It is unusual in several ways. The first is its program. The first three albums I discussed contained primarily original works for band. Homage à Saint Petersbourg has four rather large and - in the cases of two of the four pieces - obscure orchestral transcriptions. In addition, these are GREAT transcriptions. There are two qualities I look for in an effective transcription: 1. Honor the original style/mood/intention of the original work and 2. The music sounds idiomatic for the medium to which it is transferred. That is a tricky proposition and seemingly contradictory. How can a piece sound like the original yet sound idiomatic for band? It is a high bar to pass and the reason I am very careful in programming transcriptions. I am in Texas - the land of the band transcription - yet I think many of the most-played transcriptions do not work well for band. Every other band seems to perform the last movement of Scheherazade and the finale to Symphony No. 4 by Tchaikovsky, both of which I think fall short in both criteria. (By way of clarifying, some of the transcriptions I think work very well for band are Sensemaya by Revueltas, Symphonic Metamorphosis by Hindemith, Short Ride in a Fast Machine by Adams; these works all feature winds and/or percussion prominently, making the transfer to the band medium smoother.) So it is refreshing and heartening to listen to an album with sophisticated transcriptions that work masterfully for wind band. That album is Homage à Saint Petersbourg. The program is: Capriccio Espagnol, Op. 34 by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, arr. Alphonse Courtain Hommage à Dmitri Shostakovich, Op. 4 by Alexander Comitas, arr. Franz Scheepers Emmy Vehey, Violin Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 102 by Dmitri Shostakovich, arr. Harrie Janssen Loes Geusebroek, Piano The Firebird (Suite) by Igor Stravinsky, arr. Randy Earles One of the most fascinating aspects of the CD is the liner notes. Most liner notes for wind band CDs are perfunctory explanations of the works' origins and brief blurbs about the composers. Not so here. There is an interesting history of the development and nurturing of the wind band in nineteenth century Russia, led by Rimsky-Korsakov. The three page explanation is worth a read. (I would reproduce it here, but I am always concerned about copyright.) It offers the kind of background the puts band music in a historical perspective that is often missing. As far as the recording itself, it would seem to be particularly difficult to transcribe wind accompaniments solos for piano and violin. Yet they are affecting and powerful works where the winds never overpower their comparatively underpowered soloists. The Hommage is very moving with the inclusion of the violin, and the Shostakovich loses none of its Shostakovichian style and bite. Capriccio Espagnol is also well-performed, though it is competing in a crowded marketplace. There are many different band transcriptions of the piece, and there are a number of outstanding recordings. This one is certainly distinguished. The work on which I would like to focus is The Firebird. When this album was released in 1996, I had not heard the Earles transcription of The Firebird; I only knew the warhorse setting by Mark Hindsley. For a piece that uses the strings and string effects so prominently, an issue that could hinder an arranger, Earles knocks it out of the park. It sounds as though Stravinsky envisioned and wrote the piece for wind band. And it is aided by an absolutely stunning performance by the Netherlands Band. The brass sound orchestral in the best way, and the most memorable moments retain their power. For my overview, I will focus on The Infernal Dance of King Kastchei. The original has a number of wind and percussion solos; that helps but also can handicap because it demands a level of performance commensurate to the best recordings by the best orchestras. The trombone and trumpet octaves in the opening are gorgeous and muscular, the woodwind playing appropriately brilliant, and the xylophone soloist a star in all its passages. It seemingly loses little to nothing in its journey to band. There is some issue with the busy woodwinds imitating the strings around the 2:15 mark. The performance, however, is unassailable. The recording is below. Find this album and enjoy one of the best wind band recordings around. With the recent passing of David Maslanka, I want to look at one of his albums, so I want to take a little time to find the best one or two in my library. I will post an overview of my favorite Maslanka albums in the coming weeks.
I was going to look at another USAF Band/Lowell Graham recording for my third entry but decided to go in a different direction. (The CD I had in mind is Songs of the Earth, which contains British classics including Lincolnshire Posy. But its focus on classic literature made it a bit too much like #2, Celebration, so I decided to postpone.) Nuts has a special story for me. I enjoy many recordings in my collection, but this is one of the first ones that blew me away. I purchased it in the mid 1990s, in the days when I would spend $1000-1500 a year on band recordings (you read that right). I was looking for a recording of Morton Gould's Jericho, a piece I loved the first time I played it in the Wheaton (IL) Municipal Band. I had never heard of the Symphonic Band of the Belgian Guides, but that would not stop me back then. I listened to it for the first time... and I did not know wind bands could sound like that, so precise and virtuoso. The recordings that populated my collection - the old Eastman albums, military ensembles - were fine, but the Belgian Guides seem to take things to the next level. I went on to collect another dozen of their CDs, some of which I will examine in later posts. I was baffled by the title of the recordings: Nuts? Put through Google Translate, "Nuts" means "Utility" in Dutch. I do not know if that is title, but I assume it has more to do with the Dutch meaning than what it is in English. As the CD cover above hints at with its imagery, though, it is a tribute to the American armed forces on the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Belgium in 1944 (hence the American and Belgian flag side by side). The photo is of the Mardasson Memorial, dedicated to the American troops who were wounded or killed in the Battle of the Bulge. Accordingly, all of the pieces are by well-known American composers. The program is: Fanfare for the Common Man by Aaron Copland Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin Overture to Candide by Leonard Bernstein, arr. Walter Beeler Three Dance Episodes from On the Town by Leonard Bernstein, arr. Marice Stith Jericho by Morton Gould Festival Variations by Claude T. Smith The album benefits greatly from something I did not consider when I was a younger musician: a booming acoustic. This album is the definition of playing in a "fishbowl." It is distant and reverberant, and it more than likely aided the ensemble's sound. But having heard hundreds of bands and marching bands in my travels as a judge, I can tell when a group plays well together and when a group has great players. The Belgian Guides have GREAT players. It is most evident in the virtuoso moments on the CD, most notably the technical passages of Festival Variations (of which there are many). A "fishbowl" can hide mistakes, but the absolute perfection of the ascending scale from the tuba to the piccolo at the end of the Smith cannot be faked - it is brilliant playing. To judge the CD by the first two pieces, you might think it is a typical recording. There are so many recordings of Fanfare for the Common Man and Rhapsody in Blue by the best orchestras and ensembles in world that it is tough to stick out from the crowd. And these interpretations, sadly, do not. Are they bad? Not by any stretch. But they are just...fine. The playing is excellent with nothing to separate from the myriad other versions available. Starting with Overture to Candide, it becomes one of the finest wind band recordings around. It is here that you can hear how truly outstanding the group is. From then on, tempo seems to be no issue. They sail through Candide with a fleet-footedness that is never labored. They capture the pure joy of the music with seemingly little effort. The Three Dance Episodes from On the Town are mad fun. This piece is still performed, but not as often as I would like. It is an ingenious transcription that fits the wind band to a tee. Some of this is due to Bernstein's original orchestra. Each movement features winds prominently. The first movement, "The Great Lover Displays Himself," opens with a boisterous trombone solo. The pas de deux ("Lonely Town") starts with a bass clarinet line followed by a muted trumpet solo. "Times Square 1944" begins with an iconic E-flat clarinet solo and numerous wind solos throughout. The Belgian Guides soloist are more than up to the challenge. Bernstein composed On the Town in his Broadway phase, and it rides the line between traditional classical and pops music magnificently. I consider my collection to be quite large with well over 500 wind band recordings from the 1950s through the 2000s, this is one of only two full recordings of the Three Dance Episodes I own. It is worth seeking it out if only for that. Jericho, the reason I own the CD, is very fine. The trumpets are especially up to the task with the antiphonal section in the middle of the work. Jericho is not technically very difficult, so the band highlights its lyrical capabilities and sheer musicality. It is a tone poem depicting the destruction of the walls at Jericho (hence the antiphonal trumpets), and there is a natural flow that carries the music from one section to the next. Credit conductor Norbert Nozy for that. His interpretations are rife with style and nuance, and this Jericho is the best in my library (followed very closely by the U.S. Marine Band!). As fine as these recordings are, nothing could prepare me for Festival Variations. I had not heard of the piece when I first bought the recording, and it is the primary reason I return to this CD often. This is masterful playing from beginning to end. The wrenching middle section has the perfect amount of "give and take" and the rubato is expertly applied. This highlight, though, is the fugue at the recapitulation. The horns execute an incredibly challenging unison melody that leads to the fugue deftly, and the brass bring the fugue thrillingly to life. I have played this work on trombone (as a euphonium player) and there is no faking it. The Belgian Guides manage to not only navigate the section but do so at breakneck speed. It leads to an dazzling conclusion with the aforementioned run up the band. Any group that is considering playing Festival Variations should consult this recording. It is the gold standard of wind band playing. I have uploaded the finale below so you can hear just how amazing it is. Nuts was my introduction to European wind ensembles, and it remains to this day the finest example I own. Highly recommended! The second of three USAF Band/Lowell Graham CDs I will start the series out with is Celebration. It was recorded in 1996 and takes the opposite approach of the last album I discussed, Excursions. Where Excursions had four brand new works commissioned by the USAF Band, Celebration has five bedrocks of the repertoire dating from the mid-20th Century. Graham proves himself adept at interpreting new and classic works with these recordings.
Where the USAF Band showed some wear and tear with the technically daunting new works of Excursions, the players have complete command over this repertoire, which includes: An Outdoor Overture by Aaron Copland New England Triptych by William Schuman Hammersmith: Prelude and Scherzo by Gustav Holst Suite of Old American Dances by Robert Russell Bennett Celebration Overture by Paul Creston The performances are excellent. There is not a weak piece in the program, with the stand out being Hammersmith. It is challenging to "over interpret" the Holst because of the precise nature of the writing: the flowing river of the Prelude is unyielding, and the dance-like Scherzo demands exactitude. Even the slow interlude in the middle of the Scherzo leaves little room for deviation. And the USAF Band executes the piece spectacularly. Graham finds the power in a work that can be despairing and antagonistic. The New England Triptych is thrilling in its fast moments (such as the entire first movement, "Be Glad Then, America"), and "When Jesus Wept" contains some of the most heartfelt playing you will find in band music. Celebration Overture indulges in the strange harmonic world of Paul Creston, while the Bennett and Copland capture the American spirit that was prevalent in the literature from the 1940s and 1950s. There are only a few issues, though they are worth a mention. First is the order of the program. The pacing overall is fine, and the middle three pieces are interchangeable. It is difficult to argue with Hammersmith as the centerpiece, and the multi-movement suites are fine bookends. The issue is closing with the Creston. Both the Copland and Creston are best as opening works, and neither are particularly effective as closers. That being said, none of the works are prototypical closers. But closing with an overture in the style of Creston is a let down. I realize that the idea of a program order is antiquated in the age of streaming music; how many of us still seek out whole albums, or do we search for the one piece we want to hear and look for the best available? But I am adamant the programming on an album is akin to programming a concert and should be treated as such. The second issue is stylistic choices, particularly in slow passages. The opening to Outdoor Overture is very heavily accented where the music seems to demand a broader style. The opposite is true in the first movement of the Suite of Old American Dances. The "Cake Walk" seems hints at a staccato — or at least well-separated — style, but Graham elects for a more legato approach. The most distracting example is the opening to "Chester." Though it is a chorale, it was one of the main anthems of the Revolutionary War. There is nobility in the tune, and Graham uses healthy doses of rubato throughout, especially at phrase endings in the woodwind passage: the music slows, followed by a pronounced pause before the next phrase. I do not begrudge any conductor their interpretation, but that choice undermines the recapitulation of the theme in the finale as performed by a small brass group. These squabbles do little to take away from the album's effectiveness, and I return to Celebrations often as it is one of the best recordings in my collection. The first albums I will discuss are from Lowell Graham, the former conductor of the U.S. Air Force Band. He released quite a few recordings with that ensemble as well as another group stationed just up the road from the USAF Band, the ACC Heritage of America Band. Back in the 1990s, all you had to do was request recordings and the military groups would send them. When I requested materials from the ACC Heritage of America Band, they sent a large box of CDs and cassettes. Being an undergraduate music student, that kickstarted my collection and provided some of the recordings I listen to today. One of the first impactful recordings I listened to, though, was Excursions. It was released in 1996 and contains 4 works, at least three of which have become standards in the repertoire. Klavier rereleased the recording in 2013 with a strikingly similar cover, but I am proud to say I have the free copy in my collection! The works on the disc are:
Fanfare for a New Era by Jack Stamp Dance Movements by Philip Sparke Excursions by Bruce Broughton Symphony No. 3 by James Barnes The Stamp, Sparke and Barnes are widely performed and have become modern classics. All of the works were composed for and/or premiered by the United States Air Force Band; it is more than a little significant that a collection of new works can be viewed so uniformly excellent more than 20 years later! As far as the performances themselves, there is a raw energy that is enervating. That could be because the pieces tend to play to conductor Lowell Graham's strength: muscular, aggressive interpretations that sometimes sacrifice clarity and cleanliness for power. That can be seen in some of the high impact moments in the Sparke and the Barnes. Of course, there is a disadvantage of being first to the dance, and the fact that these are all premiere recordings means Graham and the USAF players had no recordings for reference. Even so, these are thrilling accounts. Fanfare for a New Era is a pure burst of energy, and the ensemble plays with unabashed gusto. There is a full-throated quality to the playing that is in line with Stamp's fanfare writing. The Sparke, being more varied in its moods, is a bit more of a challenge for the ensemble. The tempos in the faster movements (especially movement 2 - For the Woodwinds) tend to be slower than other later recordings. It is a very tough piece, and they navigate it well, but overall it sounds more labored than other recordings, though most recordings sound like they are traversing a minefield. The third movement (For the Brass) is absolutely lovely, and the finale is rousing. This is one of the hallmark recordings of Dance Movements and well worth seeking, Excursions is performed by the trumpet player it was written for, Ronald Blais. It is a virtuoso showpiece that sounds much less labored than the Sparke, and the result is dazzling. It is a nice change of pace between the two large-scale works. The last piece on the recording is Symphony No. 3 by Barnes. I am conflicted about the Barnes. I understand its importance in the repertoire and respect the music. But it is a long journey of pain and despair to take. And Barnes chooses to change course just before the end. The first three movements - especially the poignant and heart-wrenching third - are a study in controlled expression. The music expresses something tragic but does it in a way that never over emotes. After the the great third movement, the fourth opens and ... it sounds like it came from a completely different work! It is a lively, boisterous fanfare/overture that is fine in its own right but does not match the aesthetic that has been established nor the journey we have been on. That being said, this is a crack jack performance. And the piece is worth hearing and studying. I know what some will say: the change in mood and style fits the subject matter, which, if you don't know, you can look up. (Barnes lost his young child just prior to writing the symphony.) But I take issue if a piece cannot stand solidly on its own merits beyond its inspiration or program. That is not to say that Symphony No. 3 is bad. I just think that the last movement is incongruous with the rest of the piece. But I digress. Look up Excursions if you have not heard it before. Lowell Graham put together 4 new works that have all stood the test of time. And what a time the mid-1990s was for band recordings! After years of amassing hundreds of brass and wind band recordings, I decided it was time to showcase some of my favorites. So every week I will talk about one or two of my favorite recordings. This is a bit antiquated in the age of music streaming, but these recordings - many from the 1990s - represent a "golden era" of band recording, when the military bands were releasing a plethora of great albums and Eugene Corporon was just beginning his prolific recording series at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. The classic Eastman Wind Ensemble recordings by Frederick Fennell were finding new life on CD, and the Royal Symphonic Band of the Belgian Guides had some startling releases. My purchases have waned in recent years with the proliferation of music on Spotify and YouTube. But it is useful to look back at the time when the way to hear the best new band music was to either travel around to hear concerts or fill your walls with wonderful CDs. More to come...
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AuthorBrian Shelton, DOB Archives
July 2022
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