Search - Andreas Makris, Rolf Rudin, Ken Benshoof :: Soundscapes

Recommended UNT release

TacoBueno | TX | 07/30/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Corporon's nationally-recognized North Texas Wind Symphony provides crisp playing and solid intonation on this 1999 Klavier release. The works on this disc, which date from the mid 1920's to just a few years ago, contrast nicely with one another. The bright sonorities and Greecian flavor of Makris' "Aegean Festival Overture" open the program, followed by German composer Rolf Rudin's lush and visceral "Bacchanale, Op. 20." Ken Benshoof's witty and Copland-esqe "Out and Back Again" features a violin-cello duet amidst an agreeable chamber wind accompaniment. Vincent Persichetti's monumental 1972 "Parable IX, op. 121," by no means an easy work, is given an excellent reading here by the North Texas musicians. Following that is former Army bandsman John Krance's sensual orchestration of George Gershwin's brief "Second Prelude," a work that sets the stage for the CD's excellent finale, UT professor Donald Grantham's brilliant and colorful "Fantasy Variations" (on the same Gershwin prelude).If you have an affinity for orchestral sound (in this case, band sound), then this CD is for you. The playing is taut, the interpretations sensitive, and the sonics are fairly good. The Grantham makes this purchase worth it. Highly recommended."