Catalog

In the midst of the global strife caused by COVID, the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, and the erosion of civil liberties around the world, we have felt an overwhelming need to shout. The music on this recording is centered around the need to shout; shout in frustration over the loss of individual freedoms or the overwhelming desire to shout for joy. The music reflects this very human need. While Olin Hannum's work is a piece written to reflect the dual characters of devastation and solemnity, built on turbulence and instability from the opening figures to the final note, the central driving force of Maslanka's work is the impulse to shout for the joy of life. The Oregon State University Wind Ensemble explores new literature as well as performing the masterworks of the wind ensemble genre. They have commissioned 11 composers and their reputation for excellence is acknowledged by the wind ensemble community. Conductor Erik Leung is a native of Canada. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Calgary.

Hailed by Chamber Music America as an ensemble which “approaches the commissioning and performing of new works as a special mission,” the Ancia Quartet (Matthew Sintchak, David Milne, Joan Hutton, Angela Wyatt) has been dedicated to expanding the saxophone repertoire for more than 30 years. Ancia has been the recipient of numerous national, regional, and local grants and awards, and has collaborated with composers through Society of Composers, Meet the Composer, American Composers Forum, and THE Commission Project. Individual Ancia members enjoy careers as soloists, chamber musicians, and professional saxophonists in a broad range of musical genres. This recording showcases their virtuosity with works by Astor Piazzolla, Libby Larsen, Chris Rutowski, Ramon Ricker, and Jerry Dodgion.

The University of Baltimore County Wind Ensemble (UMBC) has a history of pioneering new works for wind ensemble. They regularly commission and perform works by living composers and this recording reflects their commitment. With works by Brad Ellis, Samuel Winnie, Anna Rubin, Janice Macaulay, and Daniel Bernard Roumain, the ensemble gives life to a diverse group of composers' compositions. Conductor Brian Kaufman also is a tubist, educator, social entrepreneur, and publicly engaged scholar. He is a co-founder, artistic director, and conductor of The Sounding Board, an organization that creates productions that integrate music, multimedia, spoken word, and commentary from noted public figures to inspire new perspectives and cultivate dialogue on today's most pressing social issues.

This recording of music for piano, flute, and flute and piano offers a panorama of classically trained Peruvian composers and a Peruvian-American composer whose music was inspired by Andean Indigenous melodies, rhythms, and traditions. The compositions range in date from 1927 through 2002. The performers include pianist Carmen Rodríguez-Peralta and flutist Orlando Cela. Rodríguez-Peralta has appeared as piano soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Peru, and Mexico. A winner of the Artists International Young Musicians Auditions, Ms. Rodríguez-Peralta has performed in noted concert halls throughout the United States. A graduate of Temple University, Catholic University and The Juilliard School, she is chair of the music department of Middlesex Community College. Orlando Cela has premiered more than 200 works, both as a conductor and flutist. He is music director of the Lowell Chamber Orchestra and the Arlington Philharmonic Orchestra. He is on the faculty of the Berklee College of Music and Middlesex Community College.

Composer Joseph Fennimore credits hearing Peter and the Wolf as a young child for instilling his lifelong love for wind instruments. He comments that "As with singing, their expression comes from the flow of breath itself; the player is the instrument." This recording (the 12th on Albany Records devoted to his music and piano playing) is a collection of unedited concert performances, recorded between 1973 and 1989, which give an overview of his delightful music for wind instruments.

Vanessa Sielert and Catherine Anderson formed Duality to commission and perform new works for saxophone and piano as well as to challenge the listener and the performer. This recording contains some of those commissions as well as arrangements of popular compositions that are treated in a new and interesting manner. Saxophonist Vanessa Sielert is on the faculty at the Lionel Hampton School of Music at the University of Idaho. She studied at the University of Idaho, Baylor University, and the University of Illinois. She has performed with a wide range of performing groups — jazz ensembles, orchestras, and chamber ensembles. Pianist Catherine Anderson, a former faculty member at the Lionel Hampton School of Music, is in demand as an independent collaborative artist throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Flutist Erin Murphy and pianist Kirstin Ihde embarked on this recording project as doctoral candidates at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They chose works by Grier and Galbraith because they are both living American composers and works by French composers Boulanger, Tailleferre and Bonis in order to expand the diversity in programming repertoire as well as introducing new audiences to this music. Short miniatures juxtapose lengthier sonatas; darker, more introspective moods contrast with brighter and more energetic offerings in these six compositions. Erin frequently performs with orchestras, in chamber music collaborations, and as a soloist throughout the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Murphy is on the faculty at Oklahoma State University and her articles have been published in flute journals as well as the Journal of the International Alliance for Women in Music. Pianist Kirstin Ihde is on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. In addition to her extensive work as a collaborative pianist, she serves as pianist for the Interlochen Trumpet Institute.

This is Lynn Klock's third recording for Albany Records — with music on all three discs written for him. Klock's commitment to enriching the repertoire for saxophone is unparalleled, having premiered more than 100 works. For this recording composers Clifton J. Noble, Jr., Emanuel Rubin, Paul Kinsman, Salvatore Macchia, and Catherine McMichael have written compositions for saxophone ranging from saxophone alone to a chamber work for saxophone, horn, percussion, violin, and contrabass. Retired from the faculty at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Professor Emeritus Lynn Klock continues to appear as a soloist, clinician, and teacher throughout the U.S. and abroad. His colleagues on this recording include composer/pianists Clifton J. Noble, Jr.; Paul Kinsman; and Catherine McMichael; as well as Laura Klock, horn; Elizabeth Chang, violin; Salvatore Macchia, contrabass; Michael Compitello, percussion; and Scott Bailey, piano.

Samuel Zyman, a long-time New York-based Professor of Music Theory and Analysis at The Juilliard School, is acknowledged as one of the leading Mexican composers on the international scene today. Zyman's music is characterized by intense and vigorous rhythmic energy, expressive lyricism, and the frequent use of near-jazzy imitative counterpoint. Flutist Jonathan Borja enjoys a varied career as a performer and Educator. Associate Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Borja was a member of the Topeka Symphony Orhcestra and the Colorado MahlerFest Orchestra. A graduate of the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance and Principia College, Borja began his studies at the National Conservatory of Music in his native Mexico City. He has performed throughout the United States and Mexico at distinguished venues including Steinway Hall, Powell Symphony Hall, and the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Singapore.

Scott Sandberg performs a concert of works for tenor saxophone and piano ranging from new works by Catherine McMichael, to music by French and American composers written in the 1970s and 1980s. Sandberg is on the faculty at the University of North Dakota and maintains an active schedule as a performer, clinician, and adjudicator. He has toured China three times, including performing as a featured soloist with the East China Normal University Orchestra and is a regular performer at the North American Saxophone Alliance Conferences and International Saxophone Symposiums. He is a graduate of the University of North Dakota and the University of Iowa. He has presented clinics at the North Dakota Music Educators Association, the Northeast Texas Saxophone Symposium, and numerous universities and high schools.

The Atlanta Chamber Winds is the premiere ensemble of its type in the Southeastern United States. Founded by Robert J. Ambrose in 2006, the group comprises many of the finest professional wind players in Atlanta. The ensemble is committed to promoting and recording lesser-known works for the chamber wind medium, as demonstrated by this recording of 20th and 21st century works by composers Robert Spittal, Leslie Bassett, Tim Jansa, Esther W. Ballou, Daniel Pinkham, and Ezra Laderman. The compositions range from an octet for winds to a double woodwind quintet, to a wind sextet and a wind trio.

This recording contrasts a concerto for saxophone quartet and wind ensemble by David Maslanka (1943-2017) with a concerto for soprano saxophone, winds and percussion by one of Maslanka's proteges, Roy Magnuson (b. 1983). Magnuson has composed music for orchestra, wind ensemble, band, chamber ensembles, vocalists, electroacoustic ensembles, and films. His music has been performed throughout the United States. A graduate of Illinois State University, Ithaca College and the University of Illinois, he is now on the faculty at Illinois State University. Revered by the wind ensemble world as a composer, teacher, and mentor, David Maslanka was a graduate of Oberlin and Michigan State University. His compositions include more than 50 works for wind ensemble, and this recording is one of more than 20 containing his compositions on Albany Records.

The works on this recording by Richard Toensing are of the highest order for both the wind ensemble and the soloists. Toensing's muse is an ambitious and generous one, requiring extreme competence of musicianship, mastery of varieties of style and great sensitivity. He shows himself to be a master of all the sonic possibilities available to him. A graduate of St. Olaf College and the University of Michigan, Toensing is on the faculty at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has won numerous awards and fellowships, including a Guggenheim and the Joseph H. Bearnes Prize from Columbia University. Mezzo-soprano Erica Washburn is director of choral activities at the New England Conservatory. Soprano Bethany Worrell is the soprano artist-in-residence with the Metropolitan Chorale of Brookline. William Drury is New England Conservatory's associate conductor of wind ensembles and the conductor of the Southern New Hampshire University Orchestra. As a conductor, he has commissioned and premiered works by numerous American composers, including Richard Toensing.

The works for clarinet/piano duo on this recording were composed by five distinguished women working in the United States. Four of the pieces date from the later decades of the 20th century and one from mid-century. None of the pieces has been issued in commercial recording before now. The five pieces were chosen because each conveys something intimate and important to the performers (Jessica Lindsey, clarinet and Christian Bohnenstengel, piano). Each has an element that draws the listener closer to catch each inflection, every intended meaning. Dr. Jessica Lindsey has established herself as a dynamic performer and pedagogue, pursuing a career that is equally devoted to both spheres. Her reputation as a clarinetist in both chamber and orchestral settings has seen her perform throughout the United States, and as far afield as China and New Zealand. On the faculty of the University of North Carolina Charlotte, Lindsey studied at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Pianist Christian Bohnenstengel's performances have taken him all over the U.S., to South America and to Europe.

This is a recording of new American music for wind ensemble and brass expertly performed by the Boston Conservatory Wind Ensemble and Triton Brass. The oldest work on the program was written in 2004 by Nico Muhly. Lansing McLoskey's works were written in 2007 and 2011, as was Justin Barish's and the most recent work by Keith Kusterer was written in 2013. Indeed these are all extremely talented composers, whose careers span teaching at Miami Frost School of Music and winning the Goddard Lieberson Fellowship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (McLoskey); collaborating with singer Bjork on her DVD and writing an opera for the Metropolitan Opera (Muhly); winning the John Lennon Songwriting Competition and the 2012 Boston Conservatory Wind Competition (Kusterer); and being featured at the Focus Under 40 Boston Conservatory New Music Festival (Barish).

Conductor Cynthia Turner Johnson and the Cornell University Wind Ensemble began a program in 2004 of commissioning DMA candidates in composition at Cornell to compose music that "pushes boundaries." Six of these works by these exceptional young composers are heard on this recording. These composers have produced significant contributions to the wind ensemble repertoire and no doubt, the musical world will be hearing more from them. Christopher Stark is a composer whose music is deeply rooted in the American West. He is a recipient of the coveted Underwood Commission from the American Composers Orchestra. Ryan Gallagher studied at Juilliard and Cornell and has received a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and five ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. Zachary Wadsworth's Out of the South Cometh the Whirlwind was winner of the King James Bible Composition Awards and was performed by the choir of Westminster Abbey. Born in the Ukraine, Catherine Likhuta's music has been performed in many venues in Ukraine, the U.S. and Canada. Takuma Itoh spent his early childhood in Japan before moving to northern California. He studied at the University of Michigan and Rice University prior to attending Cornell. He has been a fellow at the Pacific and Aspen Music Festivals. Composer, conductor and mandolinist Jesse Jones is an artist of wide-ranging tastes and influences whose music has been performed across North America, Europe, and Asia. His awards include a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Two world premiere recordings are offered on this most recent recording by the Illinois State University Wind Symphony -- David Maslanka's O Earth, O Stars, a double concerto for flute and cello -- and a work commissioned by the Wind Symphony from Latin Grammy Award Winner, Carlos Franzetti -- his Symphony No. 3. Born in Argentina, Carlos Franzetti studied there, in Mexico and at Juilliard. From symphonies to big band jazz, from chamber works to Latin American music and film scores Ñ he has no limits as a composer. Especially well known for his music for wind ensemble, composer David Maslanka has also written a wide variety of chamber, orchestral and choral works.

The University of Western Ontario Wind Ensemble makes its debut on Albany Records with a program of contemporary works by composers from the U.S., Canada, England and Japan. The youngest composer, Newfoundland-born Jason Noble (b.1980) offers the most recent composition with Doppelpolitik, written in 2009, followed by Yo Goto's Lachrymae, completed in 2005 and Jim Territo's Fanfare: 1, written in 2004. Richard Rodney Bennett's Elegy for Miles Davis was completed in 1993, with Apparitions by Anthony Iannaccone dating from 1986. The oldest work dates from 1951, the Suite of English Folk-Dances by Ernest Tomlinson.

A world premiere recording of Liberation is paired with Maslanka's almost 45-minute saxophone concerto on this recording by the Illinois State University Wind Symphony. Commissioned by the Japan Wind Ensemble Conductors Conference, Maslanka used the ancient Roman Catholic ritual chant as the basis for Liberation. He realized that the Japanese are the only people on earth to have suffered the devastation of nuclear bombs and from this place of greatest devastation, now rises a musical voice of love and peace. Born in 1943, David Maslanka studied at Oberlin, Michigan State University and the Mozarteum in Salzburg. His works for wind ensemble have become especially well known. They include seven symphonies, 12 concertos and numerous concert pieces.

A world premiere recording of Anthony Plog's Concerto 2010 is the featured work on this recording by the Texas Christian University Wind Symphony. The concerto, written for brass quintet and wind ensemble, has the esteemed American Brass Quintet as soloists. Celebrating its 50th year, the American Brass Quintet has been internationally recognized as one of the premiere chamber music ensembles of our time. The ensemble has created a legacy unparalleled in the brass field. A must-have for brass lovers, this disc is the first commercial recording by one of the outstanding collegiate wind ensembles in the U.S.

For their first commercial recording, the Alabama Wind Ensemble offers three concertos by American composers. James Beckel's The Glass Bead Game is a horn concerto loosely based on the Hermann Hesse novel of the same name. Scott McAllister's Black Dog is a rhapsody for solo clarinet and wind ensemble, inspired by Led Zeppelin's rhapsodic-style song Black Dog. David Maslanka's Trombone Concerto is a memorial to Christine Capote, a flutist and teacher who was a dear friend. The performers and conductor Kenneth Ozzello are all faculty members at the University of Alabama.

The fact that a composer of Persichetti's stature and prominence wrote so many works for wind band was not a result of a unique devotion, but simply because he was inherently attracted to the medium. The works on this recording, which constitute Persichetti's major works for wind ensemble, represent a wide variety of lengths, forms and difficulty levels and yet certain compositional consistencies can be found throughout. The differences are in technical demands and harmonic density rather than the basic musical language. The Illinois State University Wind Symphony and their conductor Stephen K. Steele offer exceptional performances of this music.

The SUNY Fredonia Wind Ensemble conducted by Paul Holcomb, presents its first recording that includes music commissioned for the Ensemble and superb soloists. The renowned bass trombone player, Randall Hawes, is featured on Hungarian composer Hidas Frigyes' Rhapsody and Alex Jokipii, principal trumpet of the Buffalo Philharmonic is the soloist for Jerzy Sapievevski's Concerto. There is also a Concerto for Percussion by Japanese composer Toshiro Mayuzumi with soloists from the Wind Ensemble. Mark Engebretson's Symphony for Winds is a commissioned work and this as well as Karl Boelter's Mountains and Mesas receive their world premiere recordings.

The ever-enterprising Illinois State University Wind Symphony offers world premiere recordings of three works, the oldest of which (David Maslanka's Symphony No. 3) being written in 1991. David Gillingham's Concerto for Euphonium and Band (Summer of 2008) features Jason Ham, who is a member of the West Point Band and on the faculty at Interlochen Summer Arts Camp and Montclair State University.

This recording highlights works by key 20th-century composers of Eastern European provenance. This delightful music is given sparkling performances by The Prairie Winds, a wind quintet formed in 1996 by a group of friends. Since then, The Prairie Winds have been captivating audiences with renditions of the finest wind quintet literature. The ensemble is distinguished by its unique blend of sound, virtuosity of technique and commitment to the music.

This most recent recording from the ever-adventurous Illinois State University Wind Symphony includes a new work by David Maslanka using poems by Illinois native Carl Sandburg. The 11 poems tell both an American, and a very deep human story. Maslanka brought folk songs from the Ruth Crawford Seeger collection into the music enhancing the American spirit of the work. The other major work, Symphony No. 3, is by Kimberly Archer, a former student of Maslanka's and currently am assistant professor of composition at Southern Illinois University.

Once again, the enterprising Illinois State University Wind Symphony offers two world premiere recordings of the music of the distinguished American composer, David Maslanka. Written as a memorial for flutist Christine Capote, the orchestration for the Trombone Concerto contains one solo cello, representing Capote's cellist husband. Maslanka began the composition process for Symphony No. 8 with meditation and was shown scenes of widespread devastation, but the music is a celebration of life -- new life, continuity from the past to the future, hope, faith, joy, ecstatic vision and fierce determination.

The major work on this recording of music for wind ensemble by David Maslanka is Unending Stream of Life. Inspired by the hymn tune, All Creatures of Our God and King, Unending Stream of Life consists of seven "songs" for wind ensemble, each embodying the original tune, or relating to it in some way. The title comes from the Vietnamese Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh.

Born in Massachusetts in 1943, a pupil of Joseph Wood and H. Owen Reed, David Maslanka has become especially well known for his works for winds in many combinations -- solo sonatas, chamber works and substantial works for wind ensemble -- including five Symphonies. Of these two recent works, he writes "The title Desert Roads suggests an interior journey, a time of inner searching, of not knowing, of creative incubation. I have chosen to call these four movements "songs" for clarinet and wind ensemble. This connects them directly to the romantic idea of Ôsongs without words'...because of my longtime and persistent use of chorale melodies, it has been suggested that I am somehow proselytizing for the Christian faith. This is not the case. My attraction to these melodies is that they are the product of countless generations of human seeking, and have about them an aura of depth and power. The word "book" gives the feeling of a larger collection of material, something extensive and varied, and something that may have a story to tell."

Two British composers and one American -- and all three are of great distinction. Alwyn was equally at home writing some of the most memorable film scores for the British cinema (particularly "Odd Man Out," [1946]) and composing a series of beautiful Symphonies along with chamber music. Constant Lambert, in his short life, gained renown as one of the most gifted British conductors, but composed a wealth of colorful music, including the Suite featured here drawn from one of his last ballets. Gunther Schuller is not only famed for his musicology but his ability to cross over from jazz to classical and back. He helped create the jazz-classical hybrid known as "third stream" over 50 years ago. This collection is another outstanding example of the imagination and musicianship of the DePaul University Winds and their ongoing series for Albany.

The University of Calgary Wind Ensemble is widely recognized as Canada's leading wind orchestra. It is made up of the most advanced performers of wind and percussion instruments at the University and has earned a substantial international reputation. Under the direction of Dr. Glenn D. Price, the Ensemble has received great critical acclaim for its performances, recordings and broadcasts. Dr. Price is also a renowned percussionist and a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. This recording, featuring music by European, Asian and American composers (including one of the most recent works by the popular Michael Torke), is the ninth in their series and the first to be released on Albany. The works represent a wonderful range of colors, styles and compositional techniques.

This latest release in this remarkable series by the Illinois State Winds presents two major Symphonies by popular veterans of the field, Jack Stamp and David Maslanka, and introduces the music of the young American composer Kevin Krumenauer. Blue on Red explores the transition from grief and loss to life and celebration. The two colors represent a strong sense of emotion during the opening and closing movements. The renowned David Diamond was both a friend and mentor to Jack Stamp, the Professor of Music and Director of Wind Studies at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Diamond himself had written an Elegy in Memory of Ravel for winds in 1937, and it is fitting that Stamp created this tribute to Diamond within the context of the wind orchestra. Finally we hear one of the major works of the repertoire, David Maslanka's Symphony No. 2, as conductor Steele continues his series devoted to the music of this composer (previous releases are on TROY821, 774/75, 600 and 500)