DePaul Wind Ensemble

On this CD:

1. Children's Overture
Composed by Eugene Bozza
Performed by Steven Lewis, DePaul University Wind Ensemble

2. Concerto for wind orchestra
Composed by Nikolai Lopatnikoff
Performed by Steven Lewis, DePaul University Wind Ensemble

3. Homenagen a Villa-Lobos
Composed by Camargo Guarnieri
Performed by Steven Lewis, DePaul University Wind Ensemble

4. Little Symphony, for 10 winds No. 5, "Dixtour d'instruments à vent", Op. 75
Composed by Darius Milhaud
Performed by Steven Lewis, DePaul University Wind Ensemble

5. Veselohra na moste (Comedy on the Bridge), little suite from the opera, H. 247a
Composed by Bohuslav Martinu
Performed by Steven Lewis, DePaul University Wind Ensemble

6. Concerto for clarinet/soprano saxophone
Composed by Jeff Beal
Performed by Larry Combs, Larry Combs, Steven Lewis, DePaul University Wind Ensemble

Tracks:

Ebony Concerto: Allegro Moderato
Ebony Concerto: Andante
Ebony Concerto: Moderato
Hillandale Waltzes: Theme
Hillandale Waltzes: Valse elegante
Hillandale Waltzes: Valse passionee
Hillandale Waltzes: Valse sombre
Hillandale Waltzes: Valse volante
Hillandale Waltzes: Valse triste
Hillandale Waltzes: Valse de bonne humeur
Hillandale Waltzes: valse brillante et joyeuse
Hillandale Waltzes: Valse oubliee
Derivations For Clarinet And Band: Warmup
Derivations For Clarinet And Band: Contrapuntal Blues
Derivations For Clarinet And Band: Rag
Derivations For Clarinet And Band: Rideout
Prelude, Fugue And Riffs: Prelude For The Brass
Prelude, Fugue And Riffs: Fugue For The Saxes
Prelude, Fugue And Riffs: Riffs For Everyone
Concerto For Clarinet

Customer Reviews:

Jazz for everyone.......2007-01-04

Superb sound quality.
You can listen this CD in one breath. It's very interesting and dynamic, even if you don't like jazz you will love this recording.

clarinet heaven.......2001-10-05

This CD of classical jazz is a winner, with virtuoso performances by John Bruce Yeh.
The rendition of Stravinsky's playful "Ebony Concerto", commissioned by Woody Herman in 1945, is terrific. The 9 short Victor Babin pieces are a delight, and the Bernstein selections a blast...colorful and rambunctious, with echoes of "West Side Story".

I love Morton Gould, and "Derivations" should explain why. He's a master of interweaving rhythms, among other things. He's one of America's greats, and I wish his music was more widely performed, and recorded...it deserves to be heard.

The biggest treasure on this CD comes at the end, with Artie Shaw's "Concerto for Clarinet". A "Big Band" gem that was never published but fortunately tracked down by Mr. Yeh (he explains how in the back of the booklet insert). It overflows with joy, and there are some passages with a Hebraic melody that stir the emotions.

The jazz ensemble of musicians (tracks 13-20) are outstanding...the brass section a knock-out. I must mention Bob Rummage on drums, and Easley Blackwood on piano...both are stupendous.
If you like the clarinet, you're going to love this unique and marvelous CD.

Excellent musicianship.......2000-08-04

When a musician interprets a wellknown piece of music in such a way that you must confess that you hear the music as for the first time than there is something going on. The Ebony Concerto by Igor Stravinsky, commissioned and first played by Woody Herman's jazz orchestra, has had many interpreters, but John Bruce Yeh is one of the best. He uses the clarinet, being a rather nasal sounding instrument, as if it were a voice. Morton Gould's Derivations for Clarinet and Band are a revelation to me, this is more than minimal jazz, it even seems to be a new artform. Of course, the recording by Reference Recordings is superb and the music does wonders for you if you are in the possession of decent Hi-fi-equipment.

Average customer rating:

A Fine Wind Band Program

Forget Me Nots

Manufacturer: Albany Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Marches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Classic Big Band | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B0001XAQ6Y
Release Date: 2004-04-27

Tracks:

Fanfare for Lafayette
Concertino for Violoncello
Divertimento
Concerto for Bassoon, Contrabassoon & Wind 5. Orchestra
Symphonietta for Woodwinds

Album Description

Casterede's fanfare is a tribute to the Marquis de Lafayette. In it Casterede has chosen the style of an 18th century military band in his fanfare for brass and percussion. In 1924, while in Paris, Martinu wrote the first of several pieces for solo cello. This Concertino was written with a wind/percussion accompaniment. In 1965, Robert Boudreau, conductor of the American Wind Symphony, visited Europe to search for new music for his ensemble. During a discussion about significant composers of the 20th century, the name of Georges Auric came up. At the time, Auric was directing the Paris Opera and the Opera Comique, but was doing little composing. Boudreau knew that Auric had stopped actively composing, but visited the composer in any case and presented his case for expanding the repertoire for winds. After hearing what Boudreau had to say about his ensemble, Auric agreed to write a piece, and presented it within a few weeks. As the title suggests, Divertimento is! an entertaining work, but as Boudreau says, "a virtuosic one, full of sprightly and sometimes exotic wind figuration and peppered with sparkling contributions from pitched and unpitched percussion." Once again, the Dutch composer Henk Badings (1907-1987) was also commissioned by Boudreau to write his piece for the American Wind Symphony. Between 1963 and 1985, Boudreau commissioned a large number of works from Mr. Badings. The Double Concerto for Bassoon and Contrabassoon is one of the earlier works, having been written in 1964. It is subtitled "In Memoriam Paul Hindemith". The Dutch composer/conductor Willem van Otterloo wrote his Little Symphony for Wind Instruments in 1943. It is written in a post-romantic style and is accessible, running the gamut from charming, to brilliant to reflective.

Customer Reviews:

A Fine Wind Band Program.......2004-05-05

Generally I don't read the booklet that comes with a new CD before I give it a listen. With this one, I simply grabbed it, not even having read the list of works, stuck it in my Discman and headed out for a walk. Imagine my surprise on listening to the first selection, which sounded to me like a brass-and-percussion fanfare from 18th-century France, when strains of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' showed up. Only after I returned from my walk did I learn that this rousing piece was entitled 'Fanfare for Lafayette,' written by Jacques Casterede, about whom there was nothing in the notes. Be that as it may, this four-minute piece is a terrific curtain raiser. I intend to bring it to the attention of a wind band conductor I know.

The rest of the program consists of not-very-familiar works by reasonably familiar composers: Martinu, Auric, Henk Badings, and Willem van Otterloo. Only the latter is not particularly well-known, although he is known to those of us of a certain age because of his work as a conductor in the middle part of the century. And because Donald DeRoche, the imaginative conductor of this fine ensemble from DePaul University, included a van Otterloo piece on the their fine 'Ragtimes and Serenades' CD. On this disc, van Otterloo's 'Symphonietta for Woodwinds' is given a nice reading.

For me the high points on this CD are the three middle works. Martinu's 'Concertino for Violoncello, Winds and Percussion' with the expert but slightly dry-toned cellist, Christopher Costanza, is a very skillfully orchestrated concerto pitting the cello against a virtuosic wind and percussion group, an interesting combination that works quite well. This is a loose-knit piece in one movement which shows the French influence of Martinu's stay in Paris after leaving Czechoslovakia. 'Divertimento' by Georges Auric is one of the last pieces he wrote. In fact, according to the booklet notes, he had stopped composing until asked in 1965 for something for wind band by American Wind Symphony conductor Robert Boudreau. It is a mercurial, saucy and virtuosic workout for winds and percussion played with élan by the DePaul group. I particularly liked the boozy waltz in the middle; it reminded me a bit of similar music in the barroom scene in 'Wozzeck.' The most striking piece here, to me, is the 'Double Concerto for Bassoon, Contrabassoon and Wind Orchestra' by Dutch composer Henk Badings (1907-1987, and an exact contemporary of fellow Dutchman van Otterloo). The soloists, William Buchman and Lewis Kirk, are superb, often playing in parallel but sometimes striking melodic blows off each other. The contrabassoon is more than a comic figure here; both instruments sing long-lined melodies and duets in this almost fifteen-minute one-movement concerto. Bravo!

I always love to hear recordings that come from our American music schools. It helps me remain optimistic about the state of music instruction and performance in these anti-intellectual and anti-arts times when I can hear such wonderful playing from such young performers. The instrumentalists at DePaul have not let me down.

Recommended.

TT=55:54

Customer Reviews:

A Wind Ensemble Bonanza.......2003-07-21

This disc of varied music played by the DePaul Wind Ensemble, which appears to be a student group from DePaul University in Chicago, demonstrates the amazing abilities of young wind players in America today. It contains generally neo-classic music by van Otterloo, Rorem, Ritter-George and Henze. The one piece that is not neo-classic is the rhythmically jazzy atonal Concertino for Piano, Winds and Timpani by George Perle. And that's the only piece that I was able to compare with another recorded performance. Richard Goode, pianist, and the Music Today Ensemble conducted by Gerard Schwarz recorded it in the early 1990s for Nonesuch. The current performance is very similar to that one and although the performers are less well-known--the pianist is the Chicago Symphony's excellent keyboardist and a professor at DePaul, Mary Sauer--they are fully the equal of the earlier group.

Willem van Otterloo was best known, of course, as a conductor. But he was also a composer of no mean talent and his Serenade for Brass and Percussion is striking suite in four movements: March, Nocturne, Scherzo and Finale. His musical language is somewhere between, don't laugh, Hindemith and Miklos Rosza and is entirely accessible to the casual listener.

Ned Rorem, who has always been respected for his songs, has lately been getting a lot of performances and recordings for his orchestral music. His 11-minute Sinfonia for a wind and percussion group comprising the usual complement of a symphony orchestra has fast outer movements bracketing two slow movements. The mournful oboe solo of the second movement is particularly effective. The chattering winds of the final scherzo end the piece with a flourish.

Thom Ritter-George, a Michigan native and the only composer represented here who was completely unknown to me, is represented by his neoclassic Concerto for Flute and Winds, played brilliantly by Mary Stolper, flute. The 8-minute three-movement work (Pastorale, Adagio cantabile, Rondo) features lightning-flash piccolo work in the charming last movement. The piece exists in versions with accompaniment by orchestra, piano or wind ensemble.

The big surprise for me was the terrific final piece on the disc, Hans Werner Henze's 'Ragtimes and Habeneras', a witty and slightly misleading title that reminds one of Bernstein's punning 'Arias and Barcarolles.' Written in polytonal satirical style with reminiscences of Weill, Milhaud and Stravinsky, it consists of eleven short pieces featuring ragtimes, Latin American dance rhythms including tango and rumba [but no habanera] and a final march in ragtime. It left this reviewer smiling.

The ensemble work by the students at DePaul, under their distinguished conductor Donald DeRoche, is, in a word, breathtaking.

TT=62:22

Tracks:

Concerto for Trumpet and Wind Orchestra
Queen of the Night from the Magic Flute
Scherzo in D Minor
Vocalise
Escapade for Trumpet and Band
Concerto in D for Trumpet
Concerto in E Flat
Andante and Allegro
Rhapsody for Trumpet and winds

Product Description

The DePaul University Wind Ensemble has distinguished itself over the years not only with its marvelous virtuosity but with its highly original and exciting programming which can also be heard on Albany releases TROY334, 435, 501, 568 and 628. Here they are joined by John Hagstrom, who leads the trumpet studio at DePaul University. He has been a member of the Chicago SymphonyÂ’s trumpet section since 1996. He studied at the Eastman School and spent six years in Â“The PresidentÂ’s OwnÂ” United States Marine Band in Washington, D.C. All of these pieces have a wonderful way of showing off the terrific musical combination of trumpet and wind orchestra, with such highlights as the propulsive Concerto by Russian composer Andrei Petrov, the Scherzo by the famed Mexican artist Rafael Mendez, the lovely Rachmaninov arrangement, and the novelties found in the Ropartz and Arutiunian works. By now everyone has heard the latter composerÂ’s Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra, so itÂ’s a pleasure to hear this more recent work. This CD is for anyone who appreciates great trumpet playing and loves the sound of a virtuoso wind orchestra.

Customer Reviews:

Elegant .......2006-08-13

John Hagstrom and the Depaul Wind Ensemble (Chicago, IL) conducted by Donald DeRoche have put together an extraordinary CD. The literature is varied in style, origin, and tempo. There is something for everyone here. Trumpet fans will love the Hummel Concerto in E flat, with the orchestral parts transcribed for winds. Mr. Hagstrom also plays a Rachmaninov Vocalise transcription. Here I have to admire his long even phrases spun out like gold along Rachmaninov's lines. By contrast, the opening work: Concerto for Trumpet by Petrov is relentless and strong. For the Stotzel Concerto, the style is exquisite, appropriately playful, stately, and all within a historically informed tone color. His tone seems beautifully produced. His phrases seem honest and organic to me.

The Depaul Wind Ensemble does a lovely job of its ensemble work. It is clear that phrases were carefully considered, rehearsed and executed beautifully. They support and show off their soloist in a sensitive fashion and take the floor when it is appropriate. Congratulations to DePaul University for their part on this CD.

The detail of musical thought and expression is finely honed. This CD would be one to come back to repeatedly. Bravi Tutti!

Average customer rating:

Ostinato Fantastico
Depaul Wind Ensemble
Manufacturer: Albany Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Marches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Classic Big Band | Swing Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000LXS7JW
Release Date: 2007-01-01

Product Description

The title of this recording, Ostinato Fantastico, is obviously taken from the title of Blas Atehortua s work. It has a kind of double meaning in the context of the series of recordings the DePaul Wind Ensemble has created with Albany Records. An ostinato is a variation form in which a theme or pattern is repeated throughout the piece, while the musical material around it is changed or varied. In a similar way the DePaul/Albany recordings have a consistent theme of presenting works for winds of two types: First, we have tried to offer seldom or never-recorded music by important composers, music that we don t want to lose from the repertoire. Second, we have presented solo works with wind accompaniment, played by excellent soloists. As the important repertoire for winds develops and is defined over the next decades, we will need to establish and perform the emerging canon of wind music. Nobody knows what pieces will be important 100 years from now, but we do need to seek out the best music and insure that it doesn t fall by the wayside because it has been ignored. It is also important to provide a repertoire of excellent solo pieces with original and well-transcribed wind accompaniments. These two themes represent the ostinato of the DePaul Albany series.

Average customer rating:

Excellant Wind Music & Performance

DePaul Wind Ensemble

Manufacturer: Albany Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Tracks:

Children's Overture
Concerto For Wind Orchestra: Movement I
Concerto For Wind Orchestra: Movement II
Concerto For Wind Orchestra: Movement III
Concerto For Wind Orchestra: Movement IV
Homenagen a Villa-Lobos
Symphony No. 5 (Dixtour): Rude
Symphony No. 5 (Dixtour): Lent
Symphony No. 5 (Dixtour): Violent
Suite From 'Comedy On The Bridge'
Concerto For Clarinet - Soprano Saxaphone: Riches to Rags
Concerto For Clarinet - Soprano Saxaphone: Famines to Feasts

Customer Reviews:

Excellant Wind Music & Performance.......2006-10-23

Generally I liked the music on this and the performance is excellant.

In the 50's and 60's the benchmark recordings for wind ensemble (band) music was the Eastman Wind Ensemble. In the past 20 years, recordings of other music ensembles from other universities have been released (North Texas, University of Georgia, etc.) which rival those landmark recordings of Eastman. DePaul,s wind ensemble performance easily rivals any of these groups. Most of the works on this CD are for wind ensemble and listening to these works is more like listening to chamber music. For this CD these fine young musicians have to handle a wide range of styles.

The real gem on this CD is the Concerto for Clarinet/Soprano Saxophone. John Beal is a Hollywood composer who has written for movies and television, including the film Pollack and the HBO TV Series Rome. Like many film composers, he is also at home on the concert stage. Beal writes accross a wide range of styles from jazz to classical.

The soloist, Larry Combs, is principal clarinetist with the Chicago Symphony. The soloist has the option of playing part of the second movement on Soprano Saxophone. Combs handles the transition beautifully. He displays the tremendous versitily that one finds with the current generation of jazz/studio/classical instrumentalists. Along with being a supurb classical clarinetist, his jazz soprano saxophone playing is some of the finest I have ever heard. He has remarkable consistency in his tone quality throughout the ranges of both instruments.

Since this CD was released in 1999, I am suprised that I am the first one to review it.

It is worth getting this CD just to get the Beal work. That is why I am giving it a 5 star rating.

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