Album

Here, Wynton Marsalis switches to cornet and tries to recreate the ambience of the proverbial village wind bands of long ago—albeit with the emphatically big-league help of Donald Hunsberger and the massive Eastman Wind Ensemble. This means a program of transcriptions of classical tunes, variations on popular ditties, dollops of sentimentality, heaping amounts of showoff display figurations, and other stuff that used to go over big in Middle America in the days before radio and electrical recording came in. From the hoary old hurdy-gurdy tune "The Carnival of Venice" that leads off the album onward, this is a record for dedicated antiquarians who dote on their Edison band cylinders because they like the music. But Marsalis works earnestly with the idea, playing those insidiously hummable tunes absolutely straight, with acres of flawless rapid-fire technical displays and even a touch of soulfulness on the token spiritual, "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child." And Marsalis' pass through the nonstop minefield of Paganini's Moto Perpetuoz, using circular breathing to make the dumbfounded listener think that he doesn't have to take a breath, is a pretty astounding technical feat.

© Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide

CD 1
Jean-Baptiste Arban Composer Variations on 'Carnival of Venice' Work Wynton Marsalis Cornet, Eastman Wind Ensemble Ensemble
1	Variations on 'Carnival of Venice'	7:32			$0.99
Herbert L. Clarke Composer The Debutante, caprice brillant for cornet & piano (or band) Work Wynton Marsalis Cornet, Eastman Wind Ensemble Ensemble
2	The Debutante, caprice brillant for cornet & piano (or band)	5:49			$0.99
Irish Traditional Composer Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms ('My Love's On The Cold Ground') Work Wynton Marsalis Cornet, Eastman Wind Ensemble Ensemble
3	Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms ('My Love's On The Cold Ground')	3:26			Album Only
Jules Levy Composer Grand Russian Fantasia for cornet & orchestra Work Wynton Marsalis Cornet, Eastman Wind Ensemble Ensemble
4	Grand Russian Fantasia for cornet & orchestra	6:19			$0.99
Niccolò Paganini Composer Moto perpetuo in C, for violin and guitar, Op.11, MS72 Work Wynton Marsalis Cornet, Eastman Wind Ensemble Ensemble
5	Moto perpetuo in C, for violin and guitar, Op.11, MS72 (arr. trumpet and wind ensemble)	4:31			Album Only
Thomas (ii) Moore Composer 'Tis the Last Rose of Summer Work Wynton Marsalis Cornet, Eastman Wind Ensemble Ensemble
6	'Tis the Last Rose of Summer	1:46			$0.99
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov Composer The Tale of Tsar Saltan (Skazka o Tsare Saltane; opera; includes 'Flight of the Bumblebee') Work Wynton Marsalis Cornet, Eastman Wind Ensemble Ensemble
7	The Flight of the Bumblebee (various arrangements)	1:03			$0.99
Herman Bellstedt Composer Napoli for cornet or trumpet and band or orchestra ('Canzone Napolitana Con Variazioni') Work Wynton Marsalis Cornet, Eastman Wind Ensemble Ensemble
8	Napoli for cornet or trumpet and band or orchestra ('Canzone Napolitana Con Variazioni'; arr. Frank Simon)	5:43			$0.99
Jean-Baptiste Arban Composer Fantasie Brillante Work Wynton Marsalis Cornet, Eastman Wind Ensemble Ensemble
9	Fantasie Brillante	8:16			Album Only
Spiritual Traditional Composer Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child Work Wynton Marsalis Cornet, Eastman Wind Ensemble Ensemble
10	Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child	3:20			$0.99
Herbert L. Clarke Composer Valse Brillante for cornet & band Work Wynton Marsalis Cornet, Eastman Wind Ensemble Ensemble
11	Valse Brillante for cornet & band	8:07			Album Only