Album

Naxos' Wind Band Classics series has exposed some of the top-notch music-making being achieved by American ensembles in this rather undervalued medium, and this disc, by the Lone Star Wind Orchestra of the University of North Texas (the primary conservatory location in the giant Texas university system), makes a good sample purchase for the series. The technical proficiency of the band is startling, as can be heard from the beginning in their flawless rendition of John Williams' ornate arrangement of the "Star-Spangled Banner." The program is likewise accomplished in its thinking. The idea of veteran director Eugene Migliaro Corporon is to break down the wall between familiar music and contemporary compositions by bludgeoning it: he juxtaposes universal standards lke Rhapsody in Blue and the Washington Post March with newly composed music, mostly by composers with some connection to North Texas. The vaguely funky Radiant Joy of Steven Bryant may be the most persuasive of these, but the general method of getting audiences to listen to something new seems sound in any case. The suite from Howard Hanson's Merry Mount is a fine orchestral work that did not deserve the disuse into which it has fallen, and the level of inspiration on the disc as a whole never flags for long. The level of recording engineering is unusually sophisticated for a university-related disc, but then this is an ensemble with aspirations to be, as Ross Perot would say, world-class, and it achieves that goal in large part.

© James Manheim, All Music Guide

CD 1
John Stafford Smith Composer The Star-Spangled Banner (National Anthem, USA), for orchestra and voice/chorus, ad lib Work Eugene Corporon Conductor
1	The Star-Spangled Banner (National Anthem, USA), for orchestra and voice/chorus, ad lib	3:17			$0.99
Joseph Wilcox Jenkins Composer American Overture, for band Work Eugene Corporon Conductor
2	American Overture, for band	4:54			$0.99
Howard Hanson Composer Merry Mount, opera in 3 acts, Op.31 Work 17:27 Eugene Corporon Conductor
3	Overture	3:05			$0.99
4	Children's Dance	1:57			$0.99
5	Love Duet	5:05			$0.99
6	Act 2. Prelude / Maypole Dances	7:20			$1.49
George Gershwin Composer Rhapsody in Blue, for piano and jazz orchestra Work Richard Schuster Piano, Eugene Corporon Conductor
7	Rhapsody in Blue, for piano and jazz orchestra	18:03			$2.99
Christopher Tucker Composer Ceremonial Fanfare, for wind ensemble Work Eugene Corporon Conductor
8	Ceremonial Fanfare, for wind ensemble	1:44			$0.99
Steven Bryant Composer Radiant Joy, for wind ensemble Work Eugene Corporon Conductor
9	Radiant Joy, for wind ensemble	5:24			$0.99
Robert Russell Bennett Composer Suite of Old American Dances Work 18:38 Eugene Corporon Conductor
10	1.Cake Walk	4:12			$0.99
11	2.Schottische	3:07			$0.99
12	3.Western One Step	3:41			$0.99
13	4.Wallflower Waltz	3:42			$0.99
14	5.Rag	3:56			$0.99
John Philip Sousa Composer Washington Post March Work Eugene Corporon Conductor
15	Washington Post March	2:45			$0.99