American Tapestry Various

Product Description John Williams' arrangement of the Star-Spangled Banner sets the stage for this collection of American works for wind band spanning 100 years. Featuring traditional compositions from the likes of George Gershwin, Howard Hanson, Robert Russell Bennett and J Review Donald Hunsberger's arrangement of the Gershwin is excellent, and the piece is a natural for winds. There weren't many places where I really missed the strings, though the arrangement does highlight some aspects of the score which tend to get buried in other recordings, lending the performance a unique sound. Overall, the interpretation is slower and more leisurely than other performances I'm familiar with. In the light of so many other excellent available recordings, I can't see myself returning to this performance too often - it's more of a curiosity than anything else, though not without merit. Steven Bryant's "Radiant Joy" struck me as the most successful of the newer repertoire; an accessible piece in the post-John Adams mold which somehow manages to feature the hi-hat cymbals without sounding inane. The appeal of the piece is primarily rhythmic, as it owes a clear debt to the complex syncopations of funk or jazz fusion. Catchy melodic ideas and extensive use of some less-common colors (piano, vibraphone, and soprano and baritone saxophones) add to the interest as well. -- MusicWeb-International, Benn Martin, August 2008