Naxos' Monumental Works for Winds is a five-star disc from the standpoint of showcasing major band literature in first-class performances in pristine recording quality. The
United States Marine Band is one of the finest symphonic bands in America, but it doesn't often get a chance to record the larger symphonic band works, so great has been the demand from record companies for the band to produce collections of three-minute marches. Nonetheless, the
U.S. Marine Band, heard here under Lt. Colonel Michael J. Colburn, regularly plays such music in concert appearances. Perhaps the restraint from recording this most non-military brand of band music, and the relief gained from finally getting it into the studio, is what has paid off so handsomely in the sense of urgent energy that crackles through the whole of Monumental Works for Winds. Yet it is an energy tempered by crack professionalism, acquired by many hours of practice and drilling. Band fanciers who cherish the sound of a good ensemble on a recording in which each section is clearly heard will go nuts over this disc.
The sequencing, too, is well done, moving from the rich, spaghetti-sauce laden brio of Creatore's transcription of the "Triumphal March" from Aïda to the acrid and lean early modernism of
Stravinsky's Symphonies of Wind Instruments.
Grainger's great Children's March is performed with its seldom-heard sung wordless chorus; an ethereal and mildly spooky effect, sort of like a jet stream rustling through the wind section. The work here with the most bite is Persichetti's Symphony No. 6 "For Band," and though its lyrical qualities are duly noted, it may take some getting used to for some listeners. Otherwise, if you would like to find a single-disc collection containing the major masterworks of band literature, you could hardly go wrong with Monumental Works for Winds.