Percy Grainger was one of the principal architects of the symphonic wind orchestra in modern times, and Chandos' Grainger: Transcriptions for Wind Orchestra is a survey of much of the arrangements Grainger made for wind groups from non-original sources. While the sources may have been non-original, Grainger's totally transformative approach to these musical texts certainly qualifies these efforts as "original"; they reflect Grainger's own personality and taste rather than those of the source works and composers. Of the 14 ...
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Percy Grainger was one of the principal architects of the symphonic wind orchestra in modern times, and Chandos' Grainger: Transcriptions for Wind Orchestra is a survey of much of the arrangements Grainger made for wind groups from non-original sources. While the sources may have been non-original, Grainger's totally transformative approach to these musical texts certainly qualifies these efforts as "original"; they reflect Grainger's own personality and taste rather than those of the source works and composers. Of the 14 works in the program, eight have never been recorded; many belong to a series published by Schirmer under the rubric of "Chosen Gems for Winds" and first heard at the Interlochen Summer Camp in Michigan, where Grainger taught from 1937 to 1944. Clark Rundell and the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra perform this music with precision and a clean, secure tone quality, though not with an overabundant amount of spirit, in this Chandos recording. Many of the pieces Grainger...
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