Synergy: Music for Wind Band in Naxos' Wind Band Classics series might've been called Music for Clarinet and Wind Band as four of its five pieces feature the clarinet as a solo instrument. This features the Columbus State University Wind Ensemble (Columbus, GA) under Robert W. Rumbelow. In a sense, the star of the show is arch-virtuoso clarinetist John Bruce Yeh, who is joined by daughter Molly Yeh in the percussion parts in Michael Burritt's Duo Concertante for clarinet and percussion (2006). Burritt is an internationally ...
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Synergy: Music for Wind Band in Naxos' Wind Band Classics series might've been called Music for Clarinet and Wind Band as four of its five pieces feature the clarinet as a solo instrument. This features the Columbus State University Wind Ensemble (Columbus, GA) under Robert W. Rumbelow. In a sense, the star of the show is arch-virtuoso clarinetist John Bruce Yeh, who is joined by daughter Molly Yeh in the percussion parts in Michael Burritt's Duo Concertante for clarinet and percussion (2006). Burritt is an internationally renowned percussion soloist who teaches at the Eastman School, and his Duo Concertante is a sparkling, jazzy single-movement work with a lot of interesting tonal color, strong musical ideas, and variety of approach. It is not well served by the rather flat, under-dynamic, distant, and barely two-dimensional sound of Naxos' recording. The mallet percussion parts should sparkle and the clarinet should have a silvery quality, and such qualities are only intermittently evident here....
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