University of St. Thomas Wind Ensemble - Out of Nowhere - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

University of St. Thomas Wind Ensemble - Road to the Stars [COMPACT DISCS] date 03/21/2006

A superstar of Tzadik's Radical Jewish Culture and the mastermind of the popular band Pharaoh's Daughter, Basya Schechter returns with her greatest work yet, a gorgeous and sensual musical setting of the Biblical Song of Songs. Sung in Hebrew, English, Yiddish, Arabic, Spanish, and French, Basya has put her heart and soul into this project and it is evident in every song, solo, and arrangement. Eighteen years in the making, this is the towering achievement by one of the most passionate, sincere, and creative musicians in Jewish music today. Songs of Desire is an utter delight!

Although the American composer David Maslanka (1943-2017) wrote in a wide range of genres, it is for his generous output of music for wind band that he is best known. Three of the works heard here are in effect symphonic poems, all three infused with that big-hearted sense of space found in the best of American music and the quiet dignity of those endless open landscapes, but also energized by a powerful sense of freewheeling drama. The fourth piece is a charming and hugely engaging presentation of the instruments of the symphonic wind ensemble, a latter-day Peter and the Wolf - likewise intended for children and similarly bubbling with good tunes. The composer himself was closely involved in the preparation for these recordings - the last major project involving his music before his death - which now stand as a testament to a man much-loved in American musical circles.