DAVID MASLANKA (b.1943): Symphony No. 4, A Child's Garden of Dreams, In Memoriam.

Catalogue Number: 01I081

Label: Reference Recordings

Reference: RR-108

Format: CD

Price: $17.98

Description: Maslanka's music for wind orchestra is characterised by energy, vitality and color, though this doesn't deny the emotional intensity of gentler passages, with their incorporation of Bach chorales and hymn-like melodies, either authentic or composed. Perhaps in part because of the wind ensemble context, Maslanka's rich chromatic harmony carries a suggestion of Grainger, as does his sometimes extravagant scoring; another useful comparison now and then is Bernstein - but in content and style, Maslanka's music is very much his own. Repeated gestures sometimes provide a motoric thrust, as in minimalism, but there is always too much content of other kinds - primarily melodic - to adhere to the tenets of that particular school. Both the dreamscapes of A Child's Garden and the landscapes of the symphony (inspired by those of the High Plains states) are painted in vivid masses of sound and waves of instrumental sonority, frequently underpinned by thrilling tattoos of massed percussion. Ronald Stevenson once suggested that composers could be classed either as 'putters-in' or 'leavers-out' (including himself among the former); Maslanka is definitely a co-founder of this category. Both the moving In Memoriam with its Bach chorales and the chorales in the symphony, thundered out on full orchestra, with organ, piano and a huge percussion battery, could be used to illustrate the concept of 'uplifting' in a musical context; the whole disc can be summarised as thoroughly impressive, an easy recommendation for anyone who likes their modern music very big, very bold and totally approachable. Dallas Wind Symphony; Jerry Junkin.

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