CD Cover - German Wind Band Classics

German Wind Band Classics - CHAN 9805

Royal Northern College of Music
Conductor: Tim Reynish

  • Blacher: Divertimento for Wind Orchestra, Op. 7
  • Hartmann, K: Symphony No. 5 (sinfonie concertante)
  • Hindemith: Symphony in B flat major for Concert Band
  • Schoenberg: Theme and Variations, Op. 43a
  • Toch: Spiel for Wind Orchestra, Op. 39

A crackingly well-played programme of wind-orchestral works featuring première recordings of pieces by Ernst Toch and Boris Blacher, as well as Schoenberg's rarely heard Theme and Variations.

Hartmann's Fifth Symphony (1950, but originating in a much altered trumpet concerto from 1932) inhabits a Hindemithian sound world. The present version is much better played and recorded than the Bavarian RSO under Kubelik (Wergo) and is a match for Metzmacher and Bamberg (EMI).

The performances are exemplary, beautifully phrased and balanced, and the sound is rich The Gramophone June 2000