Sun, Jun 23, 2002

By Ken Keuffel
JOURNAL ARTS REPORTER

The Piedmont Wind Symphony, Robert Simon, conductor, Earl Myers, pianist. 
A Piedmont Celebration. PSW 2830. (out of four)

The selections on this attractive CD are drawn from recent concerts by the Piedmont Wind Symphony. Robert Simon, the group's artistic director, conducts a program that ranges from Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue (with pianist Earl Myers as soloist) to Aldo Forte's A Piedmont Celebration, the CD's title track, commissioned and premiered by the symphony to celebrate its 10th anniversary.

A Piedmont Celebration showcases Forte's flair for uplifting music - as in the attractive antiphonal fanfares in the work's opening movement. In the middle nocturnal movement, the music unleashes several cymbal-crashing and snare-drum-flavored climactic moments. But in general, the ambiance is more subdued, allowing Patrick Tucker's horn solo to conjure up images of horn calls.

As for Rhapsody in Blue, it seems to work equally well in Ferde Grofe's version for wind symphony. (A version for symphony orchestra, which includes string instruments, is more familiar.) This Rhapsody swings in a pleasant, leisurely way, becoming, as it were, the highlight of a lovely and carefree day. Myers, who teaches at the N.C. School of the Arts, captures the music's infectious swing and capricious twists and turns with a sensitive touch and thoughtful interpretive thinking.

Roger Durham Hannay's Symphony for Band (1963), performed here in an edition by Robert Simon, challenges the listener with one tricky rhythm after another, particularly in the work's third and final movement. Syncopation abounds. In general, the wind symphony attacks each bar with relish and precise attack. Along the way, there are some brilliant runs for flutes.