URBAN REQUIEM • Stephen L. Gage, cond; Kathryn Thomas Umble (fl);1 Robert Fitzer (cl);1 James Umble (sax);2 Allen Cordingley (sax);2 Kent Engelhardt (sax);2 Joseph Carey (sax);2 Youngstown St Univ Symphonic Wind Ens • NAXOS 8.570946 (64:06)

LINDROTH Spin Cycle. SAINT-SAËNS (arr. Brooks) Introduction and Rondo capriccioso.1 WHITACRE October. COLGRASS Urban Requiem.2 SHOSTAKOVICH (arr. Duker) Overture on Russian and Kyrgyz Folk Themes. SOUSA Nobles of the Mystic Shrine

A most rewarding disc encompassing a large stylistic array of repertoire ranging from Eric Whitacre’s (b. 1970) nostalgically Coplanesque, hymn inspired and ultra Americanish October to Michael Colgrass’s brilliant, moody, and stylistically eclectic Urban Requiem. Along the way one encounters Scott Lindroth’s (b. 1968) frothily inventive Spin Cycle, arrangements of Saint-Saëns’s Rondo capriccio, and Shostakovich’s all-too-neglected Overture on Russian and Kyrgyz Folk Themes. I didn’t think that effective arrangements of those last two pieces were possible. Given my personal evaluation of their sonic and affective demands, tampering with the originals would have resulted in diminishment. Arrangers Lee Brooks and Guy Duker, however, rose to the task, providing arrangements that are not merely faithful to the originals, but also provide fresh insights. Special kudos to flutist Kathryn Thomas Umble and clarinetist Robert Fitzer whose subtlety of phrasing and tone production grace the Saint-Saëns effort, and to saxophonists James Umble, Allen Cordingley, Kent Engelhardt, and Joseph Carey who traverse the multiple and mercurially shifting sound worlds of Colgrass’s Urban Requiem with illuminating surefootedness and grace.

Listening to this offering, I found myself increasingly disbelieving that the Youngstown State University’s Symphonic Wind Ensemble is a student organization. Granted, it drafts the best of the current best, and has had in-residence relationships with some of the most outstanding composers of our age, including Michael Colgrass, Joseph Schwantner, Karel Husa, Samuel Adler, and Eric Ewazen, to give a woefully incomplete list, but I still find the fit and finish of their performances astonishing.

The sound on this disc, like the efforts of all those chronicled by it, is fully up to the task.

FANFARE: William Zagorski