While this disc of Russian Wind Band Classics is certainly not for everybody, for those people who've been dying to know what
Shostakovich's March of the Soviet Militia or
Khachaturian's The Battle of Stalingrad transcribed for military band sound like, this disc is just the thing. The playing of the
Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra directed by
Clark Rundell may not have the polished precision of the Royal Grenadiers or the raw power of the Soviet Army Band, but the ensemble brings everything it has to its performances and it is enough to convince, if not to compel. But, then, not just anyone could be compelled by Glière's bombastic Solemn Overture for the Twentieth Anniversary of the October Revolution or
Prokofiev's grandiloquent Anthem for Military Band even under the best of circumstances. If even in relatively familiar works like Rimsky-Korsakov's Concerto for trombone, the playing of Jacques Mauger is out-classed by
Christian Lindberg's suave performance, at least Mauger and the
Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra play with conviction. And if in
Stravinsky's Circus Polka
Rundell is out-classed by
Stravinsky himself, well, he was the composer and his dedication to his own music remains understandably unmatched. Chandos' sound is very, very loud but, then, so is the music.