While wind instruments are capable of conveying every emotion, even the most solemn or tragic, the music written for them when they are combined in large numbers, in military bands, concert bands or symphonic wind ensembles, often tends towards the lighter side. And this tendency is very often linked with the regular accents of dance rhythms, the tunefulness of borrowed dance melodies and the host of associations that dances can so easily call to mind. The four sets of dances for wind orchestra recorded here are from different times and places: the Mediterranean in the 1930s, the United States in the 1970s, contemporary Britain. But between them they show how readily dance idioms can be used to affirm national identity, evoke distant times or places – or simply entertain!

The Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra is recognised as one of the leading conservatory ensembles in the world and performs internationally. It has already released several highly enjoyable discs on Chandos, all notable for their energy and brilliance.

This disc contains the premiere recording of Gorb’s Yiddish Dances for Symphonic Wind Orchestra.


Nikos Skalkottas achieved one of his greatest successes with his thirty-six Greek Dances, written for symphony orchestra. He later arranged nine of them for wind orchestra, retaining much of the distinctive wind writing of the original orchestral pieces. Some of the nine Dances are based on transcriptions of traditional melodies, others on melodies either derived from fragments of folk tunes or freely invented in folk style. There are examples of the unusual metres which are characteristic of Greek music: 7/8 time in the ‘Dance from Kalamata’ and 5/4 time in the quick sections of ‘My Mariori’.
Liverpudlian composer Kenneth Hesketh has a special interest in writing music for symphonic wind ensemble. His suite, Danceries, composed in 1999, was premiered by the RNCM Wind Orchestra and Clark Rundell at an International Wind Festival in Manchester in April 2000. The title is taken from Henry Playford’s 1651 publication The English Dancing Master, or Plaine and Easie Rules for the Dancing of Country Dances, with the Tune to each Dance and the suite’s four movements are based on tunes from the book.
John Corigliano is one America’s leading contemporary composers. He composed Gazebo Dances in 1972 as a suite for piano duet, and the following year arranged it for concert band. The title, which Corigliano first gave to the band version, was, he says, ‘suggested by the pavilions often seen on village greens in towns throughout the countryside, where public band concerts are given on summer evenings’.
Adam Gorb is Head of the School of Composition and Contemporary Music at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester. He is best known at home and abroad for his works for large wind ensembles of which Yiddish Dances, written in 1998, is one of his most popular. The composer describes it as a ‘party piece’ which ‘brings together two of my abiding musical passions, the symphonic wind orchestra and klezmer’.

…a disc that is as enterprising in repertoire as it is spirited and polished in performance.
The RNCM Wind Orchestra does full justice to their vitality and individual character.
The playing of the RNCM Wind Orchestra is of the highest quality, its hard to imagine any group could have done it better.
Wind band records do not come much better than this. Fresh, highly accomplished young musicians perform to the professional standards one would expect. The Chandos recording is crystal clear with all musical detail clearly heard.
This disc is the latest in the series of Chandos releases featuring the Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra. Her Clark Rundell leads the band through a series of sprightly performances, in which the fresh lithe virtuosity and infectious enthusiasm of his young players is a real pleasure. And the technical qualities of the recordings are excellent.
This latest disc is of core repertoire that my band could actually play. I shall sit them down in front of this, pump up the volume and were utopia-bound.

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