Winds of War and Peace explores what a large wind ensemble can do when brass, woodwinds and percussion are treated as a complete orchestral body. Lowell Graham leads the National Symphonic Winds through music of ceremony, conflict, travel and celebration. The absence of strings is not a limitation; it places unusual emphasis on breath, attack, blend and the many colours available inside the wind family.
John Williams’s “Liberty Fanfare” opens with bright brass declarations and sweeping lines that demand both precision and breadth. Samuel Barber’s “Commando March” uses sharply organised rhythm and instrumental contrast rather than sheer volume to create military character. The suite from Richard Rodgers’s Victory at Sea, arranged for wind ensemble by Robert Russell Bennett, moves through a larger dramatic arc, while Alfred Reed’s El Camino Real brings Spanish-influenced rhythm and long melodic curves. “Fiesta,” from Clifton Williams’s Symphonic Dances, closes the programme with brilliant percussion and dancing momentum. Graham keeps these changing styles connected through disciplined ensemble balance.
This edition: Ultra Tape, and what you need to play it
Analogue Productions issues this recording in its Ultra Tape series: a ¼-inch analogue tape running at 15 ips with IEC equalisation, in two-track (half-track) stereo. Each copy is made in real time from a copy of the original analogue master tape, transferred on an ATR-modified Ampex machine with flux magnetic heads, and it arrives in a custom slipcase.
Playing it needs a reel-to-reel machine that runs at 15 ips and reads two tracks. The format leaves out the steps a record takes between master tape and groove, which is the reason collectors reach for it.
Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe
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