***2012 Western Canadian Music Award winner for Best Classical Composition: Kalla***

From Allan Gilliland, former Composer in Residence with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, comes Centrediscs’ first CD dedicated solely to wind band music. This jazzy and upbeat offering takes notes from great jazz soloists and famed musical themes, from West Side Story to Rhapsody in Blue.

The music is performed by the New Edmonton Wind Sinfonia (NEWS), conducted by Raymond Baril, with featured soloists James Campbell, clarinet, and Dean McNeill, trumpet

Works/Tracks

1. O Music

2. Kalla

3. Love’s Red Rose

4. Fantasia on Themes From West Side Story

5. Loch Na Beiste

6. – 8. Dreaming of the Masters

PERFORMERS
The New Edmonton Wind Sinfonia
Raymon Baril, conductor/chef d’orchestre

REVIEWS
« This disc by the well-established New Edmonton Wind Sinfonia contains a variety of music by prolific Edmonton-based composer Allan Gilliland. Conductor Raymond Baril maintains a high standard throughout, with soloists James Campbell and Dean McNeill making distinguished contributions throughout. Perhaps better known as a classical clarinettist, James Campbell emerges here as also a fine jazz stylist and improvisor. Trumpeter and arranger Dean McNeill conveys brilliantly the role of a riverside trumpeter in New Orleans circa 1900. » — Andrew Timar, The WholeNote

« The compositions are great examples of Gilliland’s command of the wind-band genre. His ability to compose accessible yet challenging melodies and phrases allow experienced and novice listeners the chance to enjoy the wind-band for all it’s worth. The production quality of the recording itself is outstanding, thus allowing every colour of the ensemble to come through, even in the most delicate parts of a piece. […] The compositions contained on this disc are varied and highly entertaining. […] Equally inspiring is the performance of the New Edmonton Wind Sinfonia. This group of musicians truly embodies what the vast majority of music educators still instill in their students — performing music at its highest level for the love and passion of the music itself. » – Darrin Oehlerking, Canadian Winds