by Percy Grainger
Album Title: THE MUSIC LOVER’S GRAINGER
Recording:“President’s Own” United States Marine Band
Conductor:Colonel Micheal J. Colburn
Choir:Choral Arts Society of Washington
Publisher:Altissimo! ALTO 4042
This is NOT just another Percy Grainger band CD; the addition of choir makes The Music Lover’s Grainger stand out above many other collections. Ye Banks and Braes o’ Bonnie Doon is one of Grainger’s compositions with multiple performance options. This recording includes the optional wordless voices and whistlers as suggested by the composer. The choir is also featured as part of Marching Song of Democracy, I’m Seventeen Come Sunday, The Widow’s Party, and County Derry Air (an alternate setting of Irish Tune from County Derry. Among the band compositions is the hallmark Lincolnshire Posy performed with two settings of the last movement, The Lost Lady Found. The band performance concludes with Major Donald Patterson’s bandstration of the composer’s chorus and orchestra setting (the traditional instrumental setting appears as the final track of the recording). The Music Lover’s Grainger contains a fine mix of familiar and unfamiliar Grainger with unmatched professionalism by both vocal and instrumental performers.
