FRANK TICHELI (b.1958): Nitro, An American Elegy, Portrait of a Clown, Shenandoah, Cajun Folk Songs I & II, Sanctuary, Pacific Fanfare, Blue Shades, Vesuvius, Amazing Grace, Sun Dance, A Shaker Gift Song, Postcard, Fortress, Symphony No. 2.

Description: Ticheli has contributed a wealth of material to this genre, covering a wide range of inspiration and mood, though always in an instantly approachable, attractive tonal idiom. A fondness for Americana - both folksong and early jazz - is apparent in some works more than others. Some bright, fanfare-like pieces have a breezy energy, while the composer excels at emotionally charged, warmly expressive elegiac works such as the American Elegy, written in honor of the victims of the Columbine massacre, taking on additional resonance in the wake of recent events. No obvious schools or doctrines of composition seem to be especially espoused; some passages of energetic propulsiveness, for example in the hectically dancing Vesuvius, nod to minimalism, though only as a component of the rhythmic vocabulary (the work also utilises the Dies irae to suggest the last days of Pompeii). Elsewhere one may be briefly reminded of Grainger, with his open-air wind-band textures and folksong melodies, or Bernstein, but Ticheli's voice overall is very much his own. The Symphony is more ambitious, the music more complex and less obviously 'popular' in style, though no less appealing. 2 CDs. North Texas Wind Symphony; Eugene Migliaro Corporon.