Higdon/ Hartt School Wind Ensemble/ Adsit - Dragon Rhyme

The wind band offers considerable variety and color to composers, as demonstrated by these three disparate works. Jennifer Higdon's Soprano Saxophone Concerto brings to the instrument an unerring warmth and sizzling dexterity perfectly suited to it's plangent beauty. Kurt Weill's 1924 Violin Concerto exudes neoclassicism, Mahlerian influence and a pungent dynamism that account for it's popularity. Chen Yi's Dragon Rhyme employs musical intervals familiar from Beijing Opera, in a work rich in textual color and vivid intensity.