CD

Jerry Junkin and the Dallas Wind Symphony, Lincolnshire Posy: Music for Band by Percy Grainger (Reference). An exquisitely well-played collection of Grainger’s folk-flavored compositions and arrangements for concert band. Lincolnshire Posy, his six-movement masterpiece, is performed in a manner comparable in quality to the long-celebrated 1958 recording by Frederick Fennell and the Eastman Wind Ensemble. That version remains the gold standard, but it’s out of print, and this one has the advantage of being coupled with such delectable miniatures as “Shepherd’s Hey,” “Spoon River,” “The Duke of Marlborough Fanfare,” and the deservedly ever-popular “Irish Tune from County Derry” (that’s “Danny Boy” to you). Grainger’s way with a folksong was both charming and brilliantly imaginative, and what he didn’t know about scoring for concert band wasn’t worth knowing. This might just be the best Grainger album to come along since Benjamin Britten’s 1969 Salute to Percy Grainger (TT).