Are you interested in woodwind music? Are you looking for something that invokes imagery and color? You then want to check out The Artist Album of David Maslanka and David Gillingham—the two Davids. This music is for woodwinds and wind ensemble together. The first piece “A Song of Coming Awake” is a beautiful representation of the private woodwind ensemble. It features a bright woodwind solo (maybe flute) in the higher range. This is followed by clarinets paralleling in seconds that sound like chords. It is so beautiful a contrast that I want to write some music on this subject. You get the picture of a bright morning, birds chirping and singing morning songs, minor things bustling in the background.
This then contrasts with the Gillingham composition in the second through the fifth tracks. Both composers use full wind band and piano with the piccolo and flute soloing. “In Loving Memory” is a fabulous tribute to days and nights lost or people are places longed for. “Crucible of Your Pain” is full of haunting seconds and disturbing intervals. “Heavenly Light” is probably the favorite of this collection, sounding like a Disney soundtrack, complete with the French horn sound in the background swarming around in the texture. The piccolo is flying and fluttering around like a bird. It is a fantastic representation of something. I don’t know if it is specifically resembling a heavenly light—more like a high flight. It has this Peter Pan scenario and way about it. “Warm Light” is the intro to the heavenly light movement. To me, this could be more the Heavenly Light than the second movement. I like the different “light” movements nonetheless. High flying playing and skilled work is going on in this whole set. It is expertly done and composed. The two Davids have a great album here and I would recommend you get this if you’re classically inclined.
