Rare Gems from Richard Strauss!

Reference Recordings is proud to present our first album with the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble, conducted and produced by George Vosburgh in an album of unusual and underperformed repertoire from Richard Strauss.  

Reference Recordings is proud to present our first album with the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble, conducted and produced by George Vosburgh.
Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble traces its roots to the Carnegie Tech Kiltie Band, founded in 1908. Over the years, the Kiltie Band grew and enjoyed a long and distinguished history as a concert band. For decades, it was the preeminent performing ensemble at the University, appearing regularly in concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City. In modern times, single players perform each instrumental part, emulating an orchestral wind section. This style of playing in a large ensemble allows for the tonal colors found in a symphony orchestra.
Unusual and underperformed repertoire has long been a hallmark of the ensemble’s programming. This album exemplifies that, with the pairing of Strauss’ 1945 Symphony for Winds in E-flat Major (The Happy Workshop) and his 1881 Serenade for Winds in E­-flat Major, Op. 7. Notes writer Amanda Vosburgh states: “Taken together, the Serenade Op. 7 and The Happy Workshop form the bookends to a long and diverse body of work, marked by innovative chromaticism and complexity, but tethered at either end to the classical tradition.”
Conductor George Vosburgh has enjoyed a long and multi­faceted international career as a soloist, orchestral musician, teacher, and conductor. He holds a GRAMMY® for his 1985 Reference Recordings release of L’Histoire du Soldat with Chicago Pro Musica, and is a laureate of the ARD Music Competition in Munich. From 1992–2017, he held the Martha Brooks Robinson Principal Trumpet Chair in the Pittsburgh Symphony. He appears on numerous RR albums with Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. He has taught at Carnegie Mellon University since 1992 and has been Director of the Carnegie Mellon Wind Ensemble since 2011.  

Reference Recordings

For over 40 years, REFERENCE RECORDINGS has been one of the most innovative and respected independent labels in the music business. Reference Recordings releases have been highly praised for their dedication to high-quality sound in the service of great music. Founder Tam Henderson (multi-year GRAMMY® nominee for Producer of the Year), was joined in 1978 Keith O. Johnson (2011 GRAMMY® winner, and 10 additional nominations). Some 150 projects later, RR is still recording what many consider to be the finest-sounding classical, jazz and blues discs in the world.
Reference Recordings are distributed in North America by Naxos USA, and internationally through a network of independent distributors listed at www.referencerecordings.com