Royal Conservatoire of Scotland Symphonic Wind Orchestra/Nigel Boddice, Bryan Allen Nimbus Alliance NI 6178***

If you haven't read the CD booklet before listening to this disc, you might get a shock at the opening music. Peter Graham's On the Shoulders of Giants, a tribute to American brass players, starts by quoting the blazing finale of Bruckner's Eighth Symphony (in honourof the Chicago Symphony Orchestra brass section) before referencing more immediately recognisable American flavours. Christian Lindberg's Behac Munrohis a gallimaufry with trumpet and trombone soloists (Tom Poulson and Dávur Juul Magnussen). Steve Forman's Inner Weathertraces physical and emotional weather in mostly minimalist patterns. Martin Dalby offers his A Plain Man's Hammeras the inverse of Boulez's Marteausans maître. And Rory Boyle's Behemoths is an often cacophonic rant against wind turbines. The performances are zesty. url.ie/6c45