GRAINGER: “Lincolnshire Posy”; Hill Song No. 2....

GRAINGER: “Lincolnshire Posy”; Hill Song No. 2. PERSICHETTI: Symphony No. 6. KHACHATURIAN: Armenian Dances. HARTLEY: Concerto for 23 Winds. ROGERS: Three Japanese Dances. Eastman Wind Ensemble, conducted by Frederick Fennell. Mercury Living Presence 432 754-2. These works, selected from a pair of 1958-59 vintage Mercury LPs, find Fennell at the heart of his crusade to make the wind band a serious, respectable species. The exuberantly inventive Vincent Persichetti symphony exploits in a masterly way the possibilities of wind band as a symphonic instrument; nowhere are there any parade ground cliches. In his way, Bernard Rogers does an amazing job of refracting the winds through a sparkling quasi-Oriental prism. The Eastman precision and fire are breathtaking; the sound, fuller in body than on the LPs, stunningly catches the distinctively pungent Eastman brass tone.