WindSync Plays Miguel del Aguila

Album review

The wind quintet WindSync (the comic quality of the name is intentional) recorded Miguel del Aguila's Wind Quintet No. 2 on its All Worlds All Times album to some success, and on this 2024 release, the group returns with an entire album of del Aguila's wind music. The album may be of interest to Beatles buffs; the music was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London (apparently arranged by a contact of the players), using some of the same microphones as those used by that moderately successful English rock group. WindSync points out that the studio was used for classical music before The Beatles came along and that the first musicians to record there were Edward Elgar and the London Symphony Orchestra. As it happens, the studio's legendary high standards mean that the microphones are perfectly adequate for the recording at hand, and the music is of great interest without The Beatles trivia. Del Aguila's works reflect his South American background (he is Uruguayan American), but the influence is not simple or uniform. It is clear in the festive opening Sambeada, but also innovative and subtle in the Quinteto sinfónico for wind quintet, Op. 122 (the high opus number suggests the rather unsung success of this composer, whose works are appealing to general audiences); its first movement, Giocoso, is based on an Andean folk technique in which a note in a melody may pass from one instrument to another. The album finale, Blindfold Music, has an extramusical program reminiscent of Baroque allegorical cantatas; written under the influence of the 2020 Social Justice movements, the conversation involves Law and Justice. There isn't a dull moment on this release, which is recommended to chamber players looking to broaden their repertory of Latin-flavored music and, indeed, to general listeners. Another fresh release from the Azica label.

© James Manheim /TiVo