For a composer whose music has been as widely recorded as David Maslanka’s (1943-2017), it may be a surprise that this new disc contains four works all receiving first recordings. Recorded over three days in late October 2016 in Middle Tennessee State University’s Wright Music Hall, the array of five conductors seems to have been deliberate, showcasing the University’s strength-in-depth of teachers – Reed Thomas being MTSU Director of Bands – and alumni.

Maslanka took an active interest in the recordings, and three of the works date from the previous year (2015), reflecting his latest compositional interests. Overwhelmingly, the predominant focus is on the symphonic wind band, for which he wrote over 150 works, but in the opening track, California, his concern for the state of the world is manifest, too. In the booklet, Maslanka writes of California as ‘a place of big dreams’, of its ‘tremendous beauty’ and our ‘fear of destruction, from climate change, nuclear bombs’ and other dangers. California is a paean to beauty and hope in the future while its contemporary Angel of Mercy – in which Maslanka once again celebrates his love of Bach’s music – is rather more a prayer.

Alex and the Phantom Band (2002) is the earliest work here, a more whimsical creation for a children’s concert. The story (by his daughter Kathryn; her text is reproduced in full in the booklet) is engaging for a young audience and a framework to introduce the instruments – mostly sectionally – of the wind band. Lying somewhere between Peter and the Wolf and Poulenc’s Babar the Elephant, it charms without quite catching the magic of either. The diptych Saint Francis, its two movements directed by different conductors, is more meditative, quietly descriptive and placid. The performances are well produced and slick, the sound splendid, with depth and clarity.