AGP97 - Donald Erb I (1927-2008) Reconnaissance [17:17] [MP3] In No Strange Land [17:04] [MP3] Symphony of Overtures [16:03] [MP3] The Seventh Trumpet [10:37] [MP3] Concerto for Solo Percussionist [12:17] [MP3] Three Pieces for Brass Quintet and Piano [7:45] [MP3] Reconnaissance [17:17] [FLAC] In No Strange Land [17:04] [FLAC] Symphony of Overtures [16:03] [FLAC] The Seventh Trumpet [10:37] [FLAC] Concerto for Solo Percussionist [12:17] [FLAC] Three Pieces for Brass Quintet and Piano [7:45] [FLAC] AGP 97 notes [TXT] NOTES AGP97 features works by Donald Erb, an American composer from Youngstown, Ohio. Erb is noted both for his masterful orchestrations (in fact, he was tapped by the Encyclopaedia Britannica to write their article on orchestration) and as one of the first composers to write for a chamber ensemble with synthesizer (in Reconnaissance, included in this installment). The synthesizer attracted him as a way of combining electronic and instrumental sounds while preserving the "give-and-take quality" of a chamber ensemble. And in Reconnaissance, there is much finer interleaving of electronic and acoustic sounds than is typical in such compositions. The synthesizer in this performance is played by Michael Tilson Thomas. This installment contains complete transcriptions of two LPs (Turnabout TV-S 34433 and Nonesuch H-71223) as well as one track from another (CRI S 323). The additional track pushes the installment one minute over the 80-minute limit of one CD. If you are burning to CD, you could include only the first five tracks from the two full LPs and combine the sixth track with another AGP installment. The torrent includes a PDF file with scans of the notes included with all three LPs. For more background on Erb, there is a nice biography on his publisher's website. This installment comes to you thanks to an Erb enthusiast who graciously provided me with sealed copies (!) of the LPs from which the first five tracks were transcribed.