JACK STAMP (b.1954): Three Places in England, In This Hid Clearing, Concertino for Solo Percussion and Band, Three Turns for Brass Quintet, Five Songs from the Hills, Moltres' Dance, 2 Chorale Preludes, Tarheel Sketches.

Description: These attractive compositions were written with obvious affection for his medium by a composer-conductor long associated with the American wind band repertory. Ingenuity and humor, as well as meticulous craftsmanship, elevate these brief, unpretentious, resolutely tonal pieces. When he employs traditional tunes - which appear frequently in various guises - Stamp's sonorous, respectful treatment recalls Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy. The little percussion concerto provides a lively and varied solo vehicle, engaging and original. A sensitive approach to a difficult in memoriam work is shown in 'Moltres' Dance', which commemorates a young man with the kind of music he would have enjoyed playing, while 'Tarheel Sketches' pays tribute to places and people familiar to the composer from years spent in North Carolina, characterized with lively imagination and affection.