LISTEN: CCM Wind Symphony releases 'Grand Pianola Music' recording

Conducted by CCM Director of Wind Studies and Division Head of Ensembles and Conducting, Kevin Michael Holzman, the CCM Wind Symphony performs Adams' Grand Pianola Music and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue and Piano Concerto in F Major. 

Planning for the recording started in 2018, when Holzman performed Rhapsody in Blue with the CCM Wind Ensemble and CCM Piano Department Chair and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra pianist Michael Chertock. The pianist mentioned how he has performed the work hundreds of times, but never recorded it.

"I instantly knew we would base our album around that work," Holzman says. "The challenge then was … if Rhapsody in Blue is the central (and most popular) work, what other pieces would go well with it? I decided to do an All-American, all-piano album for a sense of cohesiveness and to showcase both our fantastic winds and pianists at CCM."

The performance was recorded over the course of three days in CCM's Corbett Auditorium in October 2019. Assistant Professor and Assistant Director of Wind Studies Thomas Gamboa was the recording producer and Joel Crawford was the recording engineer.

"For most of our students, this was their first experience recording for an album, which is different from anything else we do," Gamboa says. "The pressures of recording are immense, and what really stood out to me was how quickly the students adapted to the process, and the high level of focus and professionalism they brought to every moment."

Gamboa worked with a team of conducting graduate assistants to help provide immediate feedback to the ensemble in the recording process. After the recording process was done they combed through over 180 different takes of the works to find the best ones to include in the final product.