This is the first volume in a complete sequence of Percy Grainger’s music for wind band and it adheres strictly to his instrumental demands, whether for Hammond organ, Swiss hand bells or steel marimbaphone. Grainger, who considered the medium an unrivalled vehicle for emotional expression, wrote a series of Chosen Gems for Winds, which include beautiful transcriptions of music by composers such as Bach, Franck and Fauré. This first volume also contains some of his greatest and most joyous creations – the immortal Country Gardens, Shepherd’s Hey and Molly on the Shore.

Conductor Bjarte Engeset gained his diploma at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in 1989, where he studied with professor Jorma Panula. In 1991 he was chosen as a member of the Tanglewood Music Center conducting seminar where his teachers included Seiji Ozawa, Gustav Meier, Simon Rattle and Marek Janowski, among others. He is currently music director of The Royal Norwegian Navy Orchestra. His discography includes more than 30 best-selling recordings, including an eight-disc set of Grieg’s complete orchestral works on Naxos (8508015). His research and editorial work within the Norsk musikkarv (‘Norwegian Music Heritage’) project, especially on the orchestral music of Grieg, Svendsen, Irgens-Jensen and Tveitt, has been pivotal.’