For this year’s March Music Madness tournament, we’ve decided to strike up the band. All 32 pieces in the bracket are repertoire for wind ensemble. Each quadrant of the bracket is themed, and all of the first-round pairings have something in common. But it’s up to you, the listener, to decide which piece of music will be this year’s champion. Voting begins March 2.

Click here to download a PDF printable March Music Madness Bracket

You’ll be hearing musical comparisons on-air all through the month of March as the tournament progresses. For now, as you fill out your bracket to predict the outcome and decide what your first round picks will be, you can listen right here. Press play for more information about each piece, and click on the name of the piece for a full performance.

• John Barnes Chance: Incantation and Dance
• Norman Dello Joio: Satiric Dances

• Jennifer Higdon: Fanfare Ritmico
• Howard Hanson: Chorale and Alleluia

• Libby Larsen: Hambone
• William Hill: Danses Sacred and Profane

• John Mackey: Highwire
• Charles Rochester Young: Tempered Steel

• Karel Husa: Music for Prague 1968
• Johan De Meij: Symphony No. 1 “The Lord of the Rings”

• Joseph Schwantner: …and the mountains rising nowhere
• Alex Shapiro:  Immersion

• Frank Ticheli: Angels in the Architecture
• Judith Lang Zaimont: City Rain

• Eric Whitacre: Godzilla Eats Las Vegas
• Julie Giroux: The Speed of Heat

• John Philip Sousa: The Stars and Stripes Forever
• Henry Fillmore: Rolling Thunder

• William Schuman: George Washington Bridge
• David Conte: A Copland Portrait

• David Holsinger: On A Hymnsong of Philip Bliss
• David Maslanka: A Child’s Garden of Dreams

• Ronald Lo Presti: Elegy for a Young American
• Omar Thomas: Of Our New Day Begun

• Percy Grainger: Lincolnshire Posy
• Hayden Wood: Mannin Veen

• Darius Milhaud: Suite Francaise
• Shelley Hanson: Islas y Montanas

• Gustav Holst: First Suite in Eb
• Alfred Reed: The Hounds of Spring

• Ralph Vaughan Williams: Folk Song Suite
• Chen Yi: Suite from China West

 

Thanks to our March Music Madness sponsor, Naxos of America.