Track Listing

1. Sound Off
2. Nobles of the Mystic Shrine
3. Sabre and Spurs
4. Picadore
5. Our Flirtation
6. High School Cadets
7. Invinicible Eagle
8. Bullets and Bayonets
9. Liberty Bell
10. Riders of the Flag
11. Solid Men to the Front!
12. Gallant Seventh
13. Rifle Regiment
14. Golden Jubilee
15. Golden Jubilee
16. Gridiron Club
17. New Mexico
18. Sesqui-Centennial Exposition
19. Black Horse Troop
20. Kansas Wildcats
21. Manhattan Beach
22. Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company
23. National Game
24. Glory of the Yankee Navy

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26487 in Music
• Released on: 1992-03-10
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.com
This is the Sousa record for people who are serious about marches. Sousa was the greatest march composer in the history of, well, marching, and this disc includes many fresh and interesting pieces that will likely be unfamiliar, as well as a couple of favorites (including "The Liberty Bell," famous as the theme to Monty Python's Flying Circus). But by and large, this disc focuses on the less well known pieces, though there's not a dud in the lot. Sousa had a special gift for orchestration and for writing tunes with real rhythmic interest; his marches never sound dull. Frederick Fennell is the simply the best wind band conductor around, and these performances are standard- setters. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews

The Mastery of Fennell
I've owned this CD for several years, and bought a copy recently as a Christmas gift. Frederick Fennell is a modern master of band and marches, and I own several of his recordings. What makes this CD a standout for me is the Mercury Living Presence recording and remastering method. I own over two dozen of this series because Living Presence does indeed represent a different method of producing music for the recorded media. It DOES sound more lifelike to me than conventional multimike recordings. To anyone considering purchase of this CD I'd recommend also ordering 'Screamers', the Living Presence CD of circus marches. To me this is feel-good music at its best, and terrific for listing in the car! Additionally, the Living Presence series stands out for its excellent liner notes with explanations of the Living Presence method. This CD is a keeper. Incidentally, the recipient of this CD has since gone out and bought several other Living Presence CD's after hearing this!s

Fennell Brings Out the Best in Sousa 's Marches
This is an outstanding CD. The sound quality is very good. The instrumental balance is very good. It's interesting to compare the rather subtle difference in the percussion section performance between the two recording dates, particulalarly the cymbalist.
Sousa had an uncanny ability to score the cymbal strike at places which add significantly to the listening experience.
Hats off to Sousa, Fennell,and the Eastman Wind Ensemble

MASTERFUL RENDITIONS IN GLORIOUS RECORDED SOUND
An utterly masterful set, containing many of Sousa's unjustly neglected works. (An integral recording of his complete marches is overdue by a good half-century.*) Fennell conducts with incredible verve, and the Eastman Wind Ensemble responds in kind, with immaculately tight and polished performances. The recording is demonstration-class. Sousa has never sounded better, and probably never will.

*EDIT: Actually, a nearly-complete recording of the marches has been available, as of the time of this review, for at least a good quarter-century--first on LP, now on CD: that being, a series of analog recordings by The Detroit Concert Band, led by Leonard B. Smith. Currently available from Walking Frog Records (on five CDs), the DCB/Smith collection unfortunately suffers from some serious problems--not the least of which is the highly variable and substandard quality of the recorded sound.