You don't have to be one of "the boys of the old brigade" to get pumped up by these rousing military-band marches. Bookended by Sousa's "The Rifle Regimen" and "The Stars and Stripes Forever," these 17 powerful performances by the U.S. Army Band will fill you full of pride and patriotism.

From the West Point Military Academy comes this great album that presents the Military Academy Concert Band and Glee Club. These wonderful organizations have a rich history, and continue to perform many concerts throughout the year that draw in thousands of listeners. This album features music for West Point including "The Official West Point March," "Pride of the Point," and "Alma Mater," along with patriotic classics like "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "The Stars and Stripes Forever." Led by Lieutenant Colonel Frank G. Dubuy, the U.S. Military Academy Band and Glee Club play beautifully on each piece, allowing the listener to experience exactly what the Band sounds like "in concert." It is the diversity, excellence in performance, and technical showmanship of the Academy Band that places it at the top of it's class.

If only the standard symphonic recordings of this music could boast sound this good! Actually, in "Pines" I still have a slight preference for the version recorded by the "President's Own" Marine Corps Band, but if you're looking for all three "Roman" tone poems, this stunningly recorded disc will be pretty hard to beat. The transcriptions, by Lawrence Odom, are amazingly faithful to Respighi's original concept, and you'll be surprised at how little you miss the presence of the strings. The soft, delicate passages ("The Pines of the Janiculum", or the outer sections of "Fountains") sound just fine here, though the very opening of "Festivals" lacks the slashing attack of the violins. Never mind.

The brass and winds of the U.S. Air Force Band play with a boldness and confidence that's breathtaking. Just listen to the trombones and other low brass in the "Trevi Fountain" (and to the way conductor Graham builds the section's climax). "The Pines Near a Catacomb" sounds even darker and more menacing than in the original, while the concluding sections of "Pines" and "Festivals" will blow you away, if your speakers can stand it.

It's also worth pointing out that Col. Lowell E. Graham's conducting is not just strong and forthright, but it's remarkably sensitive to balance and color, even in heavily scored passages. The very opening of "Pines" gives the harps a welcome prominence that they haven't enjoyed since Reiner's classic RCA recording. In short, even if you're not normally a collector of band music recordings, you might want to give this disc serious consideration. Great music-making, after all, speaks for itself.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

CELEBRATION • Col. Lowell Graham, cond; United States Air Force Band • KLAVIER K11176 (66: 01)


COPLAND An Outdoor Overture. SCHUMAN New England Triptych. HOLST Hammersmith. BENNETT Suite of Old American Dances. CRESTON Celebration Overture


This collection of band repertoire staples benefits from performances that are never less than first-rate, captured in stunning sound. All were either originally composed for band or transcribed for the medium by the composer.


The two transcriptions—Aaron Copland’s An Outdoor Overture and William Schuman’s New England Triptych— are perhaps the least successful works on the program, especially when compared to their orchestral counterparts. This is especially true of Schuman’s three-movement suite based on Revolutionary War songs by William Billings, the band transcription of which is substantially inferior to its orchestral cousin. Schuman prepared the band version of the third movement, “Chester,” around the same time he composed the original work, altering and expanding the music until it essentially became a new piece. The resultant work, the brilliant Chester Overture, is more often than not performed as a freestanding, independent piece. Sadly, the other two movements of the triptych did not fare as well. For the band transcription of the first movement, “Be Glad Then, America,” Schuman added a good deal of gratuitous ornamentation, as well as additional percussion parts that can only be described as perfunctory. The mystery and ominous foreboding of the original introduction are completely absent here. This movement also suffers from thick, turgid textures, as does the second movement, “When Jesus Wept,” which was originally scored very transparently for strings with solo parts for oboe, bassoon, and tenor drum. In the band version, Schuman reassigned the oboe and bassoon solos to trumpet and euphonium. Why I don’t know, but as a result, the music’s poignancy and pathos are substantially diminished. There are also a couple of notational errors (actual wrong notes printed in the sheet music) in the solo euphonium part that are not corrected in this performance (though to be fair, they rarely are).


The remaining works are all band originals. Gustav Holst’s Hammersmith of 1930 was inspired by the composer’s evening walks along the Thames during which he not only absorbed the sounds of the river itself, but also the revelry and gaiety emanating from the numerous pubs and taverns along the river’s banks. A somber, dirge-like prelude, constructed over a brooding ground bass, gives way to a boisterous, rollicking scherzo, only to eventually return as the work’s solemn coda. Though considered to be something of a “sacred cow” in the band repertoire, I must admit that the work has always left me a bit cold. (Heresy, I know.) Robert Russell Bennett’s Suite of Old American Dances is exactly what the title describes, each of its five movements—“Cake Walk,” “Schottische,” “Western One-Step,” “Wallflower Waltz,” and “Rag”—perfectly evoking the simple nostalgia of bygone Americana. The program comes to an exhilarating conclusion with a rousing account of Paul Creston’s exuberant Celebration Overture , a masterly three-part work highlighted by a particularly lovely ballad as its central section.


These recordings, all of which are among the finest this music has ever received, were originally available only through official Department of the Air Force channels. First released in 1996, though only to schools, libraries, radio stations, and other “official” recipients, these superb performances are now available to the general public for the first time. As there are many other first-rate recordings from this source still in the vaults, we can only hope that this disc will be followed by many, many more.


FANFARE: Merlin Patterson

October swiftly approaches, and what Oktoberfest celebration is complete without celebratory, often raucous, music? for the perfect complement to your stein of Spaten, horn of Hefeweizen, or glass of Gerst, turn to this fabulous release by first rate 15-piece brass ensemble D'Wyn Mugge.