Strike Up The Band

Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensembles: United States Army Band, United States Army Chorus.

Holding the Flag

Band Music (American) - SOUSA, J.P. / BERLIN, I. / WARREN, G

Includes work(s) by various composers. Ensemble: US Army Band.

This album features classics like "Stars and Stripes Forever," and "Men of Ohio," along with John Philip Sousa’s "Washington Post" performed by the bands of each branch of the military! (Altissimo)

EXPLORE AMERICA

Band Music - WARREN, G.W. / MELILLO, S. / DYKES, J.B. (One N

AMERICAN WORKS FOR PIANO DUO

The Lord Is My Shepherd - The Lord Is My Shepherd is the third volume in the American Psalmody series, a distinguished series devoted to musical interpretations of the psalms by American composers. Of a previous recording in this series, Fanfare Magazine raved, "This interesting collection of sacred music, American style, can hardly miss: God Himself seems to have placed His seal of approval on it."

American Salute: Spirit of the Nation is a tasteful collection of orchestral pieces devoted to the history and vitality of the United States. Performed by a series of orchestras, highlights include Aaron Copland's sweeping "Hoe Down," "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and Ferde Grof�'s "Grand Canyon Suite 'Sunrise'," during which the anticipation of the sun hitting the lip of the canyon is palpable. The introspective moments of "Variations on 'America'" and Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" are also a nice touch, as they offset the collection's more bombastic moments. Basic versions of the "Star Spangled Banner" and "Stars and Stripes Forever" round out the set.

Gershwin began work on An American in Paris in the spring of 1928 and it's premi�re by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under Walter Damrosch took place later that year on 13 th December in Carnegie Hall (three years earlier in the same venue Damrosch had conducted the first performance of Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F). In this hugely popular one-movement symphonic poem, whose colorful orchestration includes four saxophones and several taxi horns, the composer intended 'to portray the impressions of an American visitor in Paris as he strolls about the city, listens to the various street noises and absorbs the French atmosphere'. The melancholic blues theme announced by the solo trumpet, suggesting a sudden bout of homesickness on the part of the protagonist, is one of the finest Gershwin wrote. Following the premi�re in Boston's Symphony Hall of his Second Rhapsody, conducted by Serge Koussevitsky on 29 th January 1932, Gershwin and several friends took a two-week holiday in Havana. The composer, fascinated by the small Cuban dance orchestras with their novel rhythms and unusual percussion instruments such as guiros, maracas, claves and bongos, was inspired to write the Cuban Overture. He orchestrated the work between 1 st and 9 th August 1932, completing it just a week before the first All-Gershwin Concert at the Lewisohn Stadium in New York, an open-air concert attended by some 18,000 people which was, according to the composer, 'the most exciting night I have ever had'. Cast in Gershwin's characteristic fast-slow-fast form, he wrote that he had 'endeavored to combine the Cuban rhythms with my original thematic material. The result is a symphonic overture which embodies the essence of Cuban dance'. Gershwin's magnum opus, the three-act opera Porgy and Bess, was written to a libretto by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin. Based on Heyward's novel Porgy about life among the black inhabitants of Catfish Row in Charleston, South Carolina, the opera was started in late February 1934 and the seven hundred page full score was completed in September 1935. Heyward memorably described the idiosyncratic working methods of the Gershwin brothers, who 'would get at the piano, pound, wrangle, swear, burst into weird snatches of song, and eventually emerge with a polished lyric'. It numbers amongst it's classic songs 'Summertime', 'I Loves You, Porgy' and 'It Ain't Necessarily So'. The orchestral suite heard on this recording, the Symphonic Picture from Porgy and Bess arranged by Robert Russell Bennett, has become the standard version since it's premi�re in 1943, this despite the fact that Gershwin made his own arrangement in 1936. Evidently long forgotten about by the time Bennett made his arrangement, Gershwin's suite was retitled Catfish Row by Ira when it was rediscovered in 1958. The opera, a commercial and critical failure at the time, is now recognized as one of the greatest achievements of twentieth-century American music.

This appealing collection brings together some well-known gems from the Vox catalogue in one enticing package. The Johanos/Dallas recordings of Ives' Holidays Symphony and Copland ballet suites (Billy the Kid and Rodeo) have long been admired for their idiomatic naturalness both of performance and sound. Elie Siegmeister's Western Suite fits right in, being a thoroughly Copland-esque bit of Americana, albeit more heavily orchestrated and less rhythmically lithe, and its issue on a single disc probably missed most collectors. Abravanel's performance catches the music's liveliness, while the playing as such remains a bit rough-and-ready. Lukas Foss leads a suitably grand recording of A Lincoln Portrait dating from 1970, ably narrated by Dennis Rooney, and Erich Kunzel provides the icing on the cake in the form of Morton Gould's American Salute (a.k.a. "When Johnny Comes Marching Home") and a selection of Sousa bonbons that goes beyond the usual marches to include a waltz, tango, polonaise, and foxtrot. A marvelous bargain by any measure.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

American music is culturally diverse and exciting, mirroring all the best America has to offer. The last two centuries have seen an extraordinary flowering of musical life in the United States. In recognition of the many gifted American men and women of music, Naxos is pleased to present the American Classic Series.

When complete, this series will consist of over 200 titles, exploring the full spectrum of American concert music. All the familiar names are there: Copland, Ives, Grofé, Barber, and Sousa but so are many others such as: Bennett, Dédé, Foote, McKay, and Siegmeister all of whom have contributed to the rich musical tapestry that is American.

All of us at Naxos invite you to journey with us as we set out to discover America.


Click Here for the complete Naxos American Classic Series

One of America's musical treasures, the United States Marine Band, gets plenty of time to shine on this box set featuring selections from their appearances on NPR's "Performance Today." Perfect for the 4th of July or anytime you're in the mood to feel patriotic, this box set is the musical version of the American flag!