Strongly inclined towards neo-romanticism, Richard Danielpour's music is a rich unity of energy, intensity, and serenity. First Light reveals these elements perfectly with it's rhythmically charged writing contrasting with hypnotic chant melodies. The Awakened Heart is a kaleidoscopic three-movement work that ranges from darkness and passion through a stately chorale to an exuberant and breathless conclusion. Symphony No. 3 charts a triumphant ascent from "the dream of death and our own fearful existence" to a belief "in a world of hope and love." "Danielpour is an outstanding composer for any time - one who knows how to communicate deep, important emotions through simple, direct means." (The New York Daily News)

Continuing the tradition of Altissimo's popular "Not Sousa" series, we are proud to present Not Sousa 4: Marching On... More Great Music NOT by John Philip Sousa. Although Sousa remains the preeminent name in the arena of march music, it is not solely his domain. The goal of this series has been to create an ultimate compilation that features other great "Masters of March"- William Paris Chambers, Morton Gould, Karl King, Edwin Franko Goldman, Charles Barn house, Henry Fillmore, and others that are featured on this compilation. Enjoy the newest addition to our series of albums that pay tribute to great march composers who are Not Sousa!

Born in Minsk, Belarus, Alla Borzova has received numerous prestigious awards for her highly imaginative music since moving to the United States in 1993. Songs For Lada is a theatrical cantata which explores the world of childhood through rhymes, dances and stories, illustrated by effects including folk instruments and birdsong. To The New World portrays an imaginary ship bearing immigrant groups whose traditional music suggests their thoughts and feelings at the prospect of joining the great cultural “melting pot” of America.

Land of the Free offers a sampling of each of the eight official musical elements and numerous chamber ensembles of the United States Army Band "Pershing's Own." on this recording you will hear the Army Chorus, Herald Trumpets, Army Blues, Concert Band, Army Strings, pop/rock group Downrange, and Dixieland Jazz ensemble Swamp Romp. This is a great collection of the U.S. Army Band's finest. Since 1922, "Pershing's Own" has been the premiere musical organization of the U.S. Army, and continues to play an important role in events of national and international significance, home and abroad.

Home of the Brave was recorded in honor of the deployed Airmen of the United States Air Force as a token of appreciation from a grateful nation. Several of the ensembles of the United States Air Force Band participated on this album, making it a well-rounded salute to the brave. The Ceremonial Brass, Max Impact, Singing Sergeants and Symphony Orchestra all collaborated on several of the pieces on this inspiring collection. Every song seeks to pay tribute to American heroes, evoking a feeling of patriotism and respect in each listener. The spirit and courage of those who inspired this album are what truly makes America the Home of the Brave.

William Bolcom, named '2007 Composer of the Year' by Musical America, has written in many genres. His Gospel Preludes, based on hymns, are amongst his most fascinating and compulsive works. Bold, brilliant, sometimes bizarre, but always hugely enjoyable, the Preludes vary widely, sometimes adorned by jazzy chords and rich swing, sometimes exuding tour-de-force brilliance or - when the music is quiet and reflective - possessed of a mesmeric reassurance. The GRAMMY Award winning Naxos recording of Bolcom's Songs of Innocence and Experience is available on 8.559216-18.

Webster's Dictionary defines "Americana" as "things typical of America." The "typical American" optimistic spirit is captured in the sweeping melodies and triumphant sonorities of composer James Beckel's "American Dream." Directed by Commander Lewis J. Buckley, the United States Coast Guard Band strives to express its great patriotism on this album, Americana. (Altissimo)

This album is the fourth in a series of concert band recordings honoring the lives and music of individuals who have made significant contributions to band repertoire and to music education. The Legacy of Robert Russell Bennett honors a man who achieved great fame as an arranger, but always considered his true calling to be a composer. Bennett arranged hundreds of Broadway and film scores and composed operas, symphonies, and concertos. Representing some of the finest musical talent in America, The United States Army Field Band is known around the world as "The Musical Ambassadors of the Army." The Legacy of Robert Russell Bennett features some of Bennett’s greatest works including "1939 World’s Fair: TNT Cocktail" and "Down to the Sea in Ships." Honoring the memory and innumerable musical contributions of Robert Russell Bennett, this album is both inspiring and captivating.

This album is the first in the "Legacy" series in which the United States Army Field Band honors the lives and music of individuals who have made significant contributions to choral music and education. Randall Thompson, an American composer, composed three symphonies and numerous vocal works, however he is most noted for his choral works. (Altissimo)

Celebrations features the talents of some of this nation's finest musicians, members of the U.S. Navy Band. As a commemoration to the exceptional musicianship and unfailing dedication of the Navy Band, this exciting album strikes a balance between concert band works and orchestral transcriptions that challenge the performers and inspire the listener. The pieces on the album also represent the works of some of the world's greatest composers such as Carl Friedemann and Richard Strauss. Three of the selections found on this album were composed or transcribed by present and former Navy Band members. One such member, Chief Musician Herb Weber, had a father who performed with the Sousa Band. This album is a fantastic representation of the talent, dedication, and professionalism that is characteristic of the United States Navy Band in every endeavor.

From the earliest days of our nation, the United States Marine Band’s primary mission has been to provide the best music in the world to the President and people of this great nation. Whether in White House performances, public concerts, or national and international tours, the music of the Marine Band is the music of America, and this album is no exception. American Games is a compilation of compositions and pieces beloved around the globe. The album features songs “Angel Camps” and Nikos Skolkattas' "Greek Dances," among many others. Led by LtCol Timothy W. Foley, the United States Marine Band plays on this album with all of the integrity and musicianship characteristic of the band since its inception during the Revolutionary War. American Games is eclectic, beautifully played, and sure to become a classic in homes everywhere.

Duke Ellington (1899-1974) carries a musical legacy that extends beyond the realms of being a writer or bandleader. His music still stands as a brilliant model of American compositional creativity. Although Ellington had a profound influence in the world of jazz, his mastery extends even further into several other compositional outputs including concerti, tone poems, film scores, ballets, big band arrangements and several operas. The four works found on Duke Ellington: The Symphonic Portrait are some of these masterworks that were eventually arranged for the symphony orchestra. Each selection varies greatly in structure, however Ellington’s visionary compositional style, combined with his discomfort with musical labels such as jazz and classical, resulted in a genre that integrated these distinct styles most effectively.

From simple folk melodies to symphonies in the concert hall, Americans listen to music that encompasses all styles and tastes. As the Musical Ambassadors of the Combat Soldier, the Army Ground Forces Band travels throughout the nation performing the various kinds of music that contribute to our national heritage. This album is a small sampling of the many great tunes that are Made in America. The works of several famous composers are showcased on this album, including Henry Fillmore, Percy Grainger, and Aaron Copland.

Country Current is the premier country-bluegrass group of the US Navy Band that showcases traditional, contemporary, and original bluegrass compositions. This is … Navy Country features new arrangements of great country classics along with several original compositions from members of the ensemble. From Merle Haggard's "Mama Tried" to Josh Turner's "Long Black Train," this album will appeal to any country music fan.

This album was recorded in commemoration of the US Navy Band’s 75th anniversary. Each piece found on Mystic Chords of Memory is dedicated to all of the officers, men and women, past and present, who have contributed their time and talents to the Navy Band, earning it the title of the “World’s Finest.” The pieces on the album represent the works of some of the world’s greatest composers such as Aaron Copland and Philip Sparke. Robert Jager was commissioned to compose the title track "Mystic Chords of Memory" to celebrate the 75th anniversary. This album is a fantastic representation of the talent, dedication, and professionalism that is characteristic of the United States Navy Band in every endeavor.

The United States Air Force Band proudly commemorates the 60th anniversary of the United States Air Force with a collection of music as diverse as the 690,000 total force Airmen and civilians stationed around the world! The seven concert band selections represent classic works of the literature and the new standards of tomorrow - reminding us to treasure the past while we look toward the horizon for what is yet to come. Wild Blue Yonder features the works of great composers including Claude Debussy and Arnold Schoenberg, each piece capturing the serenity, the peril, and the wonder of flying up there in the wild blue yonder.

This wonderful album, recorded by The United States Coast Guard Dixieland Band, contains many selections considered to be standards in the Dixieland repertoire. Songs include classics like "Yellow Dog Blues", "Fidgety Feet" and "Wabash Blues". South is a fantastic reflection of the cutting edge of today's Dixieland music. (Altissimo)

For anyone new to Hanson’s works this CD is a brilliant introduction to a really inspirational composer.

This is the fifth volume in Gerard Schwarz’s fervent traversal of the seven Hanson symphonies for Delos. The three pieces are drawn from DE 3160, 3092 and 3130. As with the earlier volumes Schwarz brooks no dilution of the music. Nothing is routine or careless.

The old passionate munitions and the aggressive air-burst energy is still there in the six-movement Sixth Symphony. Hanson was writing way against the prevailing current of the times – it was 1968 – but the fuel still ignites! This work initially took a while to take a hold on me but now its swaying Nordic romance will not let go. The music has exuberance, chattering Sibelian zest, an epic stride and the benefit of a resplendent recording. It was dedicated to Leonard Bernstein and the NYPO. Schwarz takes things at a faster lick than Siegfried Landau and the Music for Westchester Symphony Orchestra version from the early 1970s. Landau was first issued on Turnabout LP TV-S34534, revived on CD on Excelsior and also as part of a VoxBox CDX5092.

Lumen in Christo growls with awe. Somewhere in there we are told that there is material by Handel and Haydn. It is deeply subsumed. The choir sings texts with light as their subject from the Latin Requiem and from The Bible. The music has a symphonic mien so do not expect much in the way of relaxation after the rippling power of the Sixth Symphony.

The Seventh also uses the Seattle Symphony Chorale. It’s a setting for choirs and orchestra of texts by Walt Whitman. Hanson – then within four years of his death - sticks to his last. The style essays no change. Indeed he even incorporates that long-breathed treasure of a melody – the grand theme from The Second Symphony. He first set Whitman’s verse in 1915 and latterly in Drumtaps (1935), Song of Democracy (1957) and The Mystic Trumpeter (1970; rec. Delos DE3160). This is not the work’s first recording. That honour rests with the World Youth Symphony Orchestra Interlochen and the National Music Camp High School Choir who recorded it in August 1977 on Bay Cities BCD 1009. Atmospheric though that original is it cannot hope to compete with Schwarz’s fully professional version.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a final Schwarz Naxos disc including the Piano Concerto and The Mystic Trumpeter. In due course I would guess that Naxos will also issue a boxed set as they did for Barber and Schuman.

– Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International

John Philip Sousa' tireless touring with his world-famous band and the distinctive quality of his compositions ensured legendary status and the affectionate title of 'The March King'.

Committed recordings of works by a “golden age” American finally coming into his own on disc.



STILL Symphony No. 2, “Song of a New Race.” Symphony No. 3, “Sunday Symphony.” Wood Notes • John Jeter, cond; Fort Smith S • NAXOS 8.559676 (61:39)


With this disc, Naxos and the present performers conclude their three-CD series of William Grant Still’s symphonies, plus other orchestral works. I reviewed the second volume (Symphonies 4 and 5, and the Poem for Orchestra— Naxos 8.559603) for another publication, and was quite beguiled. I feel the same way this time around. This music is impossible not to like, and conductor John Jeter and his orchestra from Arkansas, the state in which the young composer spent part of his childhood, are effective advocates.


Wood Notes , a work from 1947 that is receiving its first recording here, is a suite of four movements: “Singing River,” “Autumn Night,” “Moon Dusk,” and “Whippoorwill’s Shoes.” The titles suggest that the music will be picturesque, and, in the best sense of the word, simple, and indeed it is. If there is such a thing as an American Pastoral school of composers, Still would be its dean. The Currier and Ives prints that have adorned the booklet covers in this series have been very appropriate, as they project an innocence that is also one of the strongest characteristics of Still’s music. Imagine Delius at his least Impressionistic, Dvo?ák at his least academic, and Jerome Kern at his most classical, and that might give you an idea of what Still’s music sounds like. (Nevertheless, Varèse was one of his teachers!)


The Second Symphony, premiered with great success by Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1937, is “a vision of an integrated society.” In terms of form, this is a bit more ambitious than Wood Notes , but Still’s writing is so unpretentious, tuneful, and relaxed that one can’t help asking what makes this work more symphonic than the other. The mood is sometimes wistful and often hopeful, and Still, when he is not embracing the listener outright, is at least holding his hand, or throwing his arm around his shoulder. Not surprisingly, African-American elements, both traditional and more popular (jazzy), are prominent in this work.


The “Sunday Symphony” dates from 1958. Again, naming its movements will give the reader an idea of what the music sounds like: “Awakening,” “Prayer,” “Relaxation,” and “Day’s End and a New Beginning.” Only 18 minutes long, this symphony is as suitelike as its predecessor, every bit as ingratiating, and even more uncomplicated. Appropriately, “Prayer” is the longest movement, and it builds to a soulful climax. “Awakening” and “Relaxation” both chatter away companionably, and the last movement brings the symphony to its resolute and affirmative conclusion.


I don’t get the feeling that this music makes exorbitant demands on an orchestra. The Fort Smith Symphony, a lean-sounding ensemble in the manner of Howard Hanson’s Eastman-Rochester group, puts Still’s music across capably and with sympathy. (I would have liked to have heard Stokowski and the Philadelphians play the Second Symphony, though!)


It is tempting to call this music naive, but I think to do so would say more about our lack of innocence as listeners, than about any lack of sophistication on the part of William Grant Still.


FANFARE: Raymond Tuttle


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For much of his life William Grant Still was invariably referred an army going into battle with a lovely central section describing t to as the “Dean of African-American Composers”. Though his music partakes of many African-American elements, it also demonstrates his varied training under Chadwick and Varese and the many years he spent writing music for jazz bands, radio, music and television. Today Still can be seen simply as one of that number of American nationalist composers who came to maturity between the wars.

In the late 1920s Still began a musical trilogy that would portray the African-American experience in the U.S.: Africa, a tone poem describing the original homeland; the Symphony No. 1 ( African-American) describing the years leading to the Emancipation Proclamation; and the Symphony No. 2 ( Song of a New Race) describing a future where African-Americans would take equal part in the destiny of their country.

The Symphony No. 2 is a major work, blending jazz, blues and gospel elements with a nationalist feeling akin to that of the Eastman School. All of the movements are relatively slow (cf. Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 3). The slow movement proper is the most beautiful and expressive, while the “moderately slow” finale shows Still’s great technical skill as he joins thematic elements of all four movements into an emotionally satisfying conclusion.

Wood Notes is a suite evocative of nature in the American South. Each of the four pieces begins with simple, almost trivial material, which Still then transforms into something far more poignant than one would have expected.

While numbered as the third, The Sunday Symphony was the last of Still’s five symphonies to be written. It describes the typical Sunday of a churchgoer (Still was quite devout) and while not as profound as the Symphony No. 2 it is equally sincere and more compact in expression. The opening movement is full of energy, somewhat reminiscent of Gershwin, but with modal elements and scoring reminiscent of the Big Bands. In the Prayer movement Still develops the main melody for English horn to a poetic coda in his best style. Relaxation is very simple, while the last movement alternates resolution worthy of wilight and the thoughts of the worshipper as he prepares for th e coming day.
 
The key to performing Still’s music is to concentrate on his obvious sincerity and technical ability, while not letting his tendency towards sentimentality to overwhelm all else. John Jeter realizes this and wisely brings out the positive elements, demonstrating complete control of his players (especially regarding rhythm) and deriving enthusiastic performances. The Fort Smith (Arkansas) Symphony has some troubles with ensemble, but the overall sound is lush, as much of the music requires. This disc completes the Naxos series of the Still symphonies. While there are other impressive recordings of the first two symphonies, Jeter faces no real competition with the last three, and the entire set can be recommended to all fans of American music.
 
-- William Kreindler , MusicWeb International

Hanson’s symphonic cycle is one of the most important in American music. The Third Symphony, composed between 1936 and 1938, is imbued with the rich Nordic sensibility that runs through the First. It owes its impetus to the pioneering Swedish settlements in America, and its expansive lyricism is beautifully calibrated, with a chorale theme acting as a hopeful constant throughout the journey. Hanson wrote his opera Merry Mount, possibly his most ambitious work, in 1934. Four years later he produced this vibrant orchestral suite. “[T]he power of Hanson’s earlier works lies in the unabashed hyperbole of their gestures, the unstinting lavishness of their orchestration, and, most of all, their sincere fervor and conviction.” (Fanfare on the original Delos release)

The Legacy of Mary Lou Williams

Music for Chamber Winds

Hot Brass