Altissimo
Semper Fidelis - Music of Sousa / "President's Own" Marine Band
$18.99
Only 2 left
Details
- Composer
- SOUSA, JOHN PHILIP
- Artist
- Us Marine Band
- Format
- CD
- Label
- Altissimo
- Released
- Jan 01, 2009
- Catalog #
- ALT09722
- UPC
- 754422609722
About
SOUSA Semper Fidelis. Manhattan Beach. Comrades of the Legion. Sabre and Spurs. The Gallant Seventh. King Cotton. The Gridiron Club. Who’s Who in Navy Blue. The Invincible Eagle. The Royal Welch Fusiliers. La Reine de la Mer Waltz. Processional Polonaise. Suite: Looking Upward. The Bride Elect: Selections . Easter Morning on the White House Lawn • John Bourgeois, cond; U.S. Marine Band • ALTISSIMO 9722 (70:40)
The March King had a lifelong distrust of recordings. Of the 1,166 shellacs that the Sousa Band made for the Victor Talking Machine Co., he conducted only six. These are pored over by dedicated Sousa scholars, including a former director of the Yale Band. Their holy grail is Sousa’s “authentic” performance style. Yes, HIPness has reached the parade ground.
What makes such historical sleuthing important is that the outdoor versions of Sousa’s beloved marches are only a rough template for what he did in concert. Every piece had a “secret” arrangement, cued by hand and passed along by word of mouth, that doesn’t appear in any published edition. I served my time marching at football halftime alongside my fellow high-school clarinetists, and we did what rank-and-file players still do: We played all the time, with few rests; we maintained a slow walking pace; we were loud. But Sousa considered the march to be among the most difficult genres to perform correctly.
One reason is that he was a violinist, although he learned from boyhood onward to play every band instrument (his father enlisted him in the Marine Band at age 13 to keep his son from running away to join a circus band). He worshipped Johan Strauss II, Arthur S. Sullivan, and Jacques Offenbach. In other words, Sousa had a refined ideal in his mind of nuance and elegance, not the blaring patriotic display his marches are mostly used for. In concert, as opposed to the marching field, he preferred thinner orchestration, subtle phrasing, and varied accents. But these “secrets” can only be gleaned by interviewing surviving band members who played under him until his death in 1932, picking up the style by ear from original Sousa Band recordings, and laboriously comparing manuscripts and meager handwritten notations on the parts the band used.
Wrap up all this research with a bow, and you get the present CD from the U.S. Marine Band, which Sousa conducted for a relatively brief stint between 1880 and 1892. The extensive program notes make for fascinating reading, even if your knees can no longer contemplate marching two miles in the Easter Parade. Your ears will immediately notice how enjoyably civilized these performances are. Band director Col. John Bourgeois sets the tempo at a relaxed 118–120 beats a minute, which Sousa favored—he sped up the pace for encores, to get the audience more excited. The instrumentation is lean until the “grandioso” finish, when it’s all hands on deck.
The album’s title, Semper Fidelis , refers to the only popular march on the disc. Rather than a collection of greatest hits, the program highlights Sousa’s diversity, since he wrote songs, suites, waltzes, and operettas, none as successful as his marches. My favorite rarity here was the 18-minute suite Looking Upward , Sousa’s precursor to Holst’s The Planets , with movements titled “By the Light of the Polar Star” and “Mars and Venus.” One hears the best of Sousa’s exotic touches, actual chords for the horns and trumpets, and something forbidden in a field march, an accelerando.
The Marine Band, which produced and engineered the CD, shows off its considerable musicianship as a concert ensemble; the recorded sound is full but a bit too distant to capture much inner detail. To be candid, Sousa’s best tunes are in his two dozen or so most famous marches, but even in their absence these are eye-opening works. All his life he secretly wanted to be America’s Johan Strauss, Jr., and for once a recording comes close to fulfilling his wishes.
FANFARE: Huntley Dent
The March King had a lifelong distrust of recordings. Of the 1,166 shellacs that the Sousa Band made for the Victor Talking Machine Co., he conducted only six. These are pored over by dedicated Sousa scholars, including a former director of the Yale Band. Their holy grail is Sousa’s “authentic” performance style. Yes, HIPness has reached the parade ground.
What makes such historical sleuthing important is that the outdoor versions of Sousa’s beloved marches are only a rough template for what he did in concert. Every piece had a “secret” arrangement, cued by hand and passed along by word of mouth, that doesn’t appear in any published edition. I served my time marching at football halftime alongside my fellow high-school clarinetists, and we did what rank-and-file players still do: We played all the time, with few rests; we maintained a slow walking pace; we were loud. But Sousa considered the march to be among the most difficult genres to perform correctly.
One reason is that he was a violinist, although he learned from boyhood onward to play every band instrument (his father enlisted him in the Marine Band at age 13 to keep his son from running away to join a circus band). He worshipped Johan Strauss II, Arthur S. Sullivan, and Jacques Offenbach. In other words, Sousa had a refined ideal in his mind of nuance and elegance, not the blaring patriotic display his marches are mostly used for. In concert, as opposed to the marching field, he preferred thinner orchestration, subtle phrasing, and varied accents. But these “secrets” can only be gleaned by interviewing surviving band members who played under him until his death in 1932, picking up the style by ear from original Sousa Band recordings, and laboriously comparing manuscripts and meager handwritten notations on the parts the band used.
Wrap up all this research with a bow, and you get the present CD from the U.S. Marine Band, which Sousa conducted for a relatively brief stint between 1880 and 1892. The extensive program notes make for fascinating reading, even if your knees can no longer contemplate marching two miles in the Easter Parade. Your ears will immediately notice how enjoyably civilized these performances are. Band director Col. John Bourgeois sets the tempo at a relaxed 118–120 beats a minute, which Sousa favored—he sped up the pace for encores, to get the audience more excited. The instrumentation is lean until the “grandioso” finish, when it’s all hands on deck.
The album’s title, Semper Fidelis , refers to the only popular march on the disc. Rather than a collection of greatest hits, the program highlights Sousa’s diversity, since he wrote songs, suites, waltzes, and operettas, none as successful as his marches. My favorite rarity here was the 18-minute suite Looking Upward , Sousa’s precursor to Holst’s The Planets , with movements titled “By the Light of the Polar Star” and “Mars and Venus.” One hears the best of Sousa’s exotic touches, actual chords for the horns and trumpets, and something forbidden in a field march, an accelerando.
The Marine Band, which produced and engineered the CD, shows off its considerable musicianship as a concert ensemble; the recorded sound is full but a bit too distant to capture much inner detail. To be candid, Sousa’s best tunes are in his two dozen or so most famous marches, but even in their absence these are eye-opening works. All his life he secretly wanted to be America’s Johan Strauss, Jr., and for once a recording comes close to fulfilling his wishes.
FANFARE: Huntley Dent
Tracklist 17 tracks
-
1 Semper Fidelis 02:45
- Track
- 1
- Title
- Semper Fidelis
- Duration
- 02:45
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
2 The Presidential Polonaise 04:15
- Track
- 2
- Title
- The Presidential Polonaise
- Duration
- 04:15
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
3 Manhattan Beach 02:13
- Track
- 3
- Title
- Manhattan Beach
- Duration
- 02:13
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
4 Comrades of the Legion 02:40
- Track
- 4
- Title
- Comrades of the Legion
- Duration
- 02:40
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
5 Bride Elect Selections 10:50
- Track
- 5
- Title
- Bride Elect Selections
- Duration
- 10:50
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
6 Sabre and Spurs 03:13
- Track
- 6
- Title
- Sabre and Spurs
- Duration
- 03:13
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
7 The Gallant Seventh 03:17
- Track
- 7
- Title
- The Gallant Seventh
- Duration
- 03:17
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
8 La Reine de la Mer Waltzes 07:25
- Track
- 8
- Title
- La Reine de la Mer Waltzes
- Duration
- 07:25
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
9 King Cotton 02:52
- Track
- 9
- Title
- King Cotton
- Duration
- 02:52
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
10 The Gridiron Club 03:23
- Track
- 10
- Title
- The Gridiron Club
- Duration
- 03:23
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
11 Easter Monday on the White House Lawn 02:21
- Track
- 11
- Title
- Easter Monday on the White House Lawn
- Duration
- 02:21
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
12 Who's Who in Navy Blue March 02:47
- Track
- 12
- Title
- Who's Who in Navy Blue March
- Duration
- 02:47
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
13 The Invincible Eagle 03:40
- Track
- 13
- Title
- The Invincible Eagle
- Duration
- 03:40
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
14 By the Light of the Polar Star 04:44
- Track
- 14
- Title
- By the Light of the Polar Star
- Duration
- 04:44
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
15 Beneath the Southern Cross 06:22
- Track
- 15
- Title
- Beneath the Southern Cross
- Duration
- 06:22
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
16 Mars and Venus 07:09
- Track
- 16
- Title
- Mars and Venus
- Duration
- 07:09
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois
-
17 The Royal Welch Fusiliers 02:35
- Track
- 17
- Title
- The Royal Welch Fusiliers
- Duration
- 02:35
- Composer
- John Philip Sousa
- Ensemble
- The President's Own United States Marine Band
- Conductor
- John R. Bourgeois