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Sousa: Marches, Polkas & Americana

Sousa / Cincinnati Pops Orchestra / Kunzel
Release Date: 01/25/2011 
Label:  Musical Concepts   Catalog #: 1108   Spars Code: DDD 
Composer:  John Philip Sousa,  Julius Fucik,  Morton Gould,  George Gershwin,   ... 
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Number of Discs: 1 
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Notes and Editorial Reviews

This bargain-priced yet plush gallimaufry of the lighter Americana works very well.

Thoughtfully selected and sequenced, this bargain-priced yet plush gallimaufry of the lighter Americana works extremely well in the hands of Kunzel’s Cincinnati Pops. It’s a full orchestra rather than a wind-band – which helps. You might perhaps become allergic to the march rodomontade of the belligerently confident Sousa – who is after all not alone in that among march-associated composers. This collection aims for and keeps a grip on contrast and reminds us - as Naxos continue to do in their unfurling series - that Sousa immersed himself in all light music fields.
 
The five Sousa marches are done in Read more exuberantly confident and completely unrestrained style with nice attention to dynamic variation and brassy swagger. Then again the Desirée and La Reine de la Mer waltzes whirl and shiver along in gracious Viennese serenity. The Gliding Girl lays claim to being a tango while Myrrha owes more than a little to Beethoven and then Brahms. The Peaches and Cream foxtrot really lets rip; is that a banjo I hear in the foreground? A touch of The Magnificent Ambersons about this. The El Capitan – Prelude, complete with Weberian harp and woodwind, moves with ease between supernatural, blood and thunder drama and serenade. It is most beautifully done. Fucik’s brassy Entry of the Gladiators has become inextricably linked with the circus big top. Morton Gould’s American Salute (1947) leaps the decades and, using a vocabulary I now associate with the John Williams, explores with gravity and some wit When Johnny Comes Marching Home. The romping antiphonal brass salvoes work magnificently. The Gershwin medley was prepared by Don Rose. It runs the full gamut from jazzy toe-tapping to swooning Hollywood romance – great playing from the horns. Victor Herbert’s Festival March steers clear of typical Sousa territory. It has a big heart encompassing grand waltz, a fluttery plaything in the shape of Auld Lang Syne, a sentimental tear in the eye and a super exuberant nobilmente. We end with the imaginatively varied medley that is the American Fantasia (1893). The sound is excellent and the liner-notes are far from sketchy.
 
According to my googling the Sousa tracks are DDD. The remainder are analogue. These tracks have been harvested from a 1995 three CD VoxBox (3035) entitled American as Apple Pie.
 
-- Rob Barnett, MusicWeb International
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Works on This Recording

1.
Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1897; USA 
2.
La Reine de la Mer by John Philip Sousa
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1886; USA 
3.
Gliding Girl by John Philip Sousa
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1912; USA 
4.
Thunderer by John Philip Sousa
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
Written: circa 1889; USA 
5.
Myrrha by John Philip Sousa
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1876; USA 
6.
Washington Post by John Philip Sousa
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1889; USA 
7.
Peaches and Cream by John Philip Sousa
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1924; USA 
8.
High School Cadets by John Philip Sousa
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
Written: circa 1890; USA 
9.
Désirée: Waltz by John Philip Sousa
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1882-1883; USA 
10.
El Capitan (operetta): Prelude by John Philip Sousa
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1895; USA 
11.
Presidential Polonaise by John Philip Sousa
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1886; USA 
12.
Semper Fidelis by John Philip Sousa
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
Written: circa 1888; USA 
13.
Einzug der Gladiatoren, Op. 68 by Julius Fucik
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
14.
American Salute by Morton Gould
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: 20th Century 
Written: 1943; USA 
15.
Girl Crazy: Excerpt(s) by George Gershwin
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: 20th Century 
Written: 1930; USA 
16.
American Fantasia by Victor Herbert
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1893; USA 
17.
Auditorium Festival March by Victor Herbert
Conductor:  Erich Kunzel
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Cincinnati Pops
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1901; USA 

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review:  ( 1 Customer Review )
 Strike up the band June 15, 2012 By Thomas N. (Sunman, IN) See All My Reviews "What more can be said? Sousa (et. al.), Kunzel, Cincinnati Pops!" Report Abuse
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