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
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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!"
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