Fanfare Reviews
from January/February 2000

SOUSA ORIGINAL • United States Marine Band • MUSICAL HERITAGE SOCIETY 515392E (37:21)

Semper Fidelis. Presidential Polonaise. Manhattan Beach March. Comrades of the Legion March. Saber and Spurs March. The Gridiron Club March. King Cotton March. Easter Monday on the White House Lawn. Who's Who in Navy Blue March. The Invincible Eagle March. Mars and Venus: Excerpts. The Washington Post March

SOUSA ORIGINAL, Vol. II • United States Marine Band • MUSICAL HERITAGE SOCIETY 515391K (54:17)

Stars and Stripes Forever. The Man Behind the Gun. The Bride Elect: Excerpts. La Reine de la Mer. Sound Off. The Royal Welsh Fusiliers. The Looking Upward Suite: By the Light of the Polar Star; Beneath the Southern Crow; Mars and Venus. The Gallant Seventh. The Thunderer March

THE COMPLETE MARCHES OF JOHN PHILIP SOUSA: 116 Marches • Leonard B. Smith, cond; Detroit Concert Band • WALKING FROG (5 CDs: 333:06)

Call me an "extremely enthusiastic Sousa enthusiast"--I'm guilty, I admit it. For me and my fellow "enthusiasts," the CD era has proven to be rather barren, since most of the best performances on LP, as well as the current best, have been, with a handful of exceptions, unavailable on CD until quite recently. But, oh my, has that ever changed! Now we have these incomparable Marine Band recordings and the noble, almost complete survey by The Detroit Concert Band. With these releases and more due to come out, it's a propitious time to pause not only to look at these releases but also to consider other notable Sousa recordings that are currently available on CD.

The best Sousa recordings on CD would include Fennell Conducts Sousa (Eastman Wind Ensemble; Mercury Living Presence 434 300-2), The Original All-American Sousa! (original recordings by John Philip Sousa, also Keith Brion and his New Sousa Band; Delos DE 3102), A Grand Sousa Concert (The Great American Main Street Band conducted by Timothy Foley; EMI CDC 7 54130 2), Under The Double Eagle!--The Marches of John Philip Sousa (Sousa's Band; Pearl GEMM CD 9249).

Each of the above has something special to offer, making them indispensable for the Sousa collector. If one were to sum up the Fennell disc in one phrase, it would be "the Sousa March as a virtuoso showpiece." These are dazzling recordings made by some of the best sound engineers of the 1960s. Fennell and his brilliantly talented Eastman Wind players have tremendous vitality just sample their playing of New Mexico. I far prefer these to the later recordings by Hunsberger and the Eastman ensemble, admirable as they are.

The Original All-American Sousa! is primarily of interest because it offers seven recordings of Sousa marches led by the composer himself. Unique among them, and so far unavailable elsewhere, is the radio broadcast performance of The Stars and Stripes Forever; the only known recording of Sousa leading a pickup band, many of whom were former Sousa Band players, in his most famous march. (It is neither the fastest recording of it, nor the slowest, but squarely in the middle at 3:12 in length.) It is easy to say that these historic recordings are definitive, and in many ways they are, given the limitations of early acoustic recordings, including the disposition of personnel and the time constraints of the one-sided 78 record. Unfortunately, the transfers are only adequate at best. There are also 13 marches played by Keith Brion and his New Sousa Band. Brion has carved out a reputation for his knowledge of Sousa performance practice, and these historically informed recordings are interesting.

Pearl's strangely named Under the Double Eagle (that march isn't by Sousa but by J. J. Wagner) is a valuable collection offering all of the electric and a few acoustic recordings of the Sousa Marches by the Sousa Band. Along with Sousa's commercial discs, there are performances led by the very important and famous-in-his-own-right Arthur Pryor (an incredibly fast Stars and Stripes at 3:06), Rosario Bourdon, and Nathaniel Shilkret. The documentation is confusing, since not all of the recordings are actually by the Sousa Band. Two that are led by Sousa himself are, as is noted in the booklet, with the amateur Philadelphia Rapid Transit Band (these are not on the Delos and are fascinating, if musically poor). Not noted in the booklet is the fact that the nevertheless important Pryor-led recordings of Sabre and Spurs (1926), The Gridiron Club, Pride of the Wolverines, The Sesqui-Centennial Exposition March, and Solid Men to the Front are with his own band; the excellent Bourdon recordings of Hands Across the Sea and The Royal Welsh Fusiliers are with the Victor Band. If the transfers were not so heavily filtered, this would probably be, for historical purposes, the key Sousa disc on CD. Another record company, however, is currently preparing a more nearly complete issue on three discs, and, knowing who the transfer engineer is, I feel confident that it will be the standard resource for these irreplaceable recordings for a long time to come.

The best Sousa CD in the digital era by a civilian band is A Grand Sousa Concert on EMI. Led by Timothy Foley, then the assistant director of the Marine Band (he is now the director) and aided by Frank Byrne, the executive administrative assistant to the director of the Marine Band, this disc reflects their deep knowledge and understanding of Sousa. First called the Nonpareil Wind Band and renamed on the most recent EMI issue as the Great American Main Street Band, this assemblage of many of the top musicians in New York is the project of two great virtuosos, its leaders, Mark Gould and Sam Pilafian. So good is the playing that it's a pity that there has been no follow-up to this 1992 release. The program is very well chosen and is perhaps unique for offering selections from Sousa's instruction manual The Trumpet and Drum. In this 1886 work, he featured not only standard military bugle calls but many of his own original trumpet and drum marches. If With Steady Step and Here's to Your Health, Sir! sound familiar it's because they respectively formed the basis for Semper Fidelis and The Thunderer, all included on the disc and clearly illustrating the connection between the military and early Sousa marches. Along with those familiar standards, there are crackerjack performances of such unusual selections as the delightful Mikado March and the Foshay Tower Washington Memorial. A sign of the care that went into this production is the use of an actual cast replica of the original Liberty Bell in the Liberty Bell March. The performances of the Washington Post March, the underrated Fairest of the Fair, and Who's Who in Navy Blue are particularly outstanding. The recorded sound is first-rate.

The appearance on the Walking Frog label of the Detroit Concert Band survey of 116 of the marches of John Philip Sousa is an event of major importance. Not quite "complete" (there are in fact 136 marches by Sousa), it's still an outstanding achievement. If near-completeness were the only virtue of this set, its position would be unassailable; fortunately, this set is more than a mere reference. As one of the premier cornet players of the century, a virtuoso on a par with Herbert L. Clarke, Leonard B. Smith had an active career as the soloist of the Goldman Band and in the US Navy Band. He founded the Detroit Concert Band in 1946, and was a genuine bandmaster, gifted with an intuitive understanding of Sousa. Smith's performances are distinguished for their unusual gravitas. With tempos that are often slower than what one usually encounters, the marches become more dignified; yet they gain in excitement. The Detroit Concert Band is probably the least accomplished of the ensembles discussed so far: The playing is uneven, but in the main these superbly engineered recordings are very, very good--among the finest ever made.

If the Detroit Concert Band's playing is a little spotty at times, that of the United States Marine Band is remarkably consistent, very often approaching perfection. It is impossible to separate the tradition of the US Marine Band from the tradition of playing Sousa; what, for example, the Czech Philharmonic is to Smetana, the Marine Band is to Sousa. A visit to the Marine Barracks in Washington, DC, reinforces these connections. Just blocks away is the house in which John Philip Sousa was born. Here in the historic quadrangle he led his first famous marches. To see the Band take part in Marine functions in the same setting today is to understand the true function of the Sousa March. It is very likely that the US Marine Band members perform Sousa more times in a single year than most other bandsmen and -women do in a lifetime: Through countless parades, civilian concerts, military ceremonies, and White House functions, the marches of Sousa are ingrained in the Band's very fabric. (I don't want to give an impression that the Marines are one-dimensional--the finest performance I've ever heard of an Edward MacDowell composition was given by the band at a concert in Baltimore--oh that brass!)

Nothing illustrates the unparalleled tradition of the Marine Band's playing of Sousa than the recording of the Stars and ,Stripes Forever on the MHS Sousa Original Vol. II disc. The performance was recorded live at the emotional Change of Command Concert, in which Lt. Col. Timothy Foley assumed command of the Band from its last director, Col. John Bourgeois; this dynamic performance was Col. Foley's first as the Band's director. At 3:51, it is about half a minute longer than most other recordings. As with the Detroit recordings previously mentioned, a slower tempo can actually make this sometimes overly familiar composition more dignified, more important sounding, and remain through Col. Foley's instinctively right feel for the tempo the quintessential march.

Not long ago, I lamented in Fanfare that the great recordings of the Marine Band were available only in libraries and institutions. Now, almost miraculously, both MHS and Altissimo arc bringing out many of their finest performances, recordings that will permanently reshape the landscape of the Sousa march in particular, and wind-band music in general. Although uncredited, all of the recordings in Volumes 1 and 2 are led by the elegant Col. Bourgeois and the dynamic Col. Foley, with the exception of an 1890 cylinder of the Washington Post March in Volume I and an 1894 Liberty Bell in Volume 2. (I like to think that Sousa led the 1890 recording, but it is really impossible to know.) The sound of these ancient relics is surprisingly listenable. Another outstanding feature of these first two volumes is the selections of unfamiliar Sousa music--the lyrical Looking Upward Suite shows that Sousa was a master of other genres.

More Sousa treats are in store--MHS is releasing a slew of Marine recordings. Meanwhile Altissimo, from whom MHS licensed the first two discs, is releasing Volume 3 and another volume entitled Sousa's Greatest Hits. Both of these discs are made up entirely--with one ancient exception--of recordings dating from 1963-69, conducted by a legendary director of the Band, Col. Albert Schoepper. These supercharged performances are quite different from those of Cols. Bourgeois and Foley. Schoepper plays the marches vigorously, somewhat like the Fennell recordings from the same period. Less refined than the Bourgeois-Foley performances, Schoepper's are "rock-em-sock-em" powerhouse recordings.

To sum up: For the casual buyer of Sousa marches, I would recommend the two Musical Heritage Society discs and the EMI disc. Those would probably be more than enough for all but the most "enthusiastic enthusiasts," who will of course want all of the recordings mentioned here. These are great times for Sousa fans indeed.

James Camner

STRAVINSKY Pulcinella¹. Piano Concerto². Danses concertantes³. 3 Pieces for Clarinet Solo⁴. Pour Pablo Picasso⁵ • Robert Craft, cond^1-3; Philharmonia O¹; 20th Century Classics Ens^2,3; Diana Montague (mez)¹; Robin Leggate (ten)¹; Mark Beesley (bass)¹; Misha Dichter (pn)². Charles Neidich (cl)^4,5 • KOCH INTERNATIONAL 3-7470-2 H1 (76:58; text and translations)

This is the third volume of Robert Craft's presumably continuing series of Stravinsky on Koch, after 11 volumes for the MusicMasters label. The first two of the Koch series featured Rite of Spring with Apollon musagète and Orpheus with The Fairy's Kiss. I have often had trouble grasping the logic behind Craft's groupings, which on MusicMasters had Movements and the Violin Concerto on the same disc as Three Japanese Lyrics and The Flood. This current collection brings together the clarinet pieces from the 1910s, Pulcinella, and the Piano Concerto from the early 1920s, and Danses concertantes from the 1940s, a rather disparate group. The three orchestra works are among Stravinsky's lesser-recorded pieces, with only a few representatives of each currently in the catalog.

The complete Pulcinella is about 35 minutes long and, unlike the more commonly heard suite from the ballet, has songs for mezzo-soprano, tenor, and bass, either alone or together. If the suite is full of character and humor, the complete ballet music is even more so. Stravinsky obviously reveled in the Baroque seed-material he received from Diaghilev. When he didn't reorchestrate he stretched and pulled at the phrasings and rhythms like the best of Cubist painters. Robert Craft, Stravinsky's friend and amanuensis, may technically be our best link to the performance wishes of the composer, and he typically conducts performances of a clarity and dryness one hears in Stravinsky's own performances. Craft, too, is the rare conductor to take consistently faster tempos than Stravinsky did, as he does here. Occasionally this performance lacks the Baroque gentility that goes hand in hand with the charm and humor of the piece; the tempo in the Ouverture sounds fast, but that of the soprano-tenor duet "Ncè sta quaccuna pò" is positively breathless. Craft and the Philharmonia get points for the fine delineation of instrumental textures, especially in the passages for full strings, where other orchestras seem to blur. Craft's main competition in this piece is Riccardo Chailly with the Concertgebouw. Chailly's tempos are leisurely without dragging, but are a little too consistent from movement to movement; the orchestral sound, too, tends to smooth out the piece's contrasts. A version by Stefan Sanderling on Naxos goes even further in this regard, but has the attraction of a relatively early recorded performance by tenor Ian Bostridge, whose voice is ideal for the piece. Craft's singers are quite good but have voices meant for "bigger" music.

Stravinsky's Concerto for Piano and Winds (1924), though still under the strong influence of Baroque music, is in expression the polar opposite to Pulcinella's light charm. The strict dotted-rhythm introduction and aggressive, driving, never-ceasing solo part in the first and last movements, along with the Russian song of the middle movement, could well reflect Stravinsky's reaction to the difficulties in Europe and especially in Russia after World War I and the Soviet revolution. In spite of the dark quality of the piece, however, it would be a mistake to go for an overly Romantic interpretation; this isn't Scriabin or Rachmaninov, and should be performed as one would perform Bach, to a point, which means, as in most Stravinsky, clarity of texture and rhythm. Given these qualities, Stravinsky's intentions, sardonic, charming, Russian, or whatever, will come through.

Misha Dichter is better known for his Rachmaninov than for his Bach, but he's savvy enough these days to give a straightforward performance with just an edge of that Russian virtuosic flame. Craft's precise direction probably sufficed to quash most of the excesses that could otherwise have crept into the mix. Tempos are more in line with the norm throughout, a little fast in the songlike middle movement. In comparison, Bernstein's early 1960s recording with Seymour Lipkin is fabulously slow, though I find this troublesome only when in direct comparison with other recordings; Bernstein somehow manages a poetry in Stravinsky that works, however antithetical to Stravinsky's own approach. Seiji Ozawa's recording with Michel Béroff takes its cue, not surprisingly, from Bernstein's readings.

Danses concertantes is a kind of orphan, a plotless, light, Neoclassical ballet score from a time (1942) when Stravinsky's concerns lay seemingly elsewhere. It comes between Symphony in C and Symphony in Three Movements, both substantial, serious, and, for Stravinsky, unusually orthodox works. Danses concertantes was commissioned as a concert work for chamber orchestra, but Stravinsky conceived it from the beginning as something that could be used as a ballet score. After its initial performance (as a concert work) in Los Angeles in 1942, the piece was choreographed by Balanchine and first danced in 1944. Placed side by side with Stravinsky's early, wild, full-fledged ballets or compared to the symphonies contemporaneous to it, Danses concertantes is often overlooked and is relatively rarely performed or recorded as a consequence. Robert Craft, leading the Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble (a New York group), rightly treats Danses concertantes as he treats Pulcinella, keeping the proceedings airy and light. The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra's sleek, fine recent recording is edgeless Stravinsky; Craft's is a little more raw. The Sanderling/Bournemouth Sinfonietta version on Naxos is serviceable but suffers from the same slight fuzziness as does its Pulcinella pairing.

The Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo seems like filler among these larger works, and the tiny Pour Pablo Picasso would be filler in any context, a historical curiosity. The style of the pieces, more in keeping with Le Rossignol and Three Japanese Lyrics than with these disc-mates, makes their inclusion seem more arbitrary than thoughtful. Nevertheless here they are. Charles Neidich, a veteran player with range from Mozart to Brahms to Carter, has technique to burn, and makes these difficult pieces seem easy. Paul Meyer's performances of Three Pieces on an all-clarinet disc are comparable; I wouldn't choose between Meyer and Neidich. Edward Brunner's performance (with Pour Pablo Picasso) is awash in reverberation, which ECM sometimes likes overly much. In any event I wouldn't expect anyone to buy this Koch disc for the clarinet pieces alone.

Altogether, though, this is one of the few really important Stravinsky discs to come out in recent years. Until Sony Classical breaks up its expensive Complete Stravinsky box set into easily manageable purchases, among what's available Craft's approach comes consistently closest to Stravinsky's own. Of course there's room for opinions more significantly different from Stravinsky's, but so many recent attempts (whatever the work) are, shall we say, uninspired.

Koch should refine its packaging production; the booklet gives no timings, is poorly designed, and uses overly thick paper. Texts for Pulcinella are included.

Robert Kirzinger

RANDS Ceremonial, for Symphonic Wind Band. HARBISON Olympic Dances. W. KRAFT Concerto for 4 Solo Percussion and Wind Ensemble¹. HUSA Les Couleurs fauves • Frank L. Battisti, cond; New England Conservatory Wind Ens; Matthew Manturuk, Eric Millstein, John Tanzer, Scott Vincent (perc)¹ • ALBANY TROY 340 (65:41)

This is one of the finest recordings of new-band music I've heard in years. What distinguishes it is the fact that all these compositions, while fluently written for the medium, avoid the stock clichés of wind-ensemble music, in large part because each composer has a particular musical vision that overrides any narrow definition of how a "band" should sound. What one hears is not a heavily doubled sound and overdramatic gestures, but rather a more "symphonic" vision that just happens to be missing the strings (and that is so well done that in fact we as listeners don't miss the strings).

All four works are successful in a different way. Bernard Rands's Ceremonial is a trope of Bolero, in which a single sinuous melody is repeatedly elaborated (against a snare drum ostinato, even!), generating its own harmony and ornamentation in the process. True, the effect is more that of a grave processional, gathering in weight and substance throughout its course, rather than the increasingly frenzied ritual of its antecedent. What could in other hands be a great aesthetic miscalculation instead sounds imaginative and personal, proving that a good idea can continue to live in new guises.

John Harbison's Olympic Dances is a concise four-movement suite. As it comes from the master of contemporary American Neoclassicism, it is not surprising that this music would evoke associations to Stravinsky and Hindemith, but there is also a harmonic freshness and general athleticism about the piece that reminds one of Tippett as well. As always with this composer, the textures are clear and lean, and sense of scrupulous choice in every creative decision is evident.

William Kraft is one of our finest composers for percussion, and this concerto is an arrangement of an earlier orchestral work. Kraft knows an important fact about percussion (probably because he is a virtuoso player himself, having served for years in the LA Philharmonic): Less is more. One does got need everything but the kitchen sink to make an impressive noise with percussion; rather one needs a keen sense of what makes for the most telling sound at any point. Kraft has this in abundance, and the piece moves from the shimmering textures of its first movement, to an intricate and delicate scherzo in its second, to a series of dramatic cadenzas in the third. Formally the third movement seems to lose a little momentum, but the piece overall makes a strong impression.

Karel Husa is one of the masters of this medium, and his Les Couleurs fauves is a feast of lush colors and harmonies in its opening movement, followed by neoprimitivist dances in its following two. More than the other composers on the collection, Husa indulges in a more classic band-sound (especially with prominent midregister horn writing, a sound very familiar to all from film and television scoring), but his own personality still shapes the details so as not to fall into cliché.

The performances Frank Battisti coaxes from the NEC students are fully up to professional standard, and the distinct musical personality of each composer comes clearly through. Admittedly. most of these pieces are "occasional" in nature, and I doubt that any one of them reaches a rank such as Stravinsky's Symphonies of Wind Instruments or even Husa's own Music for Prague 1968. But that does not keep them from all being clear, forceful artistic statements that advance the band repertoire. A hearty bravo to all concerned, and a must for any interested in new American wind-ensemble music.

Robert Carl

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Fanfare Reviews from January/February 2000

Fanfare Reviews
from January/February 2000