American Portraits

Schwarzkopf (Artist), Slatkin (Artist), Slso (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 11, 1992)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000003F8N
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #283,363 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Fanfare for the Common Man, for brass & percussion (from Symphony No. 3

2. Be Glad, Then, America [From New England Triptych]

3. Festival Overture on the "Star-Spangled Banner" for orchestra

4. National Emblem, march for orchestra (or band)

5. Fugue and Chorale on Yankee Doodle, for orchestra (from the film "Tuesd

6. America Fantasia, for orchestra

7. El Capitan, march for band

8. The Battle Hymn of the Republic ("Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory," words by

9. Servicemen on Parade for orchestra

10. Lincoln Portrait, for speaker & orchestra

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars American anthems, remarkably well done and in sterling sound, December 22, 2011

By 

Larry VanDeSande - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: American Portraits (Audio CD)

If you're in the market for something to play during a Memorial Day parade, on July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving or anytime you want to feel patriotic, you could do much worse than this collection of American anthems from Leonard Slatkin, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Gulf war hero Norman Schwarzkopf, who narrates the Lincoln portrait.

I bought this to acquire Slatkin's outstanding verion of Victor Herbert's American Fantasia, a 12-minute excursion no American themes in the same vein as Dvorák's Symphony 'From the New World'. Herbert, who was born Irish and raised German, came to America and wrote the piece as a paean to his adopted land. It is full of memorable tunes such as (Way Down Upon the) Swannee River (or 'Ribber' as it's sometimes sung) and Stephen Foster's Oh! Susanna, then closes with the national anthem. It is surprising how litte known the American Fantasia is to fans of the genre.

This piece of 'serious' music complements the collection that encompasses Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man, a selection from Charles Ives' New England Triptych (I enjoy the whole thing best by Howard Hanson, variants on the National Emblem, Yankee Doodle Dandy and Star Spangled Banner, El Capitan and Servicemen on Parade marches, a rippling, stirring, sung version of Battle Hymn of the Republic, and Copland's portrait of our Civil War president. Copland was a communist but you'd never know it by this.

While I don't consider myself particularly patriotic, I like national music and certain popular music and own many collecitons of same. This is, without question, the best collection of American patriotic music I know. If you pay the small fee required here, I bet it will become one of your favorite collections, too.