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
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.
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