Customer Reviews

German Military Marches

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Very good CD. The sound is clear and crisp. The selection of marches is excellent. As a whole, I think most of the marches are as good as, if not better, than many Sousa marches. My favorite on the CD is Bayerischer Defiliermarsch and my least favorite is, ironically, Unter Dem Doppeladler. I am a graduate of a military college and have heard and marched to my share of marches and rank many on this CD near the top of my list of favorites.

I guess after all that horrid Nazi business, it has become majorly politically incorrect to do German military music that sounds like, well, German Military Music - in other words the kind of stuff that would inspire young Rhinelanders to romp & stomp their way to Paris.
Anyway that is the impression I got after listening to this CD. It just lacks the "kick" that I look for in military music (which I mostly listen to kick myself in the butt when I workout)
Instead it sounded to me more like middle aged men playing in an ompa band outside a hoffbraugh.
Nevertheless as ompa music it is well done and if you are looking for that this CD is a good choice. But I rate it a 3 since it is advertised as Military Music.
A better recording, if you can find it, is "Prussia's Glory" - World War 1 era German military music with all the punch.

This album features quality, professional, precise music from all of the different bands/musicians. (But would you expect anything less from German musicians?)

My favorite march of all time is Alte Kameraden (with no apologies to Sousa). The Euphonium countermelody musician rivals that of Simone Mantia.

Alot of you will recognize "Einzug der Gladiatoren" ("Enter the Gladiator"), and "Unter Dem Doppeladler" ("Under Double Eagle"), although I disagree with the maestro's use of ritard, fermata, and ralliando, in "Under Double Eagle".

General George S. Patton would probably kill me if he were still alive, but Julius Fucik, not John Philip Sousa was truly the "March King." Fucik, who incidentally was Czech, is featured on this CD, along with J.F. Wagner and Carl Teike, which consists of 15 selections.

Although many of these are not well known in the United States, "Einzug Der Gladiatoren," which will always be associated with the circus, and "Salve Imperator" are two of the finest of the genre. The bands are uniformly excellent, although I take exception to the tempo changes in "Unter Dem Doppeladler," which to the uninitiated, could easily be mistaken for a Sousa march

Forget this record. I expect my German military marches to be played with vim, vigor and possible violence, this band is way too tame. It sounds like an arthritic Perry Como wannabe is directing the group. It's not a military orchestra, this is some dingy oom-pa-pa band assembled in the basement of the Augustinerkeller (if you know Munich, you'll get that joke). The marches are played much too slowly and there isn't the necessary urgency or dynamism here. There is also no vocalizing and the song selection is dismal. Where is "Westerwald?" Where is "Wenn Wir Marschieren??" A crushing disappointment in song selection, style and presentation!

Makes you want to get out of the car and start marching. Perfect for juicing up your spirits after a long day at the office. If you are not keeping time by tapping the steering wheel you have no rhythm. Plays great on my eclipse 2000 sound system.

The music is toe tapping, or perhaps stomping (these are German marches, played in the German style). The music becomes more and more contagious each time you listen to the CD. The program notes are in German, but even if you can't read the names of the marches, the music tells the story on it's own of pride, power and glory.

The Austrian flavor of the playing adds a nice touch to the German and Austrian march music. The sound quality is excellent and there are some rarely recorded selections. I would like to see Volume II.

First class band renditions of favorite and famous marches from the time of Frederick the Great to WWI. Arrangements are for military-style bands, and performed by East German, Bavarian and Tyrolian groups. The cover art, showing a Bavarian brass band with feathered alphen hats, green coats, and red waistcoats kind of sums up the entire spirit of this rare item.

As somewhat of a musicologist and ethnomusicologist I have to maintain that this release is NOT the catalog indicative of the pre WWII and WWII period in German history, dare I say it...Nazi. Third Reich music was an important part of the proaganda mill as it stirred the emotions and provided a soundtrack to military customs. It's called "Martial Music" for those of you who don't know. We, in the U.S., have our own favorites that are used in all types of military settings. Heck, the President's own (USMC Band) is the official band and provider of music at the White House, and they also tour and play the D.C. area quite a bit (it's usually free too). But 3rd Reich martial music has been somewhat taboo, since all this political correctness.... tussle (I don't want to get booted) has left us with sterility where sterility isn't needed.

Anyway, if you want the real deal go up on a search engine and type in 3rd Reich Martial Music or something akin to that. The music is out there. If you want polka or other such BeirGarten stylings, try some Frank Yankovich (not related to Weird Al), or searches on Polka. It's fun stuff, I've reviewed it in the past. All my Cousins in Michigan even dance to it (I'm just a bassist...and not of the polka genre), but I do enjoy a good party, and polka parties are generally a blast.

Back to the subject. If Martial music is something you'd be interested in, by all means do some searches, 3rd Reich, Soviet whatever... it is available, just not here. Another interesting sub-genre of Marshal music are Jodi-calls, i.e. what troops sing, breathlessly while running in formation at Oh-dark-thirty.

Hope that helps, I know a number of my dad's buddies and my all of my Uncles were WWII veterans and they had all sorts of memoribilia, records, flags and some great tales. It's all history and therefore noteworthy.