Customer Reviews

Gott, Kaiser, Vaterland: Military and Patriotic Music of Imperial Germany in Archival Recordings, 1903-1915

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This fascinating CD makes available the sounds of German military music from a century ago. Its indeed refreshing to have historical German martial music that is not Nazi era for a change! These recordings pre-date that period signifiantly, and thanks to the superb enhancement process involved they sound almost as good if not better. There is a lot of fascinating material here, all well researched and documented. The extensive booklet provides one of the most thorough backgrounds of German military music available in English. The selection of music provide a nice balance between well known and less well known material. We have a classic "Prussia's Glory" played by one of the Guards bands, as well as some lesser known compositions by famous composers like Blackenburg and Tieke. While "Alte Kameraden" would have been a stnadard to include here, I am just as glad the temptation was resisted. My only quibble is that the hymn "Heil Dir Im Siegerkranz" is presented in different versions three times! I think twice would have been enough. Missing is a good version of the official "Presentier Marsch" AM1 which was a standard at most reviews of the period. Perhaps there was not a version available for this collection. This is hardly a compliant for what is a fascinating collection. At last we can hear the German military band in its heyday. The folks at Brandenberg Historica are romantics at heart, and one can't help thinking they miss the old days of the Kaiser! Lets hope they can put together a volume two someday.

Modern reissues of vintage 78 rpm military band recordings have been around a quite while. Some are good and many not. With Gott, Kaiser, Vaterland, the folks at Brandenburg Historica have definitely raised the bar on this genre. It's an A+ product in all respects, technically & creative. The menu of the 25 recordings offered is a thoughtful & balanced mix of many well known marches of the era and other not so well known, all superbly produced. The pages of accompanying photographs commentary and notes on Imperial Germany, its martial music and the chosen recordings add much more to what is already an outstanding CD. Any discerning listener is ready to play this one again and again and await a volume 2.

Collectors of historical recordings of military music should rejoice at this release. I completely agree with the comments made on the previous review. There is simply nothing like this available for us collectors excepts perhaps for the cd they Brandenburg Historica sell of marches from Saxony. The marches are taken from recordings from the early part of the 19th century so make allowance for the sound, though some of the recordings have almost modern sound. I look forward to future releases. Thank you, BH!

I collect Central and Eastern European music recordings made before 1950. I believe I have in excess of 200 cds. I rate this as being one of the top five; maybe the best of all. There was meticulous care in making it audible. It definately has the best researched booklet I have ever seen. The knowledge of the author of the booklet is impressive.

Absolutely one of the best military music collections I have ever owned! The clarity of the ancient recordings is amazing. The martial airs are clear and stirring. Makes me want to put on my pickelhaube and join the parade!

I have been collecting German Military Music since I was stationed there,Nierstein Oppenheim, 1962.The new CDs of Pre WWI broaden my collection and this is a terrific selection of the early bands. The 78rpms could have been lost to us,but now we can retrieve the sounds of history. Thanks to Brandenburg Historica..I hope this is Vol 1.

refer us to site where we could sample some of this? My Grandfather, Johann, War auf Frankfurt geboren; and his son my grandfather Emil Freidrich Amschel was born in New York; and his son my father James was born in Cheyenne; and I was born in Sheridan, Vereignigten Staaten, therefor, I am a member of the German race, richtig? If I am a qualified member of the Deutscher Stamme by reason of my fathers mentioned above, please advise me if this status qualifies me for any privileges or immunities if I were to return to Germany.
Note: When I was drafted into the Army Signal Corps in 1967 I was first sent to Frankfurt. The locals in Frankfurt, except for one distinguished lady who called me over to their table at the guest house and patted my check and asked me if this was my first time away from home, treated me as an American soldier, which I was, but I thought they might recognize a native son, but I guess not. Emil my grandfather told me when I was about 6 years old that America got into two wars with Germany and that racism against Die Deutscher Volk was so strong that during those times he had to try to assimilate and to help assimilate he used his initials "E.F." instead of his full name and he also took the nickname "Ed". He told me he would have otherwise surely faced American mob action because of being German. This is why I remain uncertain regarding my racial status and so respectfully request your input and the site of some of these songs.
Thank you,
Peter
Ein Deutscher ich denke?