Customer Reviews

Prussia's Glory: Great German Marches

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Herein are marches in their "purest" form - Prussian/German military marches. These are not "pretty", complicated marches for the concert stage, but are marches to be marched to, in the street, on the parade ground, or in battle.
Included are seven compositions by the three "March Kings" of Germany, Gottfried Piefke ("Preussens Gloria", for which this album is named), Carl Tieke ("Graf Zeppelin", aka "The Conqueror"; "Alte Kameraden", or "Old Comrades", perhaps the most famous German march of all; and "In Treue Fest", or "Steadfast and True"), and Hermann Blankenburg ("Territorial"; "Klar zum Gefecht", known in Britain as "Action Front"; and "Mein Regiment"). Others include "York'sher Marsch" by Beethoven, the oldest march in this collection (1809); "Fredericus Rex-Grenadiermarsch", by Ferdinand Radeck; "Helenen Marsch", by Friedrich Luebbert; "Regimentsgruss", by Heinrich Steinbach; "Des Grossen Kurfuersten Reitermarsch", by Graf von Molte; "Fehrbelliner Reitermarsch", by Richard Henrion; "Unsere Garde", by Rudolf Foerster; "Berliner Luft" and "Father Rhine", by Paul Linke, better known for writing comic Operettas, and whose most famous composition was "Glow Worm"; "Mit Schwert und Lance", or "With Sword and Lance", by Hermann Starke; "Per Aspera ad Astra", by Ernst Urbach, known in Britain as "Through Bolts and Bars" - not a literal translation; "Ich hatt' einen kameraden", based on an old folk tune; and "Heer und Marine", or "Army and Navy", but mistranslated as "Army and Marine", by Wilhelm Zehle.
These fine marches are expertly performed by two British military bands stationed in "occupied" Germany, The Band of the Royal Lancers and The Royal Tank Regiment Cambrai Band. The liner notes are also excellent, giving much information about the composers and their works, as well as a brief history of Prussia/Germany.
The only possible improvements to this fine album might have been the inclusion of "Under the Double Eagle" by J. F. Wagner (the other "most famous" German march), or something by Carl Friedemann or Franz von Blon.

I bought this CD for the following reason:

I had decided to start up a walking program and I wanted some music to walk to. I read the following suggestion for walking music: Marches! (To give credit where credit is due: Anne Barone is the author I'm referring to; she has two books listed on www.amazon.com. Ms. Barone mentioned that marches were designed to have the beat and "mood" to keep tired soldiery marching. Made sense to me.)

I'm happy to say that this is great walking music. It's not something most people would listen to for the sake of beauty per se (although the songs are by no means unpleasant to listen to), but it's the perfect tempo for walking, which is why I called it "functional" in my title.