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Searching for Sousa music on Amazon.com will give you a list of over 400 CD's - many of questionable quality. Just so you don't get burned - here's my top 10 list of the top Sousa recordings available today. If you have other suggestions, please let me know!
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Sorry folks. I know I'm a member of this group, and I really try
to be impartial, but I can't help it. This CD rocks! You simply
cannot find a better combination of performance quality and audio fidelity
anywhere. If you have a decent stereo, you simply must own this disc.
Learn more about the High Definition
CD process here.
Contains 19 marches plus the Star Spangled Banner and a hilarious bonus
track!
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Contains all of Sousa's most famous marches plus many others. This
CD actually contains two of Fennell's original Mercury LP's: Hands Across
the Sea and Marching Along. This is the march album standard by which
all others are measured. 24 marches in all.
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This CD is truly magical. Like the other Mercury reissue listed
here, this contains two original Mercury LP's: Sound Off and Sousa on Review.
The performances are big, brassy and over the top - blasting brass, thunderous
drums, plus Frederick Fennell at the helm, giving each march a touch of
his legendary personality. Contains the absolute best recording of
my personal favorite Sousa march, "New Mexico". 24 marches in all.
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Never heard of this group? Me neither. But notice that it's
conductor, Timothy Foley, is the new conductor of the U.S. Marine Band in
Washington, D.C. and you'll get an idea of the quality of musicianship involved
here. These guys are fantastic - a wonderful mix of different Sousa
pieces, each played dynamically, musically and with excellent precision.
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Don't be misled by the name of this group - this is a full concert band
recording. Each performance is flawlessly precise and the ensemble
is wonderful. The programming is inspired as well; a tasty mix of
Sousa's most famous plus the best of his lesser-known marches.
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Are you looking to collect all 136 of Sousa's marches? This is
how you start! This massive collection contains 116 marches and is
the only publicly-available collection of its kind. 5 CD's of Sousa
marches, no two alike.
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This CD is a must-have for a couple of reasons - it contains Sousa's
"Untitled" March, and also contains several bonus tracks of original Sousa
Band 78's and also a recording of Sousa's own voice! The recordings
of Mr. Brion's band are a little muddy for my taste, but this album has
so much going for it that I wholeheartedly recommend it anyway.
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Who better to perform Sousa marches than "The President's Own"?
These three albums, although short compared to others listed here, include
many of Sousa's marches and other pieces, played with the precision you'd
expect from America's oldest military band. There is also a
fourth album available
from our friends at MilitaryMusic.com.
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Okay, this would technically be #11, yes, but it's really, really interesting!
This CD contains 18 marches never before recording by the legendary Frederick
Fennell, including two Sousa marches: The Gladiator, Sousa's first commercially
successful march and The Northern Pines - Fennell himself played in the
band at its premiere in 1931, with Sousa conducting! How's that for
a historical connection? See the kid in the uniform on the cover?
That's Fred in high school!
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Hail, Sousa!
University of Michigan Band
Ooh, ooh! Just one more for now, I promise! A visitor to
this site emailed me about this one... I have the LP but didn't know it
was available on CD. The legendary U of M band under the direction
of the late, great William Revelli, put together this album (in the 1960's
I think) and it is one of the all-time greats. That big, full college
band sound playing so quickly, loudly and precisely is guaranteed to get
your heart up and marching along.
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For more recordings of marches by Sousa and others, visit
Walking Frog and
MilitaryMusic.com
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