Site News
Heritage of John Philip Sousa, Vol 8 - US Marine Band
* You may also purchase individual songs as MP3 downloads below
Altissimo! Recordings is proud to present the Robert Hoe Heritage of the March collection. It remains the largest single march music record series in history, featuring almost 3,000 different marches. This series has been highly sought by music collectors everywhere, and now for the first time ever, you can own these rare marches from the one and only March King, presented as 2-disc volumes digitally mastered for optimal sound quality and faithfully reproduced. The Fabulous Sousa Band Little did the impresario David
Blakely know, when he founded Sousa’s Band in 1892, that it would be in
existence thirty-five years after his death and be known as the most successful
organization of its kind in history. By
offering high salaries and more security than orchestras, the finest musicians
available were engaged. Understandably, the band was (initially) on par with
the world’s leading symphony orchestras. It must be remembered that Sousa’s
Band was a concert organization, not a marching band. Many
of the greatest wind instrument players performed with Sousa at one time or
another – men like Herbert L. Clarke, Arthur Pryor and Simone Mantia. His
distinguished soprano soloists, such as Madame Estelle Liebling, added still
another dimension. The same was true of the violin soloists – Maud Powell, for
example. Every chair was filled with a show-wise musician who had reached, or
was about to reach, the pinnacle of success. Sousa’s
annual tours were grueling, usually with two concerts per day, seven days a
week, for months on end. Quite often he performed in two cities per day. The
concerts were long and extremely difficult, with only seconds between numbers.
When playing at fairs and expositions, he scheduled four completely different
concerts per day, including Sundays, for several weeks – and without
rehearsals! In all, Sousa’s Band traveled well over a million miles, making
four tours of Europe and one tour around the world. A
list of Sousa Band alumni reads like a “Who’s Who in American Music,” and their
influence on the nation’s music scene was staggering. They held a sort of
reverence for Sousa, as evidenced by their own unique organization. This is the
Sousa Band Fraternal Society, still going strong nearly half a century after
their maestro left the stage. The above essay was written by Paul Bierley, the world’s
foremost authority on, and biographer of, Sousa. A similar essay will appear on
each of the volumes in this series. Download at Also Available: Click below for sample:
These are digitally remastered from vinyl. The original vinyl was recorded between 1974 - 1976.
Volume Eight
Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4
Volume 5
Volume 6
Volume 7
Related ProductsRelated Categories