John Philip Sousa’s marches form an important cornerstone of American music. Just as Johann Strauss Jr both popularized and developed the Viennese waltz to unprecedented heights, Sousa crafted his marches with a canny ear for thematic contrasts, effective transitions, contrapuntal ingenuity, and uplifting tunes. Having developed his style during his years directing the United States Marine Band, Sousa left that organization in 1892 to form his own civilian band, performing and touring with them until his death in 1932. The Sousa Band recorded roughly half of the composer’s march output on commercial 78s. While acoustic and early electrical engineering hardly suggests the colorful, dynamic impact this band must have had live, the recordings contain valuable evidence regarding tempos, articulations, and note values.
While the 65 recordings bear Sousa’s imprimatur, he himself only conducted six of them. According to the excellent and thoroughly researched annotations, it took many years for Sousa to warm up to the phonograph’s virtues. The marches are ordered according to composition date, interspersed with three different recorded versions of “The Stars and Stripes Forever”, respectively dating from 1901, 1903, and 1926. Disc 1 opens with a 1929 broadcast performance of “Stars and Stripes”, introduced and vigorously conducted by Sousa. Seth Winner’s transfers are carefully pitched and equalized for maximum clarity, especially the more problematic acoustical sides. Collectors who don’t wish to go the complete route should seek out “Under The Double Eagle”, a single-disc Sousa Band compilation on Pearl. Here the electrical selections have a warmer bass presence in David Lennick’s transfers, and you also get the two Sousa-led sides with the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company Band. In sum, Crystal’s complete Sousa collection is the proud result of painstaking research, perseverance, and tender loving care. Strike up the band for this important reissue project. [4/24/2000]
