Marches

genial

Este CD doble es una maravilla, la famosisima Berliner Philahrmoniker que en este caso se reduce a algo asi como seccion de vientos de la berliner philharmoniker nos deleita con un conjunto increible de marchas de todos los tipos y para todos los gustos, solo se unen en la genial interpretacion.
La orquesta se reune en forma completa para entregarnos excepcionales versiones de la Marcha Eslava de Tchaikovsky y la Marcha de la Victoria de Wellington de Beethoven que incluye grabacion de artilleria (increible y fantastica).
La marcha Radetzki es genial, asi como alguna pequeñeses de Beethoven, marchas compuestas por emperadores y otros extraños compositores que hacen de este CD un deleite para los amantes de estas sincopadas obras musicales. Disfruten un CD genial. December 10, 2004

A Great Value!!

Here is a collection of mostly German march music that is well worth the price! The performances are crisp and clean. One selection I was very surprised to find in this collection is the "Nibelungen Marsch" by Gottfried Sonntag. As the title implies,this march is based on Wagnerian themes. While this march was written decades before Hitler came to power in 1933, it became closely associated with the Nazi Party and it was always played in the Kongresshalle during the massing of the banners at the Nuremburg Rallies. As a result, the "Nibelungen Marsch" was banned from any sort of live or recorded performance after 1945 by the Allies. It must be remembered that this is NOT a Nazi march. It was, like many other marches, adapted by the Nazis for their own purposes. I'm glad to see that it is played here as the fine piece of classical music that it is. Again, this collection of marches is among the best and shouldn't be passed by! November 22, 2003

A Unique Concept

Rather than an album of marches by a band or orchestra, this is a compilation, recorded between the late '60's and early '80's, of popular marches by the wind players of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and classical marches by the full orchestra, brilliantly performed under the baton of maestro Herbert von Karajan (two numbers conducted by Hans Priem-Bergrath).
A comparison may be made with another album, "Prussia's Glory", by two British military bands, since the two have about a half dozen marches in common. The playing on this CD seems to me to be a bit lighter and more melodic, in other words, a little less "military", which makes sense, given the nature of the two groups. Which is "better", on the other hand, depends on the listener (I slightly prefer this group). And this disc wins on sheer quantity, being two CD's for the price of one, and does have more variety - classical pieces and a few non-German marches, but the other has much more complete liner notes, with information on each composer and selection. Of course, if you really like one, perhaps you would also want the other.
It would have been helpful if English translations were provided for each piece - most are in German, with the last several in French, to understand the meaning of each title, such as "Old Comrades" in addition to "Alte Kameraden", or "The Glory of Prussia" added to "Preussens Gloria".
A highly recommended collection of German and Eastern European marches, masterfully performed. September 30, 2002

Examination by a German enthusiast

This is purely the best March tape I have ever bought. Not only does it offer 38 songs which is at least 18 more than most good CDs, it has extremely high quality sound recording and listing of the songs. I would strongly recommend this to anyone who likes Marches and more so to any fellow German! August 28, 2000

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