Naxos has been issuing its series of Sousa’s complete music for
wind band at a leisurely rate since Volume 1 appeared in 2000 - see
reviews.
The first few volumes were a revelation in terms of the music included
and also of the quality of the performances.
The Royal Artillery Band provided the first eight volumes after which
the Royal Norwegian Navy Band took over for two volumes which seemed
to me to lack to some degree the vigour and sheer exuberance of their
predecessors. This may have been due to the choice of music.
Volume
11 which featured the Royal Swedish Navy Band was back to the earlier
standard and the present volume with that same band is one of the best
so far.
That may be something of a surprise, as most of the earlier issues included
some of the composer’s best known works as well as a good helping
of the unfamiliar. The present volume has a high concentration of the
latter, although some of the pieces are based on familiar melodies -
especially
Marching Through Georgia and
Mikado March.
It is however full of entertaining and enlivening music.
Sound Off
is well up to the standard of the composer’s best marches, full
of that mixture of swagger and energy that is a Sousa characteristic.
Peaches and Cream has a more winsome manner and the two Suites
are varied, relatively brief and thoroughly delightful.
Mikado March
uses melodies from Sullivan’s operetta but by no means the most
obvious ones. For it alone this disc must be an essential purchase for
enthusiasts for that composer.
Right-Left March has the novelty
effect of requiring the band to shout the title (in time). This led
me to the unimportant question as to why Americans should shout “Right
left” and the British “Left right”. Like everything
else on this disc it is done enthusiastically here.
Like the whole series this disc is conducted by Keith Brion who also
provides his usual too brief but very interesting notes. He has the
ability to make bands play with the loose-limbed ebullience needed for
this music, and the results compare well even with the many recordings
made by the composer himself in his latter years. I approached this
disc wondering whether the bottom of the barrel might have been reached
but it became immediately obvious that here was yet another disc guaranteed
to rouse even the most sedentary of listeners from their chair.
John Sheppard
See also review by
Rob
Barnett 
