Marches

Various

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Cat No: 8553596

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 730099459624

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: Marches

Description
Grand MarchFamous Classical Marches Martial music has a long history, as a device forstirring soldiers to acts of valour or sometimes, if Marco Polo is to bebelieved, for terrifying the enemy. The march itself, as a means, throughregular rhythm, of ensuring that the marchers proceed in step, may combine theexhortatory and the deterrent, but can be used to express solemnity in a slowmarch, light-heartedness in a quick march or triumph in a march of victory,even if, with the poet, we believe there is no hope for those that march instep. The present collection of marches opens with the famous GrandMarch from Verdi's opera Aida. The opera itself was written to marknot the opening of the Suez Canal, which had taken place a year before, but theopening of the Cairo Opera House in 1871. It celebrates the triumphant returnof the Egyptian general Radames, bringing with him the signs of victory, alavish procession of soldiers, animals and captives, a spectacle that hasprovided opportunities for directorial extravagance in more ostentatiousproductions of the work. The Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, in his incidentalmusic of 1893 for the patriotic pageant Karelia, subsequently arrangedas a concert suite, symbolized something of the national aspirations of hiscountry, at one time dominated by Sweden and Swedish culture and at anotherthreatened by the adjacent power of Russia. The Alla marcia from the Suiteis very familiar, often used out of its Finnish context as a cheerful androusing signature-tune. Sweden itself is represented here by the composer Dag Wiren,whose music has ranged from the high seriousness of the symphony to entries forthe Eurovision song contest. The Marcia from his 1937 Serenade forStrings is a parody of the military march, but has enjoyed particularpopularity in Britain, where its opening, at least, is known as thesignature-tune of a long-running television series. The nineteenth century was an age of nationalism. In Russiamusical nationalism was chiefly represented by the so-called Mighty Handful,the five composers largely dominated by Balakirev. Tchaikovsky, not a member ofthis group, was seen abroad as thoroughly Russian, not always to his credit,while at home he seemed to belong to a more cosmopolitan school of composition.His Marche slave of 1876 was written in response to a requestfrom Nikolay Rubinstein, director of the Moscow Conservatory, for a piece inaid of those wounded in the war that had broken out between Serbia and Turkey.The march was originally known as the Serbo-Russian March and includesthree Serbian melodies as well as the Tsarist national anthem. The presentcollection includes a march of a very different kind from Tchaikovsky's 1893ballet Nutcracker, based on a story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, an accompaniment,as the ballet opens, to a children's party that will turn to a dentist'snightmare in the Land of Sweets. Tchaikovsky had been impressed in Paris by the operaCarmen, the work of Georges Bi
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