Richardson Records, apparently the single-handed creation of one Charles A. Richardson, has specialized in issuing recordings by the musical ensembles of the various U.S. armed forces. It's a worthy service, for the level of musicianship in these ensembles is high. The musicians are mostly conservatory-trained players who have joined the armed forces, not service members with varying levels of training who have decided to aggregate themselves into ensembles. The collection of familiar marches by Sousa and others on disc one ...
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Richardson Records, apparently the single-handed creation of one Charles A. Richardson, has specialized in issuing recordings by the musical ensembles of the various U.S. armed forces. It's a worthy service, for the level of musicianship in these ensembles is high. The musicians are mostly conservatory-trained players who have joined the armed forces, not service members with varying levels of training who have decided to aggregate themselves into ensembles. The collection of familiar marches by Sousa and others on disc one of this two-disc collection is performed by the United States Marine Band with more zip than one would find from most equivalent music school bands. The Richardson releases, for better or worse, also have a pretty homemade quality, even down to a printing error corrected in pen ink on the copy examined here. The notes by Richardson himself are informative as to the functions of military music but are missing crucial information -- in this case, the identity of the Symphony Arts...
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