Scoring points with a successful first entry under this banner, Altissimo has nevertheless managed to better its own work in the follow-up, Not Sousa, Vol. 2, featuring, as the first volume did, the
United States Marine Band. While the first volume consisted mainly of familiar marches that have eluded listeners in the past as the name "Sousa" is not attached to them, this volume branches out into some material that has gained traction in recent times, in addition to including some unfamiliar but worthy marches by well-known composers. Among the most recognizable marches here are Kenneth Alford's Colonel Bogey, Gilmore's Famous 22nd Regiment March, the Guadalcanal March of
Richard Rodgers from Victory at Sea, and Russell Alexander's rousing The Southerner. In the category of once obscure, but now widely enjoyed, falls
Charles Ives' The Circus Band and
Percy Grainger's Children's March. From the category of obscure but notable are some marches by Beethoven and the exhilarating and brightly colored Franklin D. Roosevelt March of one William Woodin, later Secretary of the Treasury in Roosevelt's cabinet; what a good march won't do for one's political career!
The slight variance in sound quality noted in the first volume is nowhere to be found here, even though this remains a mixture of studio and live recordings; leaders of the
U.S. Marine Band on this recording include
Colonel John R. Bourgeois, Colonel Timothy W. Foley, and one track, the late, great
Frederick Fennell. Fans of march music will not want to miss Not Sousa, Vol. 2, if for any reason to enjoy the terrific performance of
Grainger's Children's March, the only recording so far that can hold a candle to
Fennell's definitive version recorded for Mercury Living Presence in the 1950s and in some ways improving on that performance. However, the standard held throughout is very high indeed; Not Sousa, Vol. 2, will not disappoint.