The mighty Dreadnoughts and Battle Cruisers of Kaiser Wilhelm II's Navy sail again in this magnificent, FIRST-EVER compilation from Brandenburg Historica! This unique CD presents TWENTY-FIVE marches, songs, ceremonies and dramatic scenes from the GOLDEN AGE of German sea power, with PERIOD performances by illustrious units of the Imperial German Navy, as well as leading military- and civilian bands, singers and choruses of Wilhelmian Germany.
As with the [CD] productions previously released [by Brandenburg Historica], the producer has succeeded in bringing onto the market not just another CD, but rather the documentation of an era. It portrays its epoch in exemplary reconstructions of recordings transcribed from acoustic discs, all of which were painstakingly assembled. The accompanying booklet is in a class by itself, since it is not only researched in an exemplary fashion, but is also tastefully illustrated, presenting with great feeling and purpose just what the Imperial Navy was all about. The result is once again a CD offering genuine rarities -- September 2007 Issue of Mit Klingendem Spiel (Zeitschrift der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Militärmusik e. V.)
Featured here are not only some of the best-known Parademärsche and concert marches that formed the core repertoire of the Kaiser's "High Seas Fleet", but also many long-forgotten treasures of nautically-flavored German patriotic music, including specially-commissioned pieces celebrating the First World War-exploits of such legendary vessels as the cruiser SMS Emden, the submarine U-9 and the raider SMS Möwe! Also presented in this compilation are many rare (and today largely unknown) period compositions that manage to convey an unmistakable "salty" quality that is richly redolent of ships, sailors and the sea itself, even as they portray the unique character of Kaiser Wilhelm II's Navy and the spirit of its era.
Contents include: Flaggenparade an Bord eines deutschen Kriegsschiffes (Trad.-Rauscher) / Deutsches Flaggenlied (Thiele-Linderer) / Unter der Admiralsflagge (Fucik); "Hiss' Wimpel und Flaggen" (Witteborn) / Deutschland zur See (Fetràs) / Prinz Admiral-Marsch (Jummel) / Präsentiermarsch der I. Matrosen-Division HM I, 61 (Heinrich Prinz v. Preussen) / Helenen Marsch AM II, 173 (Lübbert) / Marsch aus Petersburg AM II, 113 (Trad.) / Fridericus-Rex Grenadiermarsch AM II, 198 (Radeck) / Admiral Stosch-Marsch (Latann) / "Germans to the Front" (Wagner) / Marine-Marsch (v. Blon) / Seemannslos (Trad.) / Wir fahren gegen Engelland, 1. Version (Ramrath-Löns) / Blaujacken-Marsch (Anon.) / Flaggensalut (Witteborn) / Unterseeboot-9 (Schönwald) / "Das war U-9" (Dannenberg) / SMS Möwe-Marsch (Richter) / Das Lied von der Emden (Söchting-Böer) / Hoch Deutschlands Flotte! (Friedemann) / Marsch des Yorck'schen Korps AM II, 37 (v. Beethoven) / Zapfenstreich-Marsch und Gebet (Trad.-Wieprecht) / Unsere Marine HM II, 145 (Thiele).
Total Time: 72:30
