Civil War 1: The Confederacy by Richard Bales (CD, Jan-1991, Columbia (USA))

Album Features
UPC:	074644712322
Artist:	Richard Bales
Format:	CD
Release Year:	1991
Record Label:	Columbia (USA)
Genre:	Folk

Track Listing
1. General Lee's Grand March
2. All Quiet Along the Potomac Tonight
3. Bonnie Blue Flag, The
4. Lorena
5. Yellow Rose of Texas, The
6. Somebody's Darling
7. We All Went Down to New Orleans For Bales
8. General Robert E Lee's Farewell Order to the Army of Northern Virginia, Appomattox Couthouse, Virginia, April 10, 1865
9. Conquered Banner, The
10. Dixie's Land With Quickstep and Interlude Year of Jublio

Details
Distributor:	Sony Music Distribution (
Recording Type:	Studio
Recording Mode:	Stereo
SPAR Code:	n/a

Album Notes
This special box set was recorded at the National Gallery Of Art in Washington, D.C. and contains a 96 page booklet. It is based on the music of The South during the years 1861-1865. It also contains essays by Bruce Catton and Clifford Dowdey, and features The National Gallery Orchestra conducted by Richard Bales.This highly prized recording was originally released in 1964, as part of the activities commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Civil War. A long-term project initiated in the '50s at Columbia Records under the leadership of Goddard Lieberson, the original LP edition was a physically impressive package, supported by a well-illustrated internal book annotated by no less a figure than historian Bruce Catton. And Robert E. Lee's farewell order to the Army of Northern Virginia, accompanying his surrender, was read by the general's descendant, the Rev. Edmund Jennings Lee, who imbues every word with meaning, while never seeming arch or artificial. But at the core of a release like this is the music, which was recorded at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. in 1954 -- hence the state-of-the-art mono sound, which works beautifully. One of the things that always eludes listeners in search of the next big sound advance, such as stereo or digital, is that the preceding formats usually rose to a level of impressive excellence just before they become "outmoded" -- this release is a great showcase for how vivid and richly textured monaural sound, even outside of a proper recording studio, could be -- the drums on "General Lee's Grand March," which opens the record, have massive breadth and presence, and the entire orchestra sound gives one a sense of massive room ambience. The music is a mix of military marches and patriotic songs ("Bonnie Blue Flag" etc.), sentimental ballads ("Lorena" etc.) that had special resonance in the south -- Florence Kopleff and Thomas Pyle are the solo singers, working with the National Gallery Orchestra and the Lutheran Church of the Reformation Cantata Choir, all under conductor Richard Bales. This album was considered a prime collector's item for many years, and was reissued on CD by Sony Music Special Products in a handsome box, with its artwork and booklet intact in 1991, in the wake of the success of Ken Burns' Civil War series on PBS and the latter's accompanying soundtrack. It does offer the variety of sounds and settings of the latter, or the touching and intimate moments, but it is still a wonderful collection of historical music of great import and melodic allure and, in some quarters (even in 2010), contextual appeal. ~ Bruce Eder