Sherrill Milnes, baritone; Seth McCoy, tenor; American Fife Ensemble; The Continental Harmony Singers; The Liberty Tree Wind Players
An evergreen for Fourth of July festivities, this reissue of music from the American Revolution restores to the catalog a classic of the original Recorded Anthology of American Music. It is a scholarly and well-programmed musical recreation of a defining moment in the nation's history, mixing propaganda songs, psalmody, fife-and-drum music, and wind band music, the four types of music most prevalent and popular at the time.
Highlights include baritone Sherrill Milnes's renditions of three propaganda songs, in particular the stirring Liberty Song, probably the most popular of these songs; tenor Seth McCoy's biting rendition of The King's Own Regulars, a wickedly comic song lampooning the British Army; William Billings's two hymns, the moving Lamentation Over Boston, commemorating the occupation of that city in 1775-1776, set to a text which paraphrases verses from Psalm 137 (By the rivers of Babylon), and Independence, an uplifting exhortation to all men, new "Americans" in particular, to answer to no king but the one true King; Abraham Wood's two hymns, the extraordinarily tender and evocative Warren, a lament for a young and courageous patriot leader who fell in the Battle of Bunker Hill; and A Hymn on Peace, which brings the disc to a joyous and rousing conclusion.
Spirited renditions of popular marches and dances of the time, played by fife-and-drum ensembles and wind bands, are generously sprinkled throughout the collection. The accompanying 40-page booklet contains extensive scholarly notes situating the music in its historical context, complete song texts, a selected bibliography and even a table of important events of the American Revolution.
The Birth of Liberty: Music of the American Revolution
| MP3/320 | $9.99 | |
| FLAC | $9.99 | |
| WAV | $9.99 | |
| CD | $15.99 |
Track Listing
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Brickmaker March
Traditional
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Lamentation Over Boston
William Billings
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March for The 3rd Regt. of Foot, Lord Amherst's
Traditional
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British Grenadiers
Traditional
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Song on Liberty
Traditional
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Buy
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General Scott's March
Traditional
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Junto Song
Traditional
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Buy
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Lovely Nancy
Traditional
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Buy
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American Vicar of Bray
Traditional
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Independence
William Billings
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Buy
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March of The 35th Regiment
Traditional
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Liberty Song
John Dickinson
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Buy
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Lady Hope's Reel
Traditional
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Buy
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Parody Upon a Well-known Liberty Song
Anonymous
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March for The 76th Regiment
Traditional
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Buy
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Warren
Abraham Wood
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Buy
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Stone Grinds All
Traditional
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Buy
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King's Own Regulars
Traditional
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Buy
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Washington's March
Traditional
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Buy
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Hymn on Peace
Abraham Wood
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Buy
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