Search - Washington Men's Camerata, Thomas Beveridge :: Spirit of Freedom

The Most Tasteful Patriotic Recording Yet

07/08/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Spirit of Freedom is a fascinating patriotic recording which makes full use of the power, beauty and richness of an outstanding men's chorus. After listening to this recording you will wonder why no record company has produced a men's choral recording of these songs before. Trumpet, drum, men's chorus and other instrumentalists teem up to provide wonderfully authentic arrangements of Yankee Doodle (including all verses) and Chester (which was the founding father's choice for our National Anthem). All of the service songs are here -- and the fact that they are performed by such a wonderful men's chorus (as opposed to the mixed choruses in the Shaw and Morman Tabernacle recordings) finally gives these songs the authentic flavor they so richly deserve. In addition to these songs are the complete National Anthem (4 verses including one written by Oliver Wendell Holmes), the Navy Hymn and an absolutely stunning performance of the National Hymn ("God of Our Fathers"), which makes use of an unbelievable trumpet obligato based upon Copland's "Simple Gifts." The only weak link in the collection is an overblown arrangment of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" by the Camerata's Director. Despite the "Battle Hymn," the disk is by far the most tasteful recording of patriotic songs yet and the liner notes are a history lesson in and of themselves. After listening to the offerings by Shaw and many others, I am convinced that this is the Patriotic Recording against which all others should be measured."

The Best Patriotic Recording Ever!

05/24/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Spirit of Freedom is the definitive recording of American Patriotic songs! Nothing else compares - neither the Morman Tabernacle nor Shaw recordings even come close to this superb disc. For performance quality and repertoire - this is truly the best recording available. The "Navy Hymn," "Hail to the Cheif" and the "National Hymn" are truly amazing and are among my personal favorites. This is a disc that no American family or child should be without."

Nostalgic patriotic songs

11/20/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Great CD with all the patriotic favorites from Army, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines. My parents, in their late 60's, loved it! Lots of the songs are those that we changed the words to in elementary school and laughed about. It's great to hear the actual words. Inspires awe, love of country and God."