Semper Luvenalis

Let’s march in style, let’s march for a while, Heaven can wait… Deze bewerking van de beginregels van Alphaville’s Forever Young zijn het perfecte motto van het album Semper Iuvenalis van de Marinierskapel van de Koninklijke Marine, een plaat gevuld met marsmuziek. Ook het meer existentiële gevolg van Alphaville’s song – met metaforen uit de militaire wereld – sluit aan bij dit programma, want de marsen mogen onbezorgd klinken, ze zijn ontstaan om het marcheren, het roeien en andere gevechtsbewegingen te coördineren. Met hun bijdrage roepen de Tamboers en Pijpers van het Corps Mariniers – nog steeds de officiële benaming – de sfeer van het strijdtoneel helemaal op.

Het 70-jarig bestaan van de kapel in 2015 valt misschien niet toevallig samen met 350 jaar Korps Mariniers. De belegen blik van Michiel A. de Ruyter – de oprichter van het Korps Mariniers – op het hoesje moet de rijke en lange traditie van beide gelieerde units onderstrepen. Met een klein aantal negentiende eeuwse werken op het programma, is de meeste muziek op dit album gecomponeerd tijdens het bestaan van de kapel. Mars 1488 werd door Eric Swiggers in 2010 speciaal voor het ensemble geschreven.

De musici – op hout en koper – worden gedirigeerd door Peter Kleine Schaars en spelen met veel bravoure deze muziek over mannen van staal. De plotselinge wisselingen in tempo worden haarfijn uitgevoerd en wat imponeert zijn de snerpende trompetinzetten, de gillende fluiten en de daverende crescendi. Aliuds bemoeienis om het geluid van de Marinierskapel vast te leggen is geslaagd.

Welcome to the 70th Anniversary of the Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy! This large, versatile symphonic wind band celebrates their Platinum Jubilee, which coincides with the 350th anniversary of the Netherlands Marine Corps. A collection of marches, the highlights of military music, shows off the band's unbeatable playing under the baton of their Musical Director Peter Kleine Schaars.

In tracks 2 and 3, the Drums and Fifes of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps pay a visit, playing traditional Royal Netherlands Navy signals, which are each taken over and developed by the full Marine Band. The massed drums and fifes sound splendid, reminding us of the importance of music in early Navies as a means of passing orders and instructions to the troops.

The booklet article by Commandant General Royal Netherlands Marine Corps R.G Oppelaar presents an interesting summary of military music, in terms of passing orders and affecting the psychological state of listeners. He also explains the choice collection of international and maritime marches of all speeds on this disc. Many of the marches are by composers and arrangers only well-known by members of the band fraternity, but some of them are heard on concert platforms. The march king, John Philip Sousa, is of course represented, not by one of his ineffably popular marches, but the cheerful 'George Washington Bicentennial March'. Jacques Offenbach is not notable in military music circles, but it is his theme in the 'United States Marine Corps Hymn', arranged by 'anon' - and a splendid tune it is too.

The sound of a large symphonic wind band (I counted 52 professional musicians from the booklet in this case) is a challenge to the recording process, with the possibility of sonically spectacular results. Alliud's use of native DSD provides realistic timbres from the wind instruments and percussion, but of course the sonics of the venue and microphone placing are important in the final capture. This recording was made at Van Ghentkazerne Korps Mariniers, Rotterdam in a venue which is rather drier than the Marine Band's previous splendid recordings (When the Swing Marches On - Schaars, Marine Band of the Royal Netherlands Navy plays Sammy Nestico). In 5.1 mode, I found a relative closeness of the trumpets and cornets in the left half of the sound stage, with clarinets, oboes and percussion in the middle, but few distinct instruments, except for the deep euphoniums on the right. This imbalance was irritating, as I kept thinking my speakers had gone out of phase, but not so. In stereo mode, however, the left to right sound stage was evenly populated with instruments, set somewhat further back in the ambience (which seemed to be more evident than in 5.1). I much preferred the stereo track, which provided a very clean rendition and notably deeper front-back perspective.

Obviously this disc is aimed square at the Band's fans in the Low Countries, although they have an international audience too. The programme is performed with panache and a wide dynamic range, and there are very good arrangements, full of colour and inventiveness. Recommended.

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