John Philip Sousa was renowned as “The March King”, expressing the brash energy of an emerging United States of America in famous pieces such as The Stars and Stripes Forever! Sousa’s prolific inventiveness also saw the creation of some 28 highly entertaining Fantasies that often combined original music with arrangements of Western European works. The commemorative Assembly of the Artisans mixes light-hearted tunes with more serious hymn-like music, finishing with the “Anvil Chorus” from Verdi’s Il trovatore, while The Messiah of Nations sets a patriotic text by James Whitcomb Riley. On with the Dance is a potpourri that includes music by Meyerbeer, and Music of the Minute combines waltzes by Sousa and Jerome Kern. © Naxos