Soundtrack of the American Soldier – United States Army Field Band and Soldiers’ Chorus; Col. Jim R. Keene, conductor (Navona: 6297)
For generations, the story of the American Soldier has been told on film and television, and in musical theater and video games. Many of the iconic themes that composers like Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith, Michael Giacchino, and Max Steiner created will always be associated with stories such as The Great Escape, Patton, Medal of Honor, and Sergeant York - stories that capture powerful feelings of anticipation, suspense, struggle, and triumph. The album opens with a commissioned work, Brass Ceiling: The Journey of General Ann Dunwoody, honoring the life and work of General Ann Dunwoody, the first woman to achieve the rank of Four Star General. The music is meticulously crafted with latent symbolism, such as a fanfare that portrays the movement of “supply lines” like those Dunwoody oversaw when she was in charge of the Army’s logistics. The Army Field Band also performs fresh arrangements of music from the 1941 Gary Cooper classic Sergeant York, the legendary Electronic Arts video game Medal of Honor, and everything in between. Soundtrack of the American Soldier is a celebration of these stories, the storytellers who craft them, and the real-life men and women who inspire them.