Frederick Fennell - Fennell's Recordings

Fennell's Recordings

While with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, the Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra, and various other groups, Fennell recorded many of the standards of the wind band repertoire. He became one of America's most-recorded conductors. Starting with "American Concert Band Masterpieces" in 1953, Fennell recorded over 300 compositions on 29 albums for Mercury Records. For Mercury, Fennell recorded with the Eastman-Rochester "Pops", London "Pops" (actually the London Symphony Orchestra), and free-lance groups of New York musicians. However, best known are the twenty-two of these 29 Mercury albums that were with Fennell's own Eastman Wind Ensemble. One of these albums, Lincolnshire Posy by Percy Grainger recorded in 1958, was selected by Stereo Review magazine as one of the 50 best recordings of the Centenary of the Phonograph 1877-1977. The two volume Civil War - Its Music and Its Sounds, recorded in December 1960, was a notable set of recordings also made with the Eastman Wind Ensemble, this time performing on original instruments. In 1961, Fennell received a citation and a medal from the Congressional Committee for the Centennial of the Civil War for these recordings. In 2003, the 1958 Mercury album Winds in Hi Fi was chosen by the National Recording Preservation Board for the National Recording Registry.

Nearly all of Fennell's Mercury recordings were reissued on compact disc. Fennell and the Eastman Wind Ensemble were also featured in the premiere issuance of Mercury material on compact disc. In 1986, 24 Sousa marches performed by the Eastman Wind Ensemble were released as a compact disc by Philips Records, which now owned the Mercury catalog.

Fennell made the first symphonic digital recording in the United States for Telarc with the Cleveland Symphonic Winds, on April 4–5, 1978. This recording included the two Suites for Military Band by Gustav Holst. With the Dallas Wind Symphony, Fennell recorded five programs of music by Nelhybel, Albeniz, Grainger, Bernstein and more, for Reference Recordings. Fennell also recorded for Brain, Columbia Records, Delos, King, Kosei, Ludwig, Premier Recordings, and Sine Qua Non Superba as well as the Library of Congress label.