3 September 2024 B Z

Elvis Presley belongs on the short list of artists who changed the course of popular music in the 20th century. He may not have invented rock & roll, but he was indisputably its first rock star, a singer whose charisma was tightly intertwined with his natural talent for a combination that seemed combustible, sexy, and dangerous when Presley seized the imagination of America with four successive number one singles in 1956. He spent the next two decades near the top of the charts, weathering changes in fashion, self-inflicted missteps, and comebacks as his music expanded and evolved.

On the 150th anniversary of the birth of Charles Ives - acclaimed by his champion Leonard Bernstein as the 'first great American composer', who, 'all alone in his Connecticut barn, created his own private musical revolution' - Sony Classical presents the most authoritative recording collection ever released of works by this eccentric, prophetic genius. The 5-CD box set 117 tracks 'Charles Ives - The Anniversary Edition' is a unique and provocative introduction.