Ives

MTT, leading American champion of Ives’ work, states: “At its core, the music of Charles Ives is an expression of the heart and soul of America. The complexity of Ives’ rhythmic and harmonic ideas was very much ahead of his time, and, even as he was often labeled eccentric by his peers, he created a uniquely American sound. My aim with this album is to reveal the true essence of Ives’ music in order to allow the audience to see America through his eyes.”

During a period of his career that would feature some notable collaborations with luminaries such as Paul Bley, Bill Frisell, Elvin Jones, and Barre Phillips, John Surman also produced Road to Saint Ives, a gentle, introspective, yet adventurous solo work. The entire album is a one-man effort, from the composition to all of the instrumentation, with Surman building strata of sound over keyboard and percussion structures using bass clarinet and the soprano and bass saxophones he is known for. The resulting work communicates a unique vision and mood, unsullied by the conflicting interpretations of other performers.
The album centers around a portrait of the landscape and spirit of Cornwall, taking more than a few bits of inspiration from British folk music, but remaining firmly perched in the jazz tradition…

Sideshow - Songs Of Charles Ives (2001) {CRI BlueShift CD2000}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 212 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 120 Mb
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© 2001 CRI / BlueShift | CD 2000
Jazz / Classical / Third Stream / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Classical

CRI (Composers Recordings Inc., a non-profit, composer-directed American new music label) introduced their "blueshift" imprint in 2001 with this unique merging of jazz and the music of Charles Ives. The recording itself, however, was made in November, 1988 at Tedesco Studios in New Jersey and engineered by Jon Rosenberg, produced by Matt Moran and Adam Good (the vibraphone player and the guitarist, respectively, on the recording). The other musicians are John Hollenbeck (drums and other percussion) and Oscar Noriega (alto saxophone and bass clarinet).

Charles Ives - Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4 / Central Park in the Dark
Dallas Symphony Orchestra / Andrew Litton
SACD ISO (2.0/MCH): 3,90 GB | 24B/88,2kHz Stereo FLAC: 1,24 GB | Full Artwork | 5% Recovery Info
Label/Cat#: Hyperion # SACDA67540 | Country/Year: UK 2006
Genre: Classical | Style: Modernism

…Both works get excellent readings from Andrew Litton and the Dallas Orchestra. A clear baton, which is essential for this complex music, guides the listener through this very complex works. The sound is top-notch. Very clear, spacious and captures ideally the tonal intricacies of these rewarding works.

Ives tried repeatedly to find a violinist with whom he could play his sonatas, but all such attempts ended in a fiasco. Ives remarked sarcastically about a rehearsal of the Violin Sonata #1 with a German violinist: "The 'Professor' came in and, after a lot of big talk, started to play the first movement of the First Sonata. He didn't even get through the first page. He was all bothered with the rhythms and the notes, and got mad. He said 'This cannot be played. It is awful. It is not music, it makes no sense.' He couldn't get it even after I'd played it over for him several times. I remember he came out of the little back music room with his hands over his ears, and said, 'When you get awfully indigestible food in your stomach that distresses you, you can get rid of it, but I cannot get those horrible sounds out of my ears.'"

from ECM booklet

It seems that Ives derived a lot of pleasure from composing the four violin sonatas written during his mature period of creativity. In general, he wrote most of the "prose" for the piano and most of the "poetry" for the violin. This was one way of resolving the problems that existed in the interaction between the piano and violin. He composed in a lyrical manner, making full use of the violin's natural properties. It seems he developed an entire concept for the uniting of the two instruments. All sections of all of his sonatas, except those in the third, only give tempo indication.

from BVHaast booklet

Of the two large piano sonatas composed by Charles Ives, No. 2 (’the Concord Sonata’) is by far the best-known, overshadowing its sibling. The First Piano Sonata is comparably ambitious, however, and with a playing time of more than 40 minutes, similarly expansive. Like many works by Ives it had a long gestation period, beginning in 1901 with additions and revisions being made well into the 1920s. In contrast to the Concord, Ives didn’t provide the work with an explicit programme, but wrote that it was ‘mostly about the outdoor life in Connecticut villages in the 1880s and 90s.’ This can to an extent explain the various borrowings from hymns, but New York City, where Ives was living, has also left a clear mark with a liberal use of ragtime rhythms.