Charles Ives: Symphony No. 2, ”The Gong on the Hook and Ladder,” ”Tone Roads No. 1,” ”Hymn (Largo Cantabile),” ”Hallowe`en,” ”Central Park in the Dark,” ”The Unanswered Question” (New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, cond.; Deutsche Grammophon). Ives: ”Three Places in New England,” Set of Four Ragtime Dances, Set for Theatre Orchestra and other orchestral works (Orchestra New England, James Sinclair, cond.; Koch International Classics).
Released shortly before Leonard Bernstein`s death, DG`s all-Ives release now becomes an affecting, singularly appropriate memorial.
Bernstein gave the belated world premiere in 1951 with the New York Philharmonic and went on to champion a great deal of Ives` other music.
His ”live” 1987 performance of the astonishing Second Symphony, a great stew of Americana served up in the symphonic mold of Brahms and Bruckner, thus benefits from the conductor`s deep understanding and special affection for the works of this great Yankee original.
The addition of several shorter, more experimental Ives pieces makes for a generously filled and uncommonly attractive release of seminal American music.
Koch`s program of small-orchestra Ives also merits attention.
It combines several recording premieres (including the jaunty, Joplinesque ”Set of Four Ragtime Dances” and Postlude in F, Ives` first orchestral work) with performances of the well-known ”Three Places in New England” and shorter works based on the Ives Society critical editions.
James Sinclair manages to catch the modern-visionary as well as romantic- naive sides of Ives` esthetic while clarifying the dense textures.
(Reviewed on CD.)
