Information
Composer: Charles Ives
- A Symphony: New England Holidays
- Central Park in the Dark
- Orchestral Set No. 1: Three Places in New England
- The Unanswered Question, for trumpet, flute quartet & strings
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Davis, conductor
Date: 2016
Label: Chandos
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The two early Ives symphonies recorded by the same team (5/15) are relatively plain sailing compared with some of these pieces, which are just as shocking as they always have been. I mean the great blasts of glorious frenzy in Central Park in the Dark (the piano melody is the 1899 song hit ‘Hello, my baby’); ‘The Fourth of July’; and the second and third movements of Three Places in New England, all written – amazingly – in the early years of the last century. The difference between the many recordings depends on which elements of an overcrowded texture are allowed to dominate. For example, Ives quotes his own Country Band March in ‘Putnam’s Camp’ – it’s first heard early on in the strings, but at the last climax, with everything else going on as well, it’s less prominent with the Melbourne performance than in some. That’s all part of the richness of the Ives experience.
Another aspect is the work editors have had to do with these scores and the trouble conductors must still take to mobilise such pieces in the first place. Andrew Davis, in a supplementary note, admits that the distant sounds in ‘Thanksgiving’ and ‘Forefathers’ Day’ were recorded separately as the only way of making them audible. The four works comprising A Symphony: New England Holidays are best performed individually but it’s a rare opportunity to have them all together here.
The Unanswered Question is quintessential Ives. The flute chorus is too loud at first and different recordings don’t agree about the final note of the trumpet solo – but that’s Ives too. Bringing all these pieces together in dedicated modern performances, with imaginative balance decisions, this disc is a welcome landmark.
-- Peter Dickinson, Gramophone
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Charles Ives (October 20, 1874 – May 19, 1954) was an American actuary, businessman, and modernist composer. He was amongst the earliest American composers to achieve recognition on a global scale. His experimentation foreshadowed many musical innovations that were later more widely adopted during the 20th century. Ives composed four numbered symphonies as well as a number of works with the word 'Symphony' in their titles. He left behind material for an unfinished Universe Symphony, which he was unable to complete after two decades. Ives also composed two string quartets and other works of chamber music.
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Andrew Davis (2 February 1944 – 20 April 2024) was an English conductor. He studied at the Royal College of Music and King's College Cambridge, and later at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Franco Ferrara. Davis was a keyboardist (piano, harpsichord and organ) for the Academy of St Martin in the Fields from 1966 to 1970. From 1975 to 1988 he was music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Davis was also music director and chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1989-2000), the Lyric Opera of Chicago (2000-21), and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (2013-19).
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Thank you Ronald Do , exellent post
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