The Unknown Ives, Volume 2

Charles Ives (Performer), Berman (Composer), Drury (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Charles Ives, Drury
• Composer: Berman
• Audio CD (September 28, 2004)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: New World Records
• ASIN: B0002WZTJ8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #103,319 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #39 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Instruments > Keyboard > Piano
  • #46 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Composers > Ives, Charles

Editorial Reviews

The works on The Unknown Ives, Volume 2 include some of his best and most searching experiments: fragments, personal explorations, cerebral excursions, and works of unabashed amusement. What emerges from their juxtaposition is a sense of canon. The spectrum of pieces, from adolescence to maturity, simple to complex, illustrates the boundaries of the complete oeuvre. From fragment to complete work, gestures meld, and motivic detours begin to describe a broad musical profile of Ives the complete musician.

This recording completes the catalogue of Ives’s short, though substantial, piano compositions presented on The Unknown Ives. Honing the unpublished manuscripts has brought to light some 40 piano works, two hours of music, apart from the two major piano sonatas of Ives. Hearing them illumines a more complete picture of Ives the composer. Meeting that music on its own terms is a fitting tribute to the composer who desired to make music that had a life of its own roaring volition.

This recording includes published pieces that I have re-evaluated and revised. Many were initially edited by my teacher John Kirkpatrick (1905–1991), the American pianist, editor, and ardent champion of Ives. His meticulous efforts to identify, index, and catalogue loose manuscript sheets after Ives’s death unquestionably comprise one of the heroic achievements in twentieth-century American music. Kirkpatrick’s fastidious quest to divine playable editions of the music is a fascinating and at times problematic counterpoint to the compositions’ rough edges. But essentially, Ives’s volcanic nature and ambivalent attitudes likely served to obstruct public hearings of the music during his life; Kirkpatrick’s asserting influence brought much of that music to light, including this recording. —Donald Berman

Varied Air and Variations; Waltz-Rondo; Invention in D; Study No. 1: Allegro; Study No. 2; Storm and Distress; Study No. 11: Andante; Impression of the "St. Gaudens" in Boston Common; The Celestial Railroad; Minuetto, op. 4; Study No. 4: Allegro moderato; Study No. 5: Moderato con anima; Three Quarter-Tone Pieces for Two Pianos; Fourth Fugue (George Edward Ives); Marches 1, 2, 3, 5, 6; March in G and C; March for Piano: "The Circus Band"

Of related interest:
80378 Charles Ives—Sonata No. 2 ("Concord, Mass. 1840–1860")

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Ives, January 25, 2005

By 

James Warner (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Unknown Ives, Volume 2 (Audio CD)

Charles Ives is a composer that American's should treasure. Fortunately many do, but it is a shame that more people don't make the effort to appreciate his absolute genius. The works here are beautifully performed and the recording is excellent. Donald Berman deserves the highest praise.