Customer Reviews

Ives: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4; Central Park in the Dark [Hybrid SACD]

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Litton is in sympathy with the progressive nature of Ives's First Symphony and makes the work sound both more polished and less conservative than in past recordings by Gould, Ormandy, and Tilson Thomas. (I haven't yet heard the recent Sinclair recording on Naxos.) This extroverted and confident performance of a student piece modeled on Brahms and his contemporaries makes the most of Ives's unusual modulations and melodic surprises. Litton actually makes this symphony sound like a better piece than it does in the earlier recordings. The new critical edition was used in this performance. One of the most obvious changes listeners familiar with the older edition will hear is the rowdy percussion in the finale's coda.

Litton responds just as naturally to the more rarified philosophy and technical challenges of the Fourth Symphony. This is an excellent performance that stands with the best. However, this is a work that should be heard from different perspectives. Some listeners may feel more sympathy with the hotly transcendent Tilson Thomas performance, and the old Stokowski is still a must-hear. But Litton, too, is a must-hear that finds the mystery of this complex work.

Hyperion's SACD surround-sound is far and away the best recording these two works have received to date. The sound stage is well-defined and has realistic space around it. The sound has bloom and warmth, yet the incredibly dense layers of the 4th Symphony's second movement are still clearly defined. The audiences from these live performances were extremely quiet and well-behaved and do not intrude at all.