Customer Reviews

Ives: Symphony No. 4 / Three Places in New England / Central Park in the Dark

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I disagree with the previous reviewer. Ives' wild 4th deserves better treatment than this. Ozawa is known for making bad recordings with great orchestras and this disc is no exception. This was the first version I owned of Ives' 4th and I liked it enough to buy a second recording. Michael Tilson-Thomas' reading with the CSO is miles better than this, the detail, especially in the 2nd and 4th movements (the most rhythmically complex and difficult to conduct and perform) is brought out to a wonderful degree. Ozawa simply buries a lot of this. Furthermore, Ozawa does not bring out the American folk tunes and hymns that Ives so cunningly weaves into the overall fabric of this eclectic work. Tilson-Thomas does all of this AND manages to make the 4 movements cohere symphonically, something that not many conductors of this piece can do. Ozawa just flounders, frankly.

I've heard alot of readings of Ives's 4th, and each has it's merits. I personally prefer Ozawa's account over the Michael Tilson Thomas release. ALthough I enjoy MTT's version very much (and it is a reference recording no doubt) I also feel MTT is alittle too controlling or too articulated for Ives...his account is more "user friendly" than other accounts.

Ozawa, on the other hand, is a more mystical reading. With Ozawa, Ives is more than "americana"...Ives is a transcendentalist above all and this recording reflects this aspect of Ives more than other accounts.

This is fantastic music -- amazing that Ives composed it from 1903 to 1916, as it utilizes high/low juxtapositions, pastiche and "sampling" that would become important only in the postmodern art of the '70s and after! "Three Places" was recorded in 1970, and the 4th Symphony and "Central Park" in 1976. DG's remastering is superb, and the sound is all you could want.

I see it as unfortunate that Ives' image is that of quaint Americana. While he marched to his own drummer, and allied himself with self-identified "ultramodernists" only because they were the only ones to champion him, Ives' vision was truly a modern one, and his music should have a place of honor alongside the more influential Second Vienna School. While he personally was a product of small town New England, his music was anything but -- at least not the music on this disc!

"Symphony No. 4" is a masterpiece, from the mystical prelude, to the infamous second movement's wild dissonance and pandemonium, to a somber fugue, and finally a chorus with tolling bells in the truly transcendental finale. I can't yet compare this to other recordings, but Ozawa and Boston are magnificent!