Search - Various :: Charles Ives: Songs, Vol. 1

Ives's Songs from A to Z

Robin Friedman | Washington, D.C. United States | 07/04/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What could be a better way of celebrating the Fourth of July than watching a parade, seeing the fireworks, and listening to songs of the great American composer Charles Ives? Ives (1874-1954) wrote over 200 songs of great variety throughout his compositional career. The songs range in style from German lieder to American parlor music to some of the most wildly dissonant and original works Ives composed. Alternatively sentimental, romantic, quirky, patriotic, religious, or philosophical, Ives's songs capture in short compass the welter of his achievement as a composer.



This CD is the first of a new cycle of Ives's songs on the budget-priced Naxos label. The format of the series mirrors the audacity and creativity of the music. The songs are arranged in alphabetical order which presents them in a way which is musically random. Songs from Ives's youth are interspersed with works of his maturity. In addition the songs are performed by a collection of young singers, ranging from bass to soprano with a countertenor included for good measure. There is a similar variety of pianists and other accompanists. Thus, this recording features 13 vocalists accompanied by four different pianists, a string quartet,an organ, and a glockenspiel on 29 Ives songs beginning with the "A"s (actually with the numbers in a half-minute song called "1.2.3" and ending in the "C"s with an Ives Lullaby, the "Cradle Song" of 1919. It is a raucous, thoroughly enjoyable mixture.



Ives set texts from a variety of authors, including on this CD, himself, his wife Harmony, Fenimore Cooper, Tennyson, Longfellow, Walter Savage Landor, Robert Lowry, members of his family, and others. The songs on this CD range from traditional hymn-like works such as "Abide with Me" (1897) and the famous setting of "At the River" (1915) to sentimental ballads including "Because of You,"(1898), to Christmas carols of 1894 and 1925,(the latter carol includes the part for the glockenspiel) to works of complex rhythm, thought and tonality and difficulty for pianist and singer, such as the setting for voice, piano and string quartet of Walter Savage Landor's poem "Aeschylus and Sophocles" (1922).



When he wished to do so, Ives could write a beautiful melodic vocal line. The songs "Allegro" (1899) and "Berceuse" on this CD are excellent examples of songs that combine lyricism with a compositional style that is distinctly Ives's own. Other songs that I enjoyed a great deal include Ives's short 1921 portrait of "Ann Street" in New York, his meditative song "The Sea" of 1921, the reflective "Autumn" of 1907 which sets a text of his wife's, the tale of the cowboy Charlie Rutlage (1920), and Ives's setting of three stanzas of Longellow's poem "The Children's Hour" (1912) The Fourth of July parade I saw today came to life in Ives's early song, "The Circus Band" (1894) with its flamboyant piano writing and joyous marchlike melody and text(written by Ives himself.)



The CD was recorded at Yale University and all of the many performers seem to have some affiliation with the Yale School of Music. The CD includes good program notes but no song texts. The texts are available online. This is a rambunctious, free-spirited, and collage-like introduction to Ives's songs. I think the composer would have loved it. I am looking forward to the next volume in the series.



Robin Friedman"

A Budget-Price Ives songs! Well, it's about time!

Dace Gisclard | Houston, TX | 07/02/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Yes, it's about time that a bargain-price complete recorded survey of the Ives songs was undertaken. Within my lifetime, these works have passed from being considered lunatic fringe to beloved classics of the genre, now constantly assigned to young singers in university programs. The bargain price will make this series especially attractive to students, selling, as it does for less than half the price of the Sharp series. I applaud NAXOS' policy of presenting the songs alphabetically--this makes for great variety of idiom on the disc, and Ives' stylistic range within these songs is VERY wide, from conventionally tonal, to wildly dissonant. It's also a good idea to share these songs among 12 young singers. Again, this makes for lots of variety and all of these young singers are, at the very least, adequate--most of the much more than that--not a dud in the bunch! I withheld the last of the five stars because although these performances are excellent, they can't efface memories of more experienced artists in this repertoire--de Gaetani, Boatwright, Fischer-Dieskau (yes!), etc. Some of the performances sound a little careful and academic, although certainly not unacceptable. Also, because Ives' idiom has now become so familiar, there is a tendency to "smooth over" and "normalize" some of the rhythimic quirkiness, rather than allowing it to assert itself (i.e., the ending of "At the River"). The pianists, too, are first-rate--their task was not an easy one. It's a challenge to figure out where to find the fingers to play some of Ives' more unconventional writing, or how to interpret his notation. The solutions here are entirely convincing--I know from personal experience just what they're going through! At any rate, this is a most satisfying disc and an auspicious beginning for this series. I look forward to the rest of it eagerly. If you have found Ives "tough sledding" in the past, the songs are a terrific introduction. The stylistic range is VERY wide, so there's bound to be something everyone will like--who knows, you might find yourself enjoying the more surrealistic songs as well--the songs as a whole are excellent "ear stretchers!" Strongly recommended."