Search - Charles Ives, Simeon Butler Marsh, Lowell Mason :: Ives: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4/Hymns

Overwhelming

Lawrence Rapchak | Whiting, IN United States | 06/25/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am baffled by the review of this disc from November 2003; can we be listening to the same performance?



To put it mildly, Tilson-Thomas' Ives Fourth Symphony is a MAJOR accomplishment in the way in which it documents this maddeningly complex and unfathomable work---and after 37 years of familiarity with it (I sat through every rehearsal and performance by Michael Charry and the Cleveland Orchestra in October, 1971), I have never recognized the truly profound quality of this music until hearing the CSO/Tilson-Thomas recording.



MTT absolutely grasps the structure, phrasing and pacing of the Ives Fourth. The effect of the distant violin/harp "star" music in the opening is beautifully realized, as is is amost every other detail of the movement. The outlandish second movement is captured in all of its phantasmagoric glory; MTT follows Ives' rather quick tempos throughout, and once again lays out the structure and detail of the music with total logic and clarity---not to mention amazingly VIVID character!



But it is in the FINALE that Tilson-Thomas acheives something quite extraordinary. Most conductors (including Ozawa in his brisk and uninvolving reading) don't seem to have a CLUE as to the true mystical, solemn and otherwordly nature of this movement. I was encouraged upon discovering that MTT's finale timing is 10:30 (as compared to Ozawa's 8:00 and Dohnanyi's 8:38), but I could not have been prepared for the overwhelming effect of the movement in its emotional effect. Who could possibly imagine that the raucous, radical, iconoclastic music of Charles Ives might actually hover in the same rarified sphere as the great spiritual works of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart? Preposterous, you say? Don't speak too soon......



And as the magical layers of sound (starting at 7:28)---ethereal strings, gently tolling bells, gently intoned hymns--- gradually coalesce into a glorious chorale-like cadence (at 8:09 ~ FINALLY a conductor who understands and appreciates this sublime moment), the chorus enters...

again, PERFECTLY emerging from the texture, and ultimately floating into some vast, radiant expanse...with the eternal percussion procession, the distant "star" music and the final choral echos drifting into infinity.



Yes, I realize my attempts to describe this music sound cliched....but you simply will not BELIEVE the total effect of this great, visionary work in the hands of a conductor who really understands it.



Minor gripes: the secondary (orchestral) piano is a bit too distant most of the time, and the abundance of high, divisi writing for the violins, which should create a transparent, etheral effect, is simply too bright and obtrusive throughout(the CSO strings during this period were always in danger of being overpowered by the great brass section, which delivers the chorales here with a power and grandeur unlike any other recording I have heard).



I admire the Ozawa recording, since the recording, especially in the second movement--it is as CLEAN, detailed, and brilliantly balanced as could possibly be imagined. In THAT respect, Ozawa really excelled. But the sense of awe, mystery and the otherworldly which Ives, despite his inherently clumsy and rather "raw" compositional technique, still managed to achieve in this music is almost entirely absent from Ozawa's--and every other performance I have heard--- compared with this one. If you have ANY interest in exploring the enigmatic genius of Charles Ives, get this CD.

"

The Fourth alone is worth many times the price.

Noise | Madison, WI and Urbana, IL, USA | 02/20/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This disc includes Ives' first and last symphonies, plus a smattering of hymns quoted in the latter work. The First is a fine performance of a fine if conventional work. The Fourth, however, is another matter - one of the most moving things I have ever heard.



The opening 'Prelude' is mysterious, its offstage strings otherworldly as they should be; the 'Comedy' is inspired, zany, bombastic, humorous, careening, chaotic, and glorious; the Fugue is appropriately solemn and crisply phrased, but warm and deeply felt. But the Finale eclipses all that has gone before it, building from its subterranean percussion opening and reminiscences of the Prelude in a long-breathed, inexorable crescendo to an incredible conclusion. The entrance of the trombones is like the heavens opening up; the return of the choir is like being bodily caught up into paradise. When we have this, who needs Mahler 2?



Another reviewer here has opined that MTT is a poor Ives conductor, and expresses a preference for Ozawa's and Stokowski's performances of the Fourth. I've not heard Stokie, but I have heard Ozawa, and I fail to hear what that reviewer hears. Compared to Ozawa's square, relatively straight-laced take, MTT is looser, wilder, freer, more energetic, more emotional, and ultimately more impactful.



Finally, the inclusion of the hymns on this CD is a nice bonus, very helpful to grasping this protean work. Add in the low, low price, and you have a no-brainer."