Charles Ives: The Sonatas For Violin And Piano

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com essential recording
Ives's music ranges from the conservatively tonal to the wildly experimental. The four violin sonatas contain examples of both types, as well as those typically Ivesian collage pieces in which every New England hymn and march tune known to mankind gets thrown together in sort of a musical tossed salad. They also range wildly in length, from the 11 minute Fourth Sonata, subtitled Children's Day at the Camp Meeting (a haunting meditation on Protestant hymn tunes related to the Third Symphony) to the 30-minute-long Third Sonata. Altogether, they represent the most distinguished contribution to this particular genre by an American composer, and they are sensationally performed and recorded here. A classic set. --David Hurwitz

Tracks:

Prelude A L'Apres-Midi D'un Faune - Alexander Rahbari
Walzer - Peter Hill
I. Andante-Scherzo - Rebecca Hirsch
Sehr Ruhig Und Zart - Ulster Orchestra
Lebhaft Und Zart Bewegt - Ulster Orchestra
Sehr Langsam Und Ausserst Zart - Ulster Orchestra
Fliessend, Ausserst Zart - Ulster Orchestra
Sehr Fliessend - Ulster Orchestra
Forlane: Allegretto - Klara Kormendi
First Tableau: The Shrove-Tide Fair - Philharmonia Orchestra
The Mountebank - Philharmonia Orchestra
Vivo - Bournemouth Sinfonietta
III. Moderato Pesante - Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Hymn To St. Cecilia - Choir Of St. John's College, Cambridge
IV. Allegretto - Ondrej Lenard
Introduzione: Andante Non Troppo-Allegro Vivace - Alexander Rahbari

Tracks:

Romance - Czecho-Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra (Kosice)
II. Allegro - Ladislav Slovak
III. Allegro Agitato - Stephen Gunzenhauser
Main Theme From Schindler's List - Paul Bateman
The Unanswered Question - Northern Sinfonia
Second Electonic Interpolation (Conclusion) - Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Third Electronic Interpolation (Beginning) - Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra
I. Liturgie De Cristal - Amici Ensemble
IV. Commentaire - Idil Biret
Warming Up, Leading To Model 1, Bass - Gregory Rose
'Gott Nochmal' Sun God - Gregory Rose
'Vishnu' God Of Storms - Gregory Rose
God Of The Earth - Gregory Rose
First Interlude - Boris Berman
I. - Roger Heaton
Short Ride In A Fast Machine - Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
The Lord's Prayer - Choir Of St. John's College, Cambridge
II. Lento E Largo-Tranquillissimo - Zofia Kilanowicz
Lullaby - Philharmonia Orchestra
Vision Of The Hunt I - Philharmonia Orchestra
Voice For Solo Flute - Robert Aitken

Customer Reviews:

excellent overview of contemporaneous classic music.......2007-03-22

excellent overview of contemporaneous classic music.

Should be continued, plenty more 20th-century composers to be discovered.

For the price you can't lose.......2007-02-21

This 2 cd set consists of, as the title indicates, various 20c pieces or movements from the Naxos catalog. Sound quality is uniformly high, although for some such as Stockhausen's it's not clear if that's good or bad. What is excellent is the variety of the collection--some familiar (Debussy), others not, some pretty, others intentionally weird. Few will find every piece to his or her taste, but many listeners who do not spend much time on 20c music will find something to like. Overall, a great introduction to a period of much off-putting, yes, but also much compelling music.

Average customer rating:

Possibly the best available ..... but ...
Some of the best music I've ever heard
No bad apples in this bunch!
How to Listen to an American Quilt
My 2004 New Year's resolution was to review this CD...

Ives: Violin Sonatas Nos. 1-4

Manufacturer: Naxos American
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music

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Similar Items:

Charles Ives: Three Quarter-Tone Pieces; Five Take-offs; Hallowe'en; Sunrise
Ives: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4/Hymns
Ives: The Symphonies / Orchestral Sets 1 & 2
Ives: Concord Sonata; Songs
Ives: Holidays Symphony

ASIN: B00008MLVJ
Release Date: 2003-06-17

Tracks:

Andante - Allegro Vivace
Largo Cantabile
Allegro
Autumn
In The Barn
The Revival
Verse 1 (Adagio) - Verse 2 (Andante) - Verse 3 (Allegretto) - Refrain (Adagio)
Allegro
Adagio
Allegro
Largo
Allegro

Customer Reviews:

Possibly the best available ..... but ..........2005-04-02

These are possibly the best available of these fantastic violin sonatas, although I haven't heard Fulkerson/Shannon. I do believe however that these performances lack the deep understanding of Druian/Simms, especially in regard to evenness of tempi and expressiveness - I get the feeling of assertiveness without conviction - e.g. in the last movement of the #3 - I realize there is a certain element of prejudice associated with judging a new performance against an accustomed one - but I sure do wish the Druian/Simms had been transferred to CD.

Some of the best music I've ever heard.......2005-01-27

Ives wrote a great deal of experimental music, exploring more compositional techniques and ideas than any other composer of the 20th century. In that sense alone he is a remarkable figure, but too much emphasis on that perspective risks diminishing the great beauty of his music. He combined innovation almost to the point of iconoclasm with the unabashed sentiment of the 19th century.

When I listen to Ives, any American music I think of, and I'm reminded of quite a bit of music when I listen to him, whether it's Coltrane, Copland or Cobain, I hear it in Ives, as if somehow all American music after him was already contained in his work, like a seed.

Although I was already very familiar with Ives' music when I got this CD, I was more impressed with these pieces than anything I've heard since I first heard Stravinskys' "Petrushka" at the age of 16.

No bad apples in this bunch!.......2004-05-25

Sometimes comparing a composer's works is like comparing apples and oranges. A big orchestral work is a very different kind of fruit than a small chamber piece. So when a composer returns several times to the same medium, it makes it easier to get an assessment of the composer's thought process and personality. In the case of Charles Ives, these four sonatas for violin and piano offer that kind of unique possibility to observe the composer's strategy at work. Ives stands unique among composers of his generation for his attempt to meld high art goals with vernacular music. Not *folk* music, mind you, but vernacular music: marching band tunes, popular ditties like "Turkey in the Straw," Stephen Foster songs, and especially the rich realm of Protestant hymnody. Ives mixes these vernacular sources together and distills a potent moonshine all his own from the mash. I've loved these four pieces for over 30 years, ever since Paul Zukovsky and Gilbert Kalish recorded them for Nonesuch around the Ives Centennial in 1974. The performances here are every bit as fine as the Zukovsky/Kalish set, and all on one disc at a bargain price! If you find the Ives orchestral works loud and messy, and can't quite warm up to the Concord Sonata (keep trying: it's worth the effort), you may find that these Violin Sonatas will help you understand what the fuss is all about: they just could be the finest works the composer wrote.

How to Listen to an American Quilt.......2004-01-25

Charles Ives - Violin Sonatas

I undertake this review with some trepidation, as all of the previous reviews are quite thorough and thoughtful, and I'm not sure how much I have to add. But two of the other reviewers want me to chime in as well...so here it goes.

Ives is without a doubt the quintessential American composer. Though the composer was highly trained, there exists an air of the autodidact about him, perhaps influenced by his famously eccentric and experimental father George. Ives received a fairly traditional education with Horatio Parker at Yale, but even there he was unable to keep his experimental tendencies in check. (When asked to write a graduation fugue, Ives wrote it in four keys!) However, as experimental as Ives gets, he is still grounded in the American musical tradition as exemplified by Parker and his kind. All one has to do is study the harmonic language of these Violin Sonatas to see this.

The Violin Sonatas span the years 1904 to 1916, but are perhaps the most consistent musical statements in his output. The language is fairly conservative for Ives, though not as conservative as the first two symphonies. You do not find the wild collages of the Fourth Symphony or the biting dissonances of the Concord Sonata in this set. Rather, these are fascinating works that are a typical Ivesian crazy quilt of hymn tunes, popular melody, almost parlor-song harmony, and impressionistic use of dissonances that is highly beguiling and in the case of some of the slow movements, deeply moving.

Each of the four sonatas has a fairly traditional three-movement structure. Sonatas 1 and 4 are fast-slow-fast sonatas while the middle two sonatas surround a fast movement with two more contemplative movements. The materials of all the sonatas are fairly tonal. The real radical nature of these works is in the structure of the movements themselves. As has been said before, Ives uses an original procedure of "cumulative form". Snippets of melody weave in and out of the texture without making a full blown thematic statement. These melodic snippets sound vaguely familiar but are manipulated enough so that they aren't totally recognizable until the end of the movement, when the source theme is stated, often very simply. The effect is climatic and deeply moving and greatly enhanced if you know the source material. For instance, the second movement of the 4th sonata (Children's Day at the Camp Meeting) weaves around a melody that has a hint of nostalgia to it. At the end it finally coalesces into the familiar children's hymn Jesus Loves Me. The effect is more moving than I ever believed that sappy hymn could be.

Shockingly, these beautiful sonatas inspired venom among those to first listen and perform them. (After a musician berated Ives over the first sonata, he uttered his famous self-question, "Are my ears on wrong?"...the inspiration, incidentally, for my own Amazon nickname...weird ears.) These sonatas are wonderfully nostalgic works. Listening to them gives you the feeling of catching a glimpse of a lost world, Victorian America with its parlor songs, camp meetings, and vigorous popular musical culture. Listening to the Ives Sonatas is like hearing that world again, but through the prism of memory and dream. The themes waft in and out, not in the organic way that a typically Germanic sonata would, but rather in a freely associative manner. So the way to appreciate these works is to follow the form in much the same way, letting your attention flow from moment to moment until Ives brings it all together in his cumulative themes. It also helps if you have some familiarity with turn of the century Protestant hymnody, as almost all these works are based on camp meeting hymns such as Watchman Tell Us of the Night, Land of Rest, and Beulah Land. Also, a bit of familiarity with fiddle tunes and 19th century popular tunes is also helpful. However, even without this knowledge these are magical and very powerful works and repay repeated listening. They are also perhaps the best place to begin for Ives novices. They have a truly Ivesian feeling without the forbidding dissonances of some of his thornier works.

Performances on this CD are really excellent. Curt Thompson is a promising young violinist with a full, pleasing tone, and a handle on the distinctively American sound these sonatas need, and he is expertly supported by Rodney Waters. Naxos is to be credited for bringing these works out as part of their Ives cycle. They were long overdue for a complete recording.

My 2004 New Year's resolution was to review this CD..........2004-01-02

...and make it my first review of the new year.

This superb Naxos CD of the four Violin Sonatas by Charles Ives might well have been reviewed months ago by me, had it not been for one small matter. Every time I'd set out to listen to the CD, I'd get as far as the Largo cantabile (2nd) movement of the 1st Violin Sonata, only to stop and play it again. And again.

Then, a few times, I actually got as far as the 3rd movement of this work, only to hear the strains of "Watchman, Tell Us of the Night," the Lowell Mason hymn, little known these days but used to such superb effect by Ives, years later, in the opening "Prelude: Maestoso" movement of his culminating masterpiece, the 4th Symphony. There I was, stuck with the same problem: Couldn't go further; simply had to listen again. And again.

Needless to say, I finally managed to solve the problem. But it took both a conscious effort to listen to the sonatas in reverse order AND a New Year's resolution as well.

There is little that I can add to the two excellent previous reviews. Scott Morrison and Robin Friedman pretty much touched all the bases: Ives's use of "cumulative form" (a developmental "working toward a summing up" of each movement, by introducing thematic fragments which, only by the end of the movement, come together to present the full theme), his inveterate borrowing of vernacular and hymnic materials, and the total parity between the two instrumentalists. (Probably never before, and never since, have such sonatas been written where the piano part is so equally matched, both thematically and technically, to the violin part. Calling these works "violin sonatas" does an injustice to the violinist's equal partner!)

Ives was not, himself, a violinist, although his father, George Edward Ives, had been a pretty good fiddler, and I'm sure that there's more than a fair bit of sentimental tribute by Charlie to George in these works. What Ives certainly did, in these sonatas, was to "introduce a distinctly American style of violin playing [...], namely paraphrases of fiddle music" and [he] "associated the violin with spiritual exaltation and with hymn singing." (These quotations are the words of Nancy Mandel, violinist and wife and co-collaborator with Alan Mandel in performing Ives's chamber works, written nearly three decades ago for an Ives centennial symposium, "On Performing the Violin Sonatas." They're certainly better than any words I could think up for this review occasion.)

Every bit of this stylistic description by Nancy Mandel comes through in these works: Scattered throughout the total of twelve movements spread over the four sonatas, one will in fact hear idiomatic fiddling - including ragtime and country and barn dances - and spiritually exalted hymnic phrasing. And, though the four works cover more than a decade of Ives's composing career, there is not an expected sense that the later works are in any way more complex than the earlier ones; almost the exact opposite occurs, in which the later two sonatas are considerably more accessible than the two earlier ones: Ives, in his "Memos," describes the later two works as "...a kind of slump backward."

While I'm not necessarily buying into Ives's self-criticism, his observation perhaps in part explains why it is that the 1st Sonata grabs me in the gut the way that it does. The work looks back to the classical tradition, with its Lisztian piano writing in the Largo cantabile movement, at the same time that it looks forward in this movement, with some eerily gorgeous violin double-stop writing that sounds to these ears as if Ives is writing in true quarter tones. This Largo cantabile movement is simply magic. And then comes the cumulative-form thematic development toward "Watchman..." in the concluding movement: spiritual exaltation indeed! Is it any wonder that I had difficulty moving past this sonata, and on to the others?

Like Scott Morrison, I remember the much earlier Rafael Druian/John Simms LPs. Unfortunately, unlike Scott, I just barely remember them. And I'm unfamiliar with the Gregory Fulkerson/Robert Shannon CDs. So, at the same time that I am rediscovering (and loving) the sonatas, I am hearing Curt Thompson and Rodney Waters for the first time.

These young instrumentalists are simply superb. Thompson gets into the dance-like episodes with true "fiddling" style, and simply soars in the hymnic passages. Waters handles the very difficult piano part with aplomb, and is every bit the equal partner to Thompson (as he needs to be, given how Ives wrote the virtuosic piano parts). I may or may not be missing anything by not having either the Druian/Simms LPs or the Fulkerson/Shannon CDs. But Naxos - once again, as it has demonstrated in the past with its Ives contributions to its "American Classics" series - need not apologize to anyone for these performances. Moreover, unlike Fulkerson/Shannon on the full-price Bridge label, where the sonatas are spread too generously over two CDs, here they fit without a problem onto a single budget CD.

I have a collection of scores in my library, admittedly small and mostly orchestral, covering those works near and dear to me. My SECOND resolution of the New Year is to track down the score for at least the 1st Violin Sonata (if only to see how Ives wrote the violin part for the Largo cantabile movement, particularly for the quarter-tone double stops), and preferably the scores for all four. This is not only "canonical Ives"; these sonatas are among the finest 20th century works in the genre.

And, looking back over all of 2003, I think that the single classical work that received the most playing time by me was this Ives 1st Violin Sonata. What a supremely sublime piece of music it is! It's strange to find myself using this as an "excuse" for such a long delay in writing this review. But there you have it.

Bob Zeidler

Charles Ives: The Sonatas For Violin And Piano

Average customer rating:

Memo to Bridge:
Great performances, wasteful packaging
ragging
A great set, endlessly fascinating and entertaining.

Charles Ives: The Sonatas For Violin And Piano

Manufacturer: Bridge
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000003GII
Release Date: 1993-09-11

Tracks:

Son No.1: Andante
Son No.1: Largo Cantabile
Son No.1: Allegro
Son No.2: Autumn
Son No.2: In The Barn
Son No.2:The Revival
Son No.3: Adagio/Andante/Allegretto/Adagio
Son No.3: Allegro
Son No.3: Adagio Cantabile
Son No.4: Allegro
Son No.4: Largo
Son No.4: Allegro

Amazon.com essential recording

Ives's music ranges from the conservatively tonal to the wildly experimental. The four violin sonatas contain examples of both types, as well as those typically Ivesian collage pieces in which every New England hymn and march tune known to mankind gets thrown together in sort of a musical tossed salad. They also range wildly in length, from the 11 minute Fourth Sonata, subtitled Children's Day at the Camp Meeting (a haunting meditation on Protestant hymn tunes related to the Third Symphony) to the 30-minute-long Third Sonata. Altogether, they represent the most distinguished contribution to this particular genre by an American composer, and they are sensationally performed and recorded here. A classic set. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Memo to Bridge:.......2005-08-18

Dear Sirs:

These CDs have the wonderful music of one of America's, nay, the world's, most important composers, Charles Ives, played beautifully by Fulkerson and Shannon.

Okay, I can understand why you issued two CDs instead of one; the total music runs just over 79', making it a tight squeeze onto one CD. You wouldn't want to cut anything.

But $34 for 79' of music, as wonderful as it may be? Get real. Have you heard of a label called Vox? A label that puts two-CD packages together for about $12? Or how about Naxos, that magnificant bargain classical label, which has the same recordings on one disc for $7?

Sorry, Bridge, but I won't spend what amounts to about a week's worth of groceries on two music CDs, as good as they are.

Great performances, wasteful packaging.......2005-05-22

I agree with everything positive said by the other reviewers about this set. This is some of my favorite music by Ives, and it is beautifully performed here by Fulkerson and Shannon. My complaint stems from the fact that both CDs put together only come out to 79 minutes and 42 seconds, which means the whole set could have, and should have, been put on one CD instead of two. And no, it is NOT two CDs for the "price of one," as one reviewer has stated. When was the last time YOU spent $34 for one CD?? Still, it is a great set. Save your pennies and get it if you like Ives and/or violin sonatas.

ragging.......2001-11-04

An excellent recording with ample notes on the source material. This is some of the prettiest music in the twentieth century repertoire. Ives often reworked material, his own and others, and was fond of deconstructing hymns and patriotic songs. Sometimes, he just wants to rag.
I like the Second and Third Sonatas the best, but I suspect that Charley would have preferred the Fourth (called "Children's Day at Camp Meeting"). The camp meetings were as important to his musical formation as his dad's marching bands. Not a practicing Christian myself, nevertheless I find it impossible to refrain from joining in on "Jesus Loves Me" or "Shall We Gather at the River." It never was this nice at Sunday school.
Ives reworked much of this material into his symphonies and more "challenging" works. These sonatas are an excellent introduction to Ives; better yet, they are a wonderful introduction to classical music.

A great set, endlessly fascinating and entertaining........2000-03-02

This is simply great music. Ives moves in the blink of an eye from traditional ditties to crashing dissonances, and somehow it all works. Don't assume that the 3d and 4th Sonatas are somehow more "advanced" than the 1st and 2d--they're not. Right from the start of the 1st, this music keeps moving in surprising and delightful ways. Worth many many listens. For the price of one disc, you get two great discs containing what may be the greatest cycle of Sonatas for Violin and Piano of the century. And by the way--these Sonatas of Ives resist the shorthand, "Violin Sonata," more than any I can think of. The writing for the piano is equally compelling to that of the writing for violin.

Hammers & Strings: The Sonates for Violin & Piano

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Hammers & Strings: The Sonates for Violin & Piano

Manufacturer: Capstone
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000GDDOW2
Release Date: 2006-07-18

Product Description

This splendid new performance brings together the seasoned agility of Lisa Tipton on violin and technical excellence of Adrienne Kim on piano. These sonatas,each very individual,heard side by side,create an aural portrait of Ives,a complex and eccentric artist,whose body of work is as important as any 20th centuryAmerican Composer.

Sonatas & Images: 20th Century Compositions for Violin and Piano

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Sonatas & Images: 20th Century Compositions for Violin and Piano

Manufacturer: Aca Digital
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000AA4L00
Release Date: 2005-08-30

Average customer rating:

less than satisfying...

Ives: The Four Violin Sonatas

Manufacturer: Dead Line
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000DPEJ
Release Date: 1993-09-11

Customer Reviews:

less than satisfying..........2005-03-17

I'm afraid this is the least satisfying performance of these fantastic works I've heard to date. The violin sounded weak and uncertain, the piano overwhelming and a bit bombastic, and the Ives idiom seemed missing thruout.

Why oh why doesn't Philips re-release the Druian/Simms performances? So far, none have compared to those guys. OK, I haven't heard Thompson/Waters yet & am looking forward to that. And from what I heard over the web, Fulkerson/Shannon sound encouraging, if you have enough equity in your home to second-mortgage it - I also thought the Zukofsky one was OK, but again not comparable to Druian/Simms, and I gather also no longer available.

Someone needs to rattle Philips' cage on this. I don't think it takes too many letters for them to maybe re-release. I'm starting right now. Join me?

Track Listings:

Track Listings

track listings

Track Listings

Self-Titled Long-Playing Debut

Tosca (Highlights)

Timeless

Promises of the Sun [Import]

Grace [Import]

The Very Best of After 7

Tiny Bubbles

The Study of Love: French Songs and Motets for the 14th Century

Two Fisted Art [Import]

Thompson: Symphonys Nos. 2 & 3

The Three Worlds of Triloka...The Collection

Viajes Nacionales Michoacan, Que Lindo Es Michoacan, Janitzio - Rayando El Sol - Juan Colorado

Saxofones Cumbieros

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