Charles Ives - New England Holidays; Three Places in New England (Andrew Davis)

Information

Composer: Charles Ives

1. A Symphony: New England Holidays: I. Washington's Birthday
2. A Symphony: New England Holidays: II. Decoration Day
3. A Symphony: New England Holidays: III. The Fourth of July
4. A Symphony: New England Holidays: IV. Thanksgiving and Forefathers' Day
5. Central Park in the Dark
6. Orchestral Set No. 1: Three Places in New England: I. The 'St. Gaudens' in Boston Common (Col. Shaw and his Colored Regiment)
7. Orchestral Set No. 1: Three Places in New England: II. Putnam’s Camp, Redding, Connecticut
8. Orchestral Set No. 1: Three Places in New England: III. The Housatonic at Stockbridge
9. The Unanswered Question, for trumpet, flute quartet & strings

Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Davis, conductor

Date: 2016
Label: Chandos
https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%205163

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Review

The two early Ives symphonies recorded by the same team (5/15) are relatively plain sailing compared with some of these pieces, which are just as shocking as they always have been. I mean the great blasts of glorious frenzy in Central Park in the Dark (the piano melody is the 1899 song hit ‘Hello, my baby’); ‘The Fourth of July’; and the second and third movements of Three Places in New England, all written – amazingly – in the early years of the last century. The difference between the many recordings depends on which elements of an overcrowded texture are allowed to dominate. For example, Ives quotes his own Country Band March in ‘Putnam’s Camp’ – it’s first heard early on in the strings, but at the last climax, with everything else going on as well, it’s less prominent with the Melbourne performance than in some. That’s all part of the richness of the Ives experience.

Another aspect is the work editors have had to do with these scores and the trouble conductors must still take to mobilise such pieces in the first place. Andrew Davis, in a supplementary note, admits that the distant sounds in ‘Thanksgiving’ and ‘Forefathers’ Day’ were recorded separately as the only way of making them audible. The four works comprising A Symphony: New England Holidays are best performed individually but it’s a rare opportunity to have them all together here.

The Unanswered Question is quintessential Ives. The flute chorus is too loud at first and different recordings don’t agree about the final note of the trumpet solo – but that’s Ives too. Bringing all these pieces together in dedicated modern performances, with imaginative balance decisions, this disc is a welcome landmark.

-- Peter Dickinson, Gramophone

More reviews:
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Jan/Ives_orchestral_v2_CHSA5163.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Feb/Ives_orchestral_v2_CHSA5163.htm
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2016/Apr/Ives_orchestral_v2_CHSA5163.htm
http://www.classical-music.com/review/sir-andrew-davies-and-melbourne-symphony-orchestra-play-ives
http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_cd_review.php?id=13430
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jan/14/ives-holidays-symphony-three-places-in-new-england-central-park-in-the-dark-etc-review-maverick-masterpieces
http://www.allmusic.com/album/charles-ives-orchestral-works-vol-2-mw0002901759

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Charles Ives (October 20, 1874 – May 19, 1954) was an American composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown.and regarded as an "American original", though his music was largely ignored during his life. He combined the American popular and church-music traditions of his youth with European art music, and was among the first composers to engage in a systematic program of experimental music, with musical techniques including polytonality, polyrhythm, tone clusters, aleatoric elements, and quarter tones, foreshadowing many musical innovations of the 20th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ives

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Andrew Davis (born 2 February 1944 in Ashridge, Hertfordshire) is a British conductor. Davis was music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (1975-1988) and chief conductor the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1989-2000). He is currently music director and principal conductor of Lyric Opera of Chicago (since 2000), and chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (since 2012). Davis has performed a wide range of repertoire, with a particular focus on contemporary British music. Davis has recorded for a number of labels, including Chandos, NMC Recordings, Teldec and Deutsche Grammophon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Davis_(conductor)

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