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July 31, 2006

More updates to the "Survey of Recordings" pages:

• The Violin Sonatas
  [several recordings]
• Songs
  [several recordings]
• Choral works
  [several recordings]
• Symphony No. 2
  ["The President's Own" US Marine Corp Band's arrangement of two movements from Symphony No. 2]
• Symphony No. 3
  [Ormandy]
• Symphony No. 4
  [Adams]
• The Holidays Symphony
  [a superb recording by Wolf-Dieter Hauschild]
• Orchestral Set No. 1: Three Places in New England
  [Ormandy's second recording for RCA and Swierczewski]
• The Robert Browning Overture
  [Swierczewski]
• Other Orchestral
  ["Calcium Light Night" performed at festival of Soviet Avant-Garde music]
• "The Unanswered Question"
  [Gielen and Swierczewski]
• "Central Park in the Dark"
  [Gielen, Swierczewski, and Hauschild]

January 23, 2006

More updates to the "Survey of Recordings" pages:

• The Second Piano Sonata, Concord
  [Three outstanding recordings: Longobardi, Gottlieb, and Kontarsky]
• The First Piano Sonata
  [Coleman]
• The Universe Symphony
  [Reinhard's realization]
• Ingo Metzmacher's "Portrait of Charles Ives" CD
  [Songs, Set for Theatre Orchestra, Sets for Small Orchestra]
• Songs
  [Herford (volume 1 on Unicorn-Kanchana), Evelyn Lear & Thomas Stewart, and Gerald Finley]
• Piano Trio
  [Beaux Arts Trio]
• String Quartets
  [Walden String Quartet]

I have also updated the News page.

January 19 , 2006

I've updated the following "Survey of Recording" pages with new reviews:

• First Symphony
  [Farberman and the New Philharmonia Orchestra]
• Second Symphony
  [Farberman / New Philharmonia Orchestra & Adler / Vienna Philharmonia Orchestra]
• Orchestral Set No. 1: Three Places in New England
  [Hendl / American Recording Society Orchestra & Gould / Chicago Symphony Orchestra (movement ii only)]
• Songs
  [Boatwright and Kirkpatrick; Puffer and Tenney (Vols. 1 and 2); two sopranos with the Continuum Ensemble; and Cleo Laine]
• The Second Piano Sonata, Concord
  [Donna Coleman]
• Violin Sonatas
  [Szigeti's first recording of the Fourth Sonata]
• Other Chamber and Other Piano
  [Chamber works and piano works included on the Continuum Ensemble release & Cherkassky's recording of the Three-Page Sonata]

May 4, 2005

A few more updates:

• I have added a new page to the site called Essays and Ruminations. For now, the page includes a short essay that I've written titled "Perfectly Sensible Pandemonium."
  
  
• I've reviewed a recording by Michael Stern and the Saarbrücken RSO of the Symphony No. 2 and the Universe Symphony (Austin realization).
  
  
• I added hyperlinks for all of the couplings on the Survey of Recordings pages. Now you can read about all of the works on a given recording much more easily.

May 2, 2005

I've updated the following "Survey of Recording" pages:

• Second Symphony
  [Sinclair and the Yale SO]
• Third Symphony
  [Ormandy and the Phildelphia Orchestra (RCA)]
• Holidays Symphony
  [Gielen and the Stuttgart RSO]
• Choral music
  [Several new reviews]
• Songs
  [Several new reviews]
• Sets for Small Orchestra
  [Farberman and the Boston Chamber Ensemble]
• Piano Sonata No. 1
  [William Masselos' RCA recording]
• Piano Sonata No. 2, "Concord"
  [Three new reviews: Hamelin (on Hyperion), Ramadori, and Trythall]
• Piano Trio
  [Monticello Trio]
• Emerson Concerto
  [Sinclair and the NSO of Ireland]

I also have updated the News page.

June 1, 2004

The following "Survey of Recordings" pages have been updated:

• String Quartets
  [New reviews of Leipzig SQ and Lydian SQ recordings]
• Violin Sonatas
  [New review of ECM disc]
• Piano Trio
  [New review of an old Columbia LP]
• Other Chamber works
  [Several updates]
• Piano Sonata No. 2, "Concord"
  [New reviews of Aimard and Lubimov recordings]
• Songs
  [Several updates / new reviews, including the Susan Graham recital with Aimard]
• Choral music
  [Several updates / new reviews]
• Ten Essential Ives Recordings
  [A couple more minor changes]

November 12, 2003

I've now completed commentary for all major Ives works! Check out my most recent thoughts, dedicated to Ives' Choral works.

You may also want to take a look at the following updated "Survey of Recordings" pages:

• "The Unanswered Question"
  [Several new reviews, with MTT's RCA recording moving to the top of the stack]
  
• Symphony No. 1
  [Gould and Sinclair reviewed]
  
• Organ Works
  [Four discs reviewed]
• Choral Works
  [Several discs/LPs reviewed, including some out-of-print classics]
• Variations on "America" (Schuman orchestration)
  [Ormandy comes out on top]
• Orchestral Set No. 1: "Three Places in New England"
  [Litton's Dorian disc reviewed]
• Songs
  [New review of the Albany "Complete Recordings," Vol 4 and Helen Boatwright's Columbia songs on the CEI 100th Anniversary Box]
• Set for Theatre Orchestra
• [Farberman, as usual, is so-so.]
• Other Orchestral
  [Sinclair's "Old Songs Deranged" LP is a blast]
• Overture to Orchestral Set No. 3
  [Porter's realization/reconstruction doesn't quite take flight]
• Ten Essential Ives Recordings
  [A couple minor changes]

I updated the News and Performances pages again. The big news is the Charles Ives Focus! Festival hosted by the Juilliard School, NYC in January 2004.

Last but not least: another reminder about our Charles Ives online discussion group. If you're interested in chatting with others who are interested in Ives' music, go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/charlesives.

October 27, 2003

I updated the News and Performances pages.

I completed the survey of recordings page for the String Quartets. (In a nutshell, the Juilliard and Concord SQs take top honors.)

September 1, 2003

I added the following links to the web site:

• To view a streaming video performance of the Piano Trio and selected movements of the Violin Sonatas by members of the ensemble Triple Helix, go to: http://streams.wgbh.org/forum/forum.php?lecture_id=1193 . (The program also includes a not-so-terribly exciting lecture on Emerson & transcendentalism.)
  
  
• An article from the Artsong Update web site called "Charles Ives: An American Original"
  
  
• The Danbury Museum & Historical Society web site, with information about CEI and his birthplace
  
  
• The "American Mavericks" web site; it includes a great deal of CEI content

The Performance calendar and Ives News page has been updated again.

I added notes about the String Quartet No. 1, From the Salvation Army and String Quartet No. 2. I also updated the information on the Songs page.

I wrote a capsule review of Ingo Metzmacher's Robert Browning Overture recording, which appears to be no longer in available. (My assessment? It goes right to the top of the heap.)

I also wrote down my impressions of the jazz quartet called Sideshow and their recording of jazz adaptations of Ives' songs. (My assessment? Fascinating idea. Not a fascinating record.)

August 28, 2003

Today's updates:

• Join an online chat about Ives and his music! I've started a Yahoo discussion group. Check it out:
  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/charlesives/ (To join the conversation, you'll have to register as a Yahoo user.)
  
  
• The Ives News page has been updated. Check out my capsule review of the new recording of Ives' Third Symphony and other works, performed by James Sinclair and the Northern Sinfonia (Naxos).
  
  
• The Performance calendar has been updated.

February 4, 2003

Today's updates:

• The Ives News page has been updated. Check out the new recordings and other CEI news.
  
  
• Many of the Survey of Recordings pages have been updated. For example, see the First Piano Sonata page.
  
  
• The Performance calendar has been updated. Of special note: The New York Philharmonic Ives "mini-festival" in May 2004.
  
  
• I added a link to the Charles Ives Society web site on my home page.