Charles Ives, U.S. Composer (1874 - 1954)

My "students" (I hope that no-one who attends my classes will mind my referring to them as such) were largely unaware of the music of Charles Ives when I mentioned Ives' Concord Sonata last week. So, here are some links referent to Charles Ives to introduce one of the greatest and most original 20th-Century composers....

"Wiki is your friend": Charles Ives in Wikipedia.

This is a Youtube link to Ives' The Unanswered Question. Ideally, this piece is played in an auditorium. Instruments are distributed around the auditorium. The trumpet is far in the back and up on a balcony. The effect is haunting, 3-D, beautiful.

The Concord Sonata:

First Movement: Emerson [you can listen on Youtube, Part 1, Part 2]
Second Movement: Hawthorne [Youtube, complete movement]
Third Movement: The Alcotts [Youtube, complete movement]
Fourth Movement: Thoreau [Youtube, complete movement]

These Youtube recordings are by John Kirkpatrick, who knew Ives, and gave the first performances of the Concord Sonata.

Ives' songs: The River; In Flanders Fields; The Circus Band.

For tuned pianos: 3 Quarter-Tone Pieces: 1, Largo; 2, Allegro
; 3, Chorale. The sonic textures are delicious; though I always like dissonance, and I have always loved what Ives did with it....

This is from Ives' Second Symphony; Movement 3, Adagio Cantabile. From Ives' Fourth Symphony, IV. Finale, Very slowly, largo maestoso.

Ives' songs are among my favorite "art songs", and his symphonic works are remarkable. His musical experiments still upset people, even after, in some cases, more than a century has passed since their composition.