Complete Songs 5

Complete Songs 5

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Review This is Volume 5 of Naxos's Ives Songs. I reviewed Volume 1 in Fanfare 32:2 and have not yet heard the others. Continuing its alphabetical progression (so you can find a song when you want to), Naxos now goes from Paracelsus to Swimmers, suggesting that there will be one more CD. This will certainly be the most complete set of Ives songs ever recorded; not only do additional ones continue to become available, but Naxos includes some with more complex accompaniments than just a piano: A Son of a Gambolier (a riotously funny 1895 song with a fascinating piano line) backs tenor MacPherson with a piano, violin, piccolo, two trombones, and four kazoos. Such additions make this set indispensable for Ives fans. I am also listening to a new CD of Ives songs sung by Susan Narucki, which raises the question of a single interpreter vs. this large group. Multiple voices can be useful, not only to deal with the content of each song but also to vary the listening experience. A four-CD Albany set featured two sopranos, a tenor, and a baritone, each with her or his own pianist; it seemed an ideal solution. On the other hand, communication between singer and audience is heightened by extended exposure--that's why we have song recitals. This becomes the overriding factor in this Naxos set: each song presents a new interpreter, a new voice; many more pass by before he or she returns. I cannot get comfortable with any singer, cannot enter into her version of Ives's world. The presentation of all the songs becomes an end in itself, as if this were a final report on a conference. Considering the provenance of these discs, that may be the case: all were recorded in 2005 at New Haven's Sprague Hall, and (almost?) all the artists have some connection--former student, current or former teacher--to the Yale School of Music or the University, the center of Ives scholarship. The matter of performance quality is of course primary; in the review of Volume 1, I attempted to evaluate each artist, but that proved to be impractical, as each varied over the course of several songs. Many of the singers, and all the pianists, are the same in this volume. There is no longer a gap between the men and women, as the latter now sing their fair share of the better songs. Mezzo-soprano Wool's Qu'il m'irait bien is marvelous, as are tenor Tarver's Rosenzweige, countertenor Howell's Serenity, and bass Pittsinger's Slow March. But some quavery voices and dubious pitches are also sprinkled throughout the disc. The constant shifts keep me from formulating a coherent view. While most of the accompaniments are satisfactory, they often have a sense of routine, that the artists are presenting the score rather than interpreting the music. The recorded sound is clear and well balanced between soloist and accompaniment. There are a few inconsistencies between the credits on the back cover and those inside the booklet. Remembrance is accompanied not only by the piano but also by a flute, which is nowhere credited. Texts are not printed, but may be accessed on Naxos's Web site. Inconsistent is the appropriate word for this disc. -- Fanfare Archive, James H. North, May/June 2009 Product Description When, in 1922, Charles Ives published a volume entitled 114 Songs, he was indirectly drawing attention to the fact that the genre played a central part in his output. 85 years on and, for all that his wider reputation may rest on orchestral, chamber and piano music, songs represent the heart of his creative thinking. Nor was that initial volume comprehensive; Ives having written nearly 200 songs, of which this edition includes all those he completed. The expressive variety is vast: indeed, the gradual evolution of Ives's songwriting, from those drawing on Austro-German Lieder and English parlor-song traditions to ones that evince anarchic humor as keenly as others do profound vision, is analogous to the evolution of American music over the last quarter of the nineteenth and first quarter of the twentieth centuries. Although it would be possible to collate Ives's songs according to type, the alphabetic approach adopted by this edition ensures each volume (of which this disc is the fifth) contains a representative cross-section of his achievement. A wide range of poets is set, including a number of (mainly early) German settings as well as forays into French and Italian writers. The temporal distance (1887-1926) traversed by these songs is as little compared to their stylistic diversity or their emotional range.
ASIN: B001F1YBRQ
VSKU: AOV.B001F1YBRQ.G
Condition: Good
Author/Artist:Charles Ives|David Bircher|Rob Gardner|Lielle Berman|Michael Cavalieri|Kelli Kathman|J.J. Penna|Ian Howell|Mary Phillips|Jennifer Casey Cabot|Kenneth Tarver|Ryan Johnstone|Ryan MacPherson|Cary Parker|Douglas Dickson|David Pittsinger|Janna Baty|Jooyeon Kong|Frederick Teardo|Eric Trudel|Laura Garritson|Patrick Carfizzi|Tamara Mumford|Leah Wool|Sara Jakubiak|Sumi Kittelberger
Binding: Audio cd
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