Ives: An American Journey

Thomas Hampson - Ives: An American Journey

Ives: An American Journey
List Price: $8.99
Our Price: $5.99
You Save: $3.00 (33%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $4.00 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Listen soundtracks from this album


(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

CD Details

Artist: Thomas Hampson
Composer: Charles Ives
Conductor: Michael Tilson Thomas
Orchestra: San Francisco Symphony and Chorus
Edition: Music CD
Format: Live
CD Release Date: 2002-02-05
Music Label: RCA Victor / BMG
Soundtracks:
  1. From The Steeples And The Mountains
  2. The Things Our Fathers Loved
  3. The Pond (Remembrance)
  4. Memories
  5. Charlie Rutlage
  6. The Circus Band
  7. The "St. Gaudens" In Boston Common
  8. Putnam's Camp
  9. The Housatonic At Stockbridge
  10. In Flanders Fields
  11. They Are There!
  12. Tom Sails Away
  13. Fugue From Symphony No. 4
  14. Psalm 100
  15. Serenity
  16. General William Booth Enters Into Heaven
  17. The Unanswered Question

Music reviews of Ives: An American Journey

Music Review: A Superb Collection
Rating: 5 Stars

This is a fascinating overview over the range and variety of the by all means unconventional music of Charles Ives. It's perhaps no surprise that Michael Tilson Thomas should prove such an excellent advocate of it, but he does and if any reader should for some reason be unfamiliar with the music of Ives I cannot think of a better place to start than this disc (unless you really want to start with the symphonies). The selection of works mixes the familiar with the unfamiliar and digs out some treasures, and everything is given committed performances and excellent sound quality.

Among the more familiar items, Three Places in New England is perhaps particularly convincingly done, as colorful and moving as I've ever heard it (and using a chorus in the third movement, which is the only right thing to do) - but here competition is pretty steep as well (e.g. Dohnanyi); something similar can be said for the haunting The Unanswered Question. As for the other, less well-known music, it is sure to provide insights into Ives's compositional outlook (as well as enjoyment in itself). The selection here makes it very apparent, for instance, how big a role childhood nostalgia and reminiscences from his youth played as a foundation for his music - almost all the pieces here incorporate elements from or reminiscences of musical impressions from various stages of Ives's life (reworked and arranged into Ives's strikingly original idiom).

The disc opens with From the Steeples and the Mountains, a purely avantgarde soundscape from 1901, scored for brass and bells and sounding more like a 1960s experiment in sonorities than anything else, were it not for the obvious Americana at its very core. It launches the almost painfully nostalgic `The Things our Fathers Loved' for tenor and piano (where Hampson might sound, possibly, a little self-conscious), the glittering choral and orchestral `The Pond' juxtaposed with the humorous and kaleidoscopically colorful Memories and the hilariously over-the-top cowboy song `Charlie Rutlage'.

A particularly impressive item is `The Circus Band', where - for once - the performance (and not the least the recording) really manages to capture the dazzling array of details and minute color shifts and nuances. I've already mentioned `Three Places', and these are effectively contrasted with the bleaker reminiscences of war starting with an effective rendition of `In Flanders Fields'. `They are There' pulls another typical Ives trick - catchy and effective but leaving you with a feeling of something much more profound (not only because of the text, I think). `Tom sails away' might not be Ives's best song, but it proves an extremely effective contrast with the stirring Fugue from his Fourth Symphony.

Ives's original and effective psalm settings are represented here by a very fine performance of Psalm 100. The striking solo song Serenity is also a notable item, and there is perhaps a possible objection to this recording that such a deceptively unspectacular gem is in danger of floating by unnoticed given the spectacle of the surrounding music (appreciating it requires a certain change of gears on the part of the listener). `General William Booth enters into heaven' for chorus, baritone solo and orchestra belongs among the more familiar items, and it receives a strong performance here - and not the least a superb recording which truly manages to realize the dizzying power and spectacle of that piece, and the familiar `The Unanswered Question' provides an effective, open conclusion.

In short, this is a well-planned and well executed, comprehensive survey of Ives's music, always in excellent performances and generally superb sound. This is, then, a thoroughly recommended disc, perhaps even a classic.
More Ives: An American Journey free music reviews:
1 2

Description of Ives: An American Journey

All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.

Classical CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Classical CDs
Winterscapes ImageWinterscapes
by London Philharmonic
Prophetic Voice; Published: 2000-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.75
Price in other shops: $6.99
The Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebee ImageThe Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebee
by Dini Petty
Children's Group; Published: 2001-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.38
Price in other shops: $13.98
Beethoven Lives Upstairs Cdr ImageClassical Kids - Beethoven Lives Upstairs Cdr
Release date: 2000-04-05; Music CD
Best price: $24.98
Tchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos)) ImageTchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos))
by Malcolm Sinclair, Jeremy Siepmann
Naxos; Published: 2003-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $35.99
Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS] ImageJose Carreras - Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS]
Sling Shot; Release date: 2000-04-18; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $5.86
Price in other shops: $9.99
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS] ImageTchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-09-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.89
Price in other shops: $29.95
Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS] ImageRambert Dance Company - Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-10-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $14.99
Price in other shops: $29.95
Winter Music: Composing the North ImageWinter Music: Composing the North
by John Luther Adams
Wesleyan; Published: 2004-11-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $21.90
Price in other shops: $25.95
Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] ImagePuccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $6.38
Price in other shops: $29.95
Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] ImageVerdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops: $29.95
Similar CDs
Ives: Four Sonatas ImageHilary Hahn, Valentina Lisitsa - Ives: Four Sonatas
Release date: 2011-10-11; Music CD
Best price: $10.36
Price in other shops: $18.98
Olivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time ImageOlivier Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time
MESSIAEN,O.; Release date: 1989-08-11; Music CD
Best price: $6.41
Price in other shops: $8.99
Bruckner: 9 Symphonies [Box Set] ImageBruckner: 9 Symphonies [Box Set]
Release date: 2008-11-18; Music CD
Best price: $22.30
Price in other shops: $32.98
Ives: Concord Sonata; Barber: Piano Sonata ImageIves: Concord Sonata; Barber: Piano Sonata
Release date: 2004-09-14; Music CD
Best price: $13.92
Price in other shops: $21.98
Copland: The Populist ImageMichael Tilson Thomas, San Francisco Symphony Aaron Copland - Copland: The Populist
Release date: 2010-07-26; Music CD
Best price: $5.89
Price in other shops: $11.98
Ives Plays Ives The Complete Recordings of Charles Ives at the Piano, 1933-1943 ImageIves Plays Ives The Complete Recordings of Charles Ives at the Piano, 1933-1943
Release date: 2006-04-01; Music CD
Best price: $13.99
Price in other shops: $17.98
Ives: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4 / Hymns ImageIves: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4 / Hymns
Release date: 1991-03-22; Music CD
Best price: $4.53
Price in other shops: $7.99
Charles Ives: Symphony No. 2 / The Gong on the Hook & Ladder, or Firemen's Parade on Main Street / Tone Roads No. 1 / Hymn: Largo Cantabile, for String Orchestra / Hallowe'en / Central Park in the Dark / The Unanswered Question ImageCharles Ives: Symphony No. 2 / The Gong on the Hook & Ladder, or Firemen's Parade on Main Street / Tone Roads No. 1 / Hymn: Largo Cantabile, for String Orchestra / Hallowe'en / Central Park in the Dark / The Unanswered Question
Release date: 1990-07-24; Music CD
Best price: $34.99
Ives: Holidays Symphony ImageIves: Holidays Symphony
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $4.53
Price in other shops: $7.99
Ives: The Symphonies / Orchestral Sets 1 & 2 ImageIves: The Symphonies / Orchestral Sets 1 & 2
VON DOHNANYI,CHRIST; Release date: 2001-03-13; Music CD
Best price: $10.73
Price in other shops: $17.98
Books | DVD Video | VHS Video | Health and Personal Care | Digital Cameras and Photo | Kitchen and Housewares | Tools and Hardware | Sports Equipment | Dresses shirts shoes apparel pants
Copyright © 2004-2007 music-hills.com
Google
 
Web music-hills.com
Compare prices and find music notes for more than one million Music CD titles