Ives: Songs, Vol. 1

"It is taking a long time for singers and the public to appreciate the full extent and importance of Ives' output of songs. Not as large as Schubert maybe, but still a major achievement. The title alone of the main published source-"114 Songs" (1922)-gives an idea of its scope but there are in fact nearly 200 songs in all. Surprisingly, however, this appears to be the first attempt to record the completed songs in their entirety and, whatever shortcomings there may be in its realisation, this series must be an issue of major importance for anyone with an interest in Ives or indeed in song or in American music in general.

Previous recordings of the songs have usually involved a single singer. A small number of songs have found their way onto many of these discs. Of those on the present discs, "General William Booth enters into Heaven", "The Greatest Man", "The Circus Band" and "Ann Street" are amongst this group. What is remarkable is the number of what are to me at least wholly unfamiliar. It may at first seem arbitrary for Naxos to have put the songs into alphabetical order, and indeed it does lead to some strange companions, but the alternatives of arranging them by author, theme or date would run a much greater risk of monotony. On the whole I have no doubt that Naxos have chosen the better option. It means that we hear early songs strongly rooted in American domestic and social music of the late nineteenth century alongside songs completed towards the end of his active composing life; the latter are of a drastically different character. This may be disconcerting at times but constantly draws attention to the Ives' range as a composer.

Although all were recorded at Yale University, Naxos have divided the songs between a large group of singers and pianists, mainly young Americans. They have even made use of an organ and a string quartet in three instances. Overall the listener can have no doubt of the seriousness with which the project has been undertaken. Each disc has a brief but helpful introduction to each song as well as much longer biographies and photographs of the performers.

All of this is immensely praiseworthy… for the many novelties which they include, and for the way in which they demonstrate the range and quality of Ives' songs."
--Review by John Sheppard, MusicWeb International, December 17, 2008

"Naxos has completed the welcome task of recording all the 114 songs that Charles Ives completed. I've been an Ives devotee for more than 45 years, and some of these songs have eluded me until now…His songs present the most immediate access to his work as a composer, and this project offers an essential contribution to an appreciation of his art.

Two things are particularly appealing about this first volume. First is the ordering of songs in alphabetical succession, unlike the Albany set that presented the songs in roughly chronological sequence. This first volume offers 29 songs, from '1, 2, 3' to 'Cradle Song'. Early songs in 19th Century German style, both sentimental and more provocative settings of religious texts, and settings of quirky texts by the composer along with the odd and experimental are all shuffled together rather than arranged in order of composition. The juxtaposition of the songs is striking and sometimes startling, with the lyrical followed by the percussive followed by the dissonant, etc. The randomness of this ordering seems perfectly appropriate to the way Ives captured the disparate aspects of American life so creatively in his music.

Second is the variety of artists, many of whom have been associated with Yale University. Four pianists, one organist, a string quartet, and an uncredited glockenspielist accompany 13 singers. Almost all of the artists are of a high caliber. An adventurous touch is having a countertenor sing two of the songs. Patrick Carfizzi has fun singing 'Charlie Rutlage' in a cowboy drawl. Sara Jakubiak is particularly good in a fine setting of Lyte's familiar hymn text 'Abide with Me', and David Pittsinger brings appropriate sentiment to the 1898 parlor song 'Because of You'. My one disappointment is Leah Wool, who has a fine voice but whose singing lacks affect; she sounds too wooden in the four songs she sings, especially in 'The Children's Hour', where she fails to capture the magic in Longfellow's vision of an adult enraptured with children.

Hearing the songs sung by such a variety of voices enhances the uniqueness and distinctness of each song without turning it into a singing contest…this first Naxos volume gives you a full range of his songs. I can hardly wait for the next one. All the songs in this project were recorded in Sprague Hall at Yale in May and June 2005. As I was researching this review I discovered a Yale University podcast that gives remembrances of Ives through interviews with his contemporaries, including 20th Century composers Elliott Carter, Henry Cowell, and Lou Harrison, and a friend of "Charlie" who also knew George Ives, the composer's band-director father. The best portion is at the very conclusion of the half-hour program when you get to hear Ives hollering out a song while banging away on a poor piano. It's a real hoot. You can find it at http://www.yale. edu/music/podcast/.

The recorded sound is excellent. Clear and concise notes by Richard Whitehouse take up just over two pages, while notes about the artists get eight pages. In the customary Naxos style no texts are supplied, but are available on their web site. Here is a wonderful way to encounter this kaleidoscopic, iconoclastic, inventive, and trail-blazing American composer."
--Review by R Moore, American Record Guide November/December 2008

When, in 1922, Charles Ives published a volume entitled 114 Songs, he was likely drawing attention to the fact that the genre had played a central part in his output. 85 years on and, for all that his wider reputation may now rest on his orchestral, chamber and piano music, it is the songs that represent the heart of his creative thinking. Nor was that initial volume at all comprehensive; Ives having written almost two hundred songs, of which this present edition includes all of those he completed. The expressive variety encountered is accordingly vast: indeed, the gradual evolution of Ives's songwriting, from those that draw overtly on the Austro- German Lieder and English parlour-song traditions to ones that evince an anarchic humour as keenly as others do a profound vision, is surely analogous to the wider evolution of American music over the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.