MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Charles Ives - Songs Vol 2

"Herford and Bowman are adept with the rough-and-tumble of Ives's songs, where the piano is not mere accompanist but a contestant for the limelight. The three Italian landscapes, August, September and December, based on some Rosetti translations of early Italian poets, are delivered with real aplomb; the tough grandeur of Lincoln comes across well, as does the snarling indictment of politicians in Nov 2, 1920; and the atmospheric landscapes are done with stillness and calm-Grantchester (Rupert Brooke) and Afterglow, for example. Also Thoreau, with a slightly unstable spoken American accent. The Greatest Man, a boy's tribute to his father, is exactly right as a vivid portrayal." Gramophone