Ives’ Concord
sonata, a four movement work lasting
over 50 minutes, is a remarkable achievement.
Originally the music was intended to
be for a series of orchestral works
celebrating the work of Ives’s favourite
writers and the work they produced in
Concord, Massachusetts during the period
1840-1860. During the 1910s he changed
track and composed this sonata which
he then had published at his own expense
in 1921. He described the work as "impressionistic
pictures of Emerson and Thoreau, a sketch
of the Alcotts and a scherzo ... [for
Hawthorne]". It is clearly a ferociously
difficult piece to play and, like much
of Ives’s work, did not easily find
a place in the repertoire. However,
this new recording, issued at the time
of the 50th anniversary of
his death, now has a fair amount of
recorded competition - there are at
least six other versions in the catalogue
plus a recent release by Pierre-Laurent
Aimard.
The first movement,
"Emerson", is the most substantial
and the most dissonant - a struggle,
although there are reflective moments.
It is followed by the "Hawthorne"
scherzo, swifter and somewhat lighter
in vein but still containing lots of
notes. After half an hour of intensely
concentrated argument "The Alcotts"
brings six minutes or so of relatively
light relief and a well-known theme
(the Hymn tune Martyn). The finale,
"Thoreau", provides a fitting
closure – intense, predominantly in
slow tempi and ultimately disappearing
into infinity. This work was new to
me but, having heard it several times
now, I find it difficult to think of
a greater 20th century piano
sonata – a modern Hammerklavier.
Further information on the work and
on those who inspired it (including
pictures) can be found using the link
below.
Link to further information
on the Concord Sonata : http://www.musicweb-international.com/Ives/WK_Piano_Sonata_2.htm
I am not familiar with
any of the recorded competition and
understand that Aimard has a special
affinity with this work. However, on
its own merits, the performance of Steven
Mayer (a former Professor of Piano at
the Manhattan School of Music) is quite
masterly. He clearly believes in the
work and is convincing at every turn.
The fill-ups and cost might well be
the deciding factors in choosing a version.
Aimard’s full price disc has Susan Graham
singing a selection of songs by Ives.
Whilst that sounds attractive, Mayer’s
super-bargain disc logically includes
two further spin-offs from the original
material for the Sonata – the Emerson
Transcription No. 1 and The Celestial
Railroad. The Varied Air and
Variations is a later work, from
the mid-1920s, presenting five variations
on an atonal theme. In the booklet,
H. Wiley Hitchcock describes this as
an "angry (if humorous) parody
of a pianist’s recital situation",
and suggests that it was written in
response to Ives’ failure to get the
Concord sonata performed (this
finally took place in 1938).
The recorded sound
is excellent and documentation well
up to standard. Recommended with great
enthusiasm – this would be a fiver very
well spent.
Patrick C Waller
see also
review by Tony Haywood
Steven Mayer (piano) 