Aaron Rabushka writes:

>If you don't like the Tilson Thomas recording of Ives 4 (which I find
>thorougly enjoyable) you might want to go for Stokowski.  Avoid Farberman
>and Serebrier (on his own RCA recording) as they both make Ives sound
>ordinary.

I second Aaron's recommendation of Stokowski, though given the complexity
of this work, I doubt that ANY recording EVER could do full justice to the
music.

>I did get to here the 4th live once an Indiana University.  Everybody
>involved was thoroughly inspired and the experience was transcendental.

In the 70s I was lucky to attend a concert performance of the Ives 4th at
the University of Michigan.  It was far from perfect--the three conductors
got out of sync somewhere toward the end of the finale--but that didn't
matter.  It was still one of the most powerful experiences I've ever had
in the concert hall--right up there with hearing Horowitz play Schumann's
Kinderszenen or listening to Robert Shaw conduct Mahler's 8th in Atlanta.

Oddly, the Ives was not the last work on the program.  The orchestra
concluded with Mozart's Marriage of Figaro Overture.  Not only that,
but they went right into the overture as soon as the Ives was done, as
if it were the Symphony!'s coda!  At first I was shocked by this weird,
unexpected juxtaposition of musical styles.  Then I realized that it
probably would have made Ives himself smile.  After all, he did similar
things in his compositions--quoting Beethoven's 5th Symphony in the Concord
Sonata or incorporating all manner of found materials (classical bits, hymn
tunes, you name it) into his 2nd Symphony.

Needless to say, I'll never forget that concert.

Tom Godell                                      e-mail: [log in to unmask]
General Manager, WSIU-FM                                web: www.wsiu.org
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale