Charles Ives
Songs, Vol. 2

*  December
*  Disclosure
*  Down East
*  Dreams
*  Du alte Mutter
*  Du bist wie eine Blume
*  Elegie
*  The Ending Year
*  Evening
*  Evidence
*  Eyes so Dark
*  Far from my Heav'nly Home
*  Far in the Wood
*  Feldeinsamkeit
*  General William Booth Enters into Heaven
*  Grantchester
*  The Greatest Man
*  More

Various performers
Naxos 8.559270 Total time: 67:37

Summary for the Busy Executive: The things our fathers loved.

Naxos takes on yet another large project with an edition of all of
Ives's completed songs, of which this CD constitutes the second volume.
It may seem eccentric at first, but the producers have made no attempt
to "program" the songs.  Rather, they have released the songs alphabetically
by title.  Thus, volume 2 consists of those songs from "December" to
"Gruss" (volume 1, Naxos 8.559269, presents "1, 2, 3" to "Cradle Song").
However, Ives himself didn't group his songs.  He seemed to write them
whenever he found or wrote a text he wanted to set, a bit like picking
wildflowers.  Other than chronologically, alphabetically seems as good
a presentation as any.

The sheer variety of Ives's songs astonishes all by itself: Lieder,
melodies, cowboy tunes, parlor ballads, little hymns, church arias,
college songs, campaign tunes, as well as those experimental pieces
that seem to adhere most closely to our notions of Ives.  The songs
make clear, however, that Ives wrote from a veritable cornucopia of
styles, that he, like Whitman, contains multitudes.

There have been outstanding recorded recitals of this music, beginning
with Mordecai Bauman's pioneering 78s.  Although his diction could be a
bit too precise, he nevertheless sang Ives as if it were the most natural
thing in the world.  His rendition of the fate of cowpuncher "Charlie
Rutlage," along with native-born Texan Thomas Stewart's, is the finest
I've heard.  Other outstanding recorded programs dedicated to Ives include
Marni Nixon (available on EMI), Evelyn Lear and the aforementioned Thomas
Stewart, and Gregg Smith's Ives series for Columbia, which I don't believe
ever made it to CD.

Naxos has chosen to go with a battery mainly of singers at the beginning
of their careers.  All sing at a professional level, though some have
rough edges here and there and need interpretive seasoning.  Robert
Gardner stands out on "Down East," a rich interpretation sung in a dark
yet flexible baritone.  Others who sang above the old mill run include
mezzos Tamara Mumford and Leah Wool, sopranos Sara Jakubiak and Lielle
Berman, and tenor Kenneth Tarver.  Bass David Pittsinger had the bad
luck to draw "General William Booth Enters into Heaven," one of Ives's
greatest songs, and baritone Michael Cavalieri "Grantchester" (ditto).
I must say they do well, but unfortunately I've heard better.  I sense
a hitch in their communication -- that they sound like they're singing
a song, rather than enfolding the listener in a drama -- especially when
I compare them to singers like Marni Nixon and Evelyn Lear.  Still, over
all the risk Naxos has taken pays off.  The variety of voices echoes the
variety of the music.

Albany Recordings, probably under the guidance of pianist Steven Blier
(intrepid explorer of American song), has also released a four-volume
set of Ives's songs, which I haven't heard.  Singers include William
Sharp and Paul Sperry, to name only the best-known.  However, you pay
more for Albany than for Naxos.

Steve Schwartz

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