Bernard Chasan ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>John Parker mentions:
>
>>Charles Ives' Universe Symphony, a work he left unfinished, but composer
>>Larry Austin produced a version which has been recorded by the Cincinnati
>>Philharmonia Orchestra and is on the Centaur label, CRC 2205.
>
>I have been meaning to bring this work up for discussion for a long time.
>The work is interesting and visionary, but to my ears, it does not sound
>much like anything else Ives wrote.  This is in contrast to performing
>versions of unfinished works of Mahler Elgar and Schubert, which, despite
>various problems, sound like Mahler and Elgar and Schubert.  Of course it
>may be that Ives was going in a new direction.  Still, it is worth asking
>how much of this work is due to Ives, and how much to Austin.  Does anybody
>know?

I have seen somewhere a paper (newsgroup article?) by David Porter, who
reconstructed the Emerson Concerto (which does sound like Ives), explaining
in some detail why Larry Austin completely misunderstood the material left
by Ives.

My listening to LA's work was similar to yours - didn't sound like CEI
to me either.

Deryk Barker
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