SACDs - Corbett, S

Liszt was the first, but pianists of later generations also journeyed through the gigantic cosmos of the Wagnerian music drama with paraphrases and transcriptions for the piano. Severin von Eckardstein has brought together the best of these on his latest SACD. The result is a fascinating look at the reception history of Wagner’s music.

Responses to Ives was conceived in 2003 by pianist Heather O'Donnell as a way to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of Charles Ives's death (May 19, 2004). She approached composers spanning a generation, known to have strong affinities for Ives and asked them to write a ‘musical reflection’ on the presence of Ives in their lives and work. O'Donnell intersperses short, and often less known, works of Ives with the contemporary composers' "responses", all of which are first recordings. The "responses" could not be more varied from each other -- from introspective to virtuostic to meditative to extended techniques. The set was premièred at the MaerzMusik Festival in Berlin in 2004 in the midst of a twelve hour extravaganza of Ives. In the months following repeat performances took place in South Africa, China, the Czech Republic, Germany and the U.S.

Includes the first recording of Ives' London Bridge is Falling Down!

Original high-resolution DSD recording.