Ives, C: The Housatonic at Stockbridge

"Sebastian Gottschick’s adaptations of Ives’ songs and short instrumental pieces in this sense not only pay homage to the composer but develop his work further. The multifaceted ensemble and the instrumentation Gottschick chose allow him to be highly differentiated in his approach to the specific Ives sound that oscillates between crude realism and symbolist fragmentation: he either deliberately avoids this sound (for instance by using a vibraphone in Grantchester) or he pushes it to the point of prismatic refraction. Apart from this, Gottschick’s selection proceeds in a continuous, multi-perspective order that can be interpreted as a drama en miniature, a model of an ordinary day from the snatches of dreams in the morning to the falling night, and finally also as the epitome of the diversity of life itself. Behind all that the power and intangible nature of memories, Ives’ lifelong theme, becomes visible and audible." Wolfgang Rathert

Charles Ives composed nearly 200 songs throughout his life. Wiley Hitchcock, in the thorough introduction to his 2004 critical edition 129 Songs, described the Ives song canon as “the contents of a kind of scrapbook or commonplace book or chapbook, or even a desk drawer. Into such a receptacle Ives tossed irregularly, if not casually, his reactions —in the form of songs—to memories, personalities, places, events, discoveries, ideas, visions, and fantasies in his life.” Whether popular tale or personal reflection, this concept of the songs as memorabilia is realized in a most powerful way: the songs emotionally and viscerally evoke memory.

This new recording of 27 songs features superlative performances by soprano Susan Narucki, renowned for her authoritative interpretations of contemporary American music, and Donald Berman, whose recordings of Ives’s piano music have been critically acclaimed.

In Summer 2007, invited by Kent Nagano to the Munich Opera Festival, singer Theo Bleckmann met the group Kneebody to create a new song cycle from works by Charles Ives.Twelve compositions for voice and piano/ensemble/orchestra, written by this significant American composer at the start of the 20th century, were to be reworked. Ives characteristically combines the folk voice of America with classical forms and traditions from Europe. Everyday American music, quotes from marches, hymns and dances are brought into play, but he doesn't write music to please: instead, he uses contrasting elements and sonic irritations to create an image of America that sketches the inner character of this New World society after the War of Independence. Extensive re-workings by Theo Bleckmann and Kneebody put Ives' music in a context alongside elements of jazz, electronics and improvisation. The singer Theo Bleckmann is part of a close circle of Winter & Winter artists who have collaborated since 2004 on Der Kastanienball; since then have come Las Vegas Rhapsody, Berlin, and now Twelve Songs by Charles Ives: a homage to an exceptional composer.

Charles Ives wrote almost two hundred songs. Although his reputation rests on orchestral, chamber and piano music, it is Ives's songs that represent the heart of his creative thinking.

The expressive variety encountered is accordingly vast: indeed, the gradual evolution of Ives’s songwriting is analogous to the wider evolution of American music during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

This new edition includes all the songs that Ives completed. The alphabetic approach ensures that each volume (of which this disc is the first of six) contains a representative cross-section.