Ives, C: General William Booth Enters into Heaven

“Litton hits his stride in the Third - an evocatively Romantic, overwhelmingly lyrical, and dangerously expansive interpretation. The result is ravishing… Hyperion's engineers have got it absolutely right.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2006 ****

“Ives's symphonies were premiered almost 50 years after they were written – practically nothing was performed when he wrote it – but against all the odds they have achieved classic status. The composer was dismissive about the First Symphony, a student work, but this is now its eighth available recording. Litton has strong climaxes in the first movement, although there's a tendency for the woodwind to get swamped by the strings and brass, and sustains an almost Mahlerian passion in the Adagio. There's a magical pianissimo at the start of Central Park inthe Dark with no evidence of the audience at all – apparently they were warned that the performance was being recorded! Each recording of the Fourth is defined by the inevitably different balance of the dense textures in the second and fourth movements. For example Litton, supported by one associate conductor, rightly has the orchestral piano prominent in the shattering second movement and in the mystical finale the voices enter with unique effect. It's good to hear a little more than usual of the offstage players both here and in the first movement.
The spacious Second Symphony takes its pervasive popular melodies and makes them symphonic – again a completely convincing performance.
The only shock is the dissonant raspberry blown as the final chord – that's what folk fiddlers did to show the evening was over.
The Third Symphony is saturated in hymn tunes and anyone familiar with earlier recordings will notice the few extra bits in the latest edition of the score. The bonus is a gutsy delivery of Becker's orchestral arrangement of the song General William Booth Enters into Heaven.
Overall these two CDs are a winning representation of the Ives symphonies with the fine Dallas Symphony consistently impressive throughout.
One might want to look back at certain historic versions of individual symphonies, but as a package this is well recorded, fastidiously presented and deservedly pre-eminent.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“…these two CDs are a winning representation of the four Ives symphonies with the fine Dallas Symphony consistently impressive throughout.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2006

“These songs, drawn from Ives's 200, can encourage at one extreme a rough declamatory style and at the other an almost voiceless intimacy.
Without in any way underplaying, Finlay is always essentially a singer – his tone and command of the singing line are a pleasure in themselves. But he also has the absolute mastery of the composer's idioms and, with Julius Drake, his fearless and totally committed pianist, the technical, virtuosic skills to realise his intentions with (amid all the quirks) complete conviction of naturalness.
This is a selection that very satisfactorily balances early and late, rumbustious and contemplative.
Several of the early German settings are included, always beautiful and always develop- ing with some touch that is entirely personal. Of a quite distinctive beauty are those like Remembrance, Berceuse, and The Housatonic at Stockbridge where voice and piano work a dreamy, misty spell. And still more characteristic are the settings of his own verses evoking memories of childhood. The 'character' songs (such as Charlie Rutlage) and the 'big' numbers (GeneralWilliam Booth Enters into Heaven) become less prominent than they commonly seem in a recital group where they are programmed as an effective tour de force. The total impression is of an astonishing individuality and, more importantly, of a completely honest, dauntless and increasingly to be valued musical identity.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“The Canadian baritone Gerald Finley has a voice of great beauty, but it's always under the control of his penetrating intelligence: he risks bending pitches for expressive effect, and he adapts his golden timbre and almost English diction to the childlike tones of The Greatest Man and the cowboy drawl of Charlie Rutlage. Julius Drake is an equally versatile pianist, adept alike in simplicity and complexity.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2005 *****

“Creative decisions have been taken about where to place Ives's songs in relation to each other, this new concept designed to illuminate our understanding of the time and place that begat them...both singers are...sympathetic and technically bulletproof” Gramophone Magazine, May 2013

“Tackling the huge Ives songbook alphabetically gives us welcome variety. Anyone seriously interested in Ives warts-and-all will want to be on board for this series.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2008

“These songs, with all their quirks and flights of fantasy, [are] among the most important of the 20th century in any language.” The Guardian