This selection of 17 Charles Ives' songs are not done too badly here, nor are they the best on record. The faster-tempo songs such as Ann Street, Memories, and 1, 2, 3 are a bit limpid and underpowered in Graham's reading, and it sounds like pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard gets his fingers stuck in the keys here and there. But the softer, slower pieces such as A Farewell to Land and The Things Our Fathers Loved are pretty good. Older singers such as Helen Boatwright and the late Jan de Gaetani have set the bar very high for ...
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This selection of 17 Charles Ives' songs are not done too badly here, nor are they the best on record. The faster-tempo songs such as Ann Street, Memories, and 1, 2, 3 are a bit limpid and underpowered in Graham's reading, and it sounds like pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard gets his fingers stuck in the keys here and there. But the softer, slower pieces such as A Farewell to Land and The Things Our Fathers Loved are pretty good. Older singers such as Helen Boatwright and the late Jan de Gaetani have set the bar very high for sopranos in this literature; theirs is a tough act to follow. Yet if you are not familiar with the Ives songs, this is a pretty good selection with which to start.But the main focus of this package is Pierre-Laurent Aimard's reading of Ives' Sonata No. 2: Concord, Mass., 1840-60. Aimard's recording is clearly the one of choice for those who have heard the Concord and can't figure out what makes it the "Great American Piano Sonata." Aimard delivers a dreamy, crystalline performance of...
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