Ives: Symphonies Nos. 2 & 3

Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Litton

'What a wonderful surprise it has been, seeing the release of the complete Ives symphonies on Hyperion. I have no doubt that Andrew Litton's cycle will serve as the reference for many years to come ... You won't hear a more insouciant account of the finale anywhere, while the second movement has a real spring to its step - its final bars are simply hilarious, less outrageous than the symphony's ending, but no less surprising in their own way ... 

The Third Symphony isn't as easy to play as it sounds, and Litton not only captures the music's flow to perfection, he gives the small wind and brass complement plenty of opportunity to shine, albeit sensitively ... Finally, the engineering is rich, clear and vibrant. A major achievement, no doubt about it' --ClassicsToday.com

'[No other version] quite probes or reveals the unique and compelling world of Ives's imagination as does this' (International Record Review)

'These performances represent all that's best about American orchestras and conductors' (MusicWeb International)

'A truly haunting effect' (BBC Music Magazine)

'Litton and the Dallas Symphony realise very well Symphony no 3...a powerful sense of community is captured - the hymn singing at camp meetings - the whole finely modulated and pointed, the second movement Scherzo being especially ear catching, and the finale ideally intense' (Fanfare, USA)

Clarke & Ives: Piano Trios

This Bekova recording was selected by Peter Dickinson in Gramophone Magazine as one of his five Critic’s Choice CDs of the Year, 2000.

"Rebecca Clarke’s Piano Trio suits the highly-strung physicality of the Bekova Sisters’ playing down to the ground."--Hilary Finch, The Times, Great Britain,July 2000

"All this comes through with complete conviction and excellent teamwork from the Bekova Sisters."--Gramophone, November 2000

The Bekova Sisters originate from Kazakhstan, were trained in Moscow and made their Western debut here just over a decade ago. Since then they have recorded most of the piano trio repertoire, especially Brahms, Franck and the Russians. This is a fascinating release because it brings their expertise into British and American territory. Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) needs less and less introduction as her handful of works gets increasingly performed. The Piano Trio (1923) is a remarkable achievement, passionate, inventive and atmospheric. Like Britten and his teacher Frank Bridge, whom she knew well, Clarke played the viola and so understood chamber music from the inside. It shows. The threemovement work is consistently fascinating in its interrelated themes across the movements including a spectral fanfare which appears at 104" and 745" in the first movement and ecstatically in the piano cadenza at 515" in the finale. Clarke's intense moods are often created by her advanced harmony, derived from
Scriabin, which she uses to qualify her soaring melodies. The result is close to Bridge but still personal.

A bonus here is the first recording of Midsummer Moon (1924), a sensuous incantation for violin and piano. And then a surprise is the Ives Piano Trio, not otherwise available in the British catalogue. The Bekovas are fully alert to his eccentric world and his stunts. The first movement has a section for cello and piano; then one for violin and piano; and then these two are combined. The title of the scherzo announces that it's a joke — a crazy mishmash of quoted tunes inimitably swung around. The finale is serious, ending mystically with Rock of Ages. All this comes through with complete conviction and excellent teamwork from the Bekova Sisters, justifying the pairing of two composers who were once neglected. Well recorded and balanced too. --Peter Dickinson, Gramophone

 

Ives: Four Sonatas

“When a star such as Hilary Hahn takes on the Ives violin-and-piano sonatas it has to be special...she and Lisitsa, accurately balanced, are completely efficient in every way. They understand the Ives idiom saturated with hymn-tunes; they swing with the best of them; and their performances are as convincing as anything on offer.” --Gramophone Magazine, November 2011

“it’s a joy to hear her playing these Ives pieces, solidly partnered by the Ukraine-born pianist Valentina Lisitsa. As she did with Schoenberg, Hahn goes out of her way to spotlight the music’s lyrical throb, driving forward urgently, sometimes at speed, always sweetening the melodic tangles with her agile bowing and tightly controlled vibrato.” --The Times, 2nd December 2011 ***

“The Third Sonata (1914) is the highlight here...It can have no finer advocate than Hahn, who invests the brief central scherzo with a drive that galvanizes its rhythmic intricacy, while bringing slow-burning intensity to those subtle 'verse and refrain' contrasts of the first movement and eloquence to the 'variations in search of a theme' finale.” --International Record Review, February 2012

Ives: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4

'Symphony no 1 is a work of youthful vigor... Litton opens the symphony in flowing style, he finds optimism in it, vitality, the freshness of a spring day...The finale is a corking movement, full of exuberance, energy, and invention. Wonderful! Litton and his splendid orchestra do it justice, not least the marching band episode toward the close...Symphony no 4 is an amazing piece that is here given a very assured performance' --Fanfare, USA

'Overall these two CDs are a winning representation of the four Ives symphonies with the Dallas Symphony consistently impressive throughout' --Gramophone

'I have no doubt that Andrew Litton's cycle will serve as the reference for many years to come. A major achievement, no doubt about it' --ClassicsToday.com

'There is an unbuttoned passion, superb clarity of execution - particularly the brass - and, above all, a communication of spirit, probably down to Litton’s passion for the music, that just sweeps you along' --MusicWeb International

MP3 320 · 168 MB

Piano Music of the Americas

'Szidon's outstanding 1970 coupling of the Gershwin and MacDowell concertos on CD at last. Add one of the finest Villa-Lobos recitals ever recorded and a devastating account of Ives's wrist-crippling "Concord" Sonata, and you're in piano heaven.' --BBC Music Magazine

'. . . this is an enticing entry into his extensive piano output . . . his command of transcendental pianism as required in Rudepoêma is never in doubt . . . Szidon's ability to make this sprawling work cohere is still impressive -- as is his uninhibited verve in the Three-Page Sonata.' --Gramophone

". . . foot-tapping vrtuosity . . ." --Classic FM

2 CD · MP3 320 · 342 MB