CHARLES IVES

Choral Works – Psalm Settings

 

Kay Johannsen - organ

SWR Vocal Ensemble Stuttgart / Marcus Creed

 

Today Charles Ives is remembered as the wildly experimental composer, who was by day a successful insurance executive, composing his visionary scores in near total neglect. The truth of the matter was that Ives was active as a practical musician and that he tried out many of his most audacious sonic experiments while he was employed as a church organist and choir director - first in his hometown of Danbury, Connecticut and later at the fashionable First Presbyterian Church in Bloomfield, New Jersey. The works on this program, composed mostly between 1894 and 1902 already explore poly-tonality (Psalm 67), complex poly-rhythms (Psalm 54), and even serialism (Psalm 24), culminating in the luminous and transcendent Psalm 90, the last piece that Ives was to complete.

 

This is a sonically thrilling and valuable recording for all fans of the choral and vocal arts and of 20th century music.

 

“…their earthiness and openness are sensitively exploited by Marcus Creed and the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart. From the majesty of Psalm 90 to the modesty of Pants the Hart, this disc is a joy. Though this music drips with the flavour of Ives’s time, place and purpose, these performances emphasise their timeless brilliance.” Choir & Organ, January/February 2009

 

“These 10 psalms are not first recordings but most of them have dropped out of the catalogue, so this is largely unknown Ives. This fine collection is a revelation in  performances like these from the outstanding Stuttgart choir under its British conductor.” Gramophone, March 2009

 

Hanssler HAEN93224