BaL 25.02.17 - Ives: Symphony no. 2

[LeMartinPecheur]

EA: are you sure about a CSO/ Gould version? This disc has the Orch Set 2 coupled with Symph 1:

[Bryn]

EA: are you sure about a CSO/ Gould version? This disc has the Orch Set 2 coupled with Symph 1:

Also, The President's Own United States Marine Band, Timothy W Foley is just an arrangement of the Lento maestoso and finale, not the whole work.

Oh, and the edition of the score for the First Symphony is observed as then printed, replete with the uncorrected errors. I quite like the changed melodic line.

[Since Morton Gould has been mentioned, why oh why have Sony (now that they own the RCA catalogue), not given us a CD version of his ground breaking recordings of Shostakovich 2 and 3 with the RPO et al?]

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

EA: are you sure about a CSO/ Gould version? This disc has the Orch Set 2 coupled with Symph 1:

Thanks. I must have been in a hurry, thinking this BaL was an easy one. I'll amend the list

[soileduk]

There is also a very highly regarded live recording with the Yale Symphony Orchestra conducted by James Sinclair available as a download in FLAC andmp3 from bandcamp.com. The price is $10 plus $2 Trumpton tax (£9.96 in all). I have not heard it but have just purchased it.

Hi Bryn,
Has the download still got the 'glitch' at 3' 52" in the third movement? After being patronised by a 'Ryan' at Bandcamp I deleted my download and ripped the CD, which is glitchless.

[mahlerei]

Listening to the new Davis recording as I type. Early days yet but it could well be the best in the series.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Slightly off-topic, but is anyone here familiar with the Ives unfinished "Universe" Symphony?

[Bryn]

Listening to the new Davis recording as I type. Early days yet but it could well be the best in the series.

I presume that this time we do not get the mistakenly incorporated, but very effective, Theremin in the finale of the 4th. I don't suppose they managed to construct the "Ether Organ" mentioned by Ives. Do tell. The booklet notes refer to the Ether Organ but that's it, they just mention it and the confusion regarding what it was/is.

[Bryn]

Slightly off-topic, but is anyone here familiar with the Ives unfinished "Universe" Symphony?

I have a couple of recordings of the Larry Austin version and also a couple of the Jonny Reinhard completion (that of the AFMM premier suffers form a glitch or two). Such a pity the the late David Gray Porter did not get beyond a partial completion. The former sound more like Austin than Ives, and the Reinhard still sounds like an early sketch, to my ears anyway.

[Bryn]

Hi Bryn,
Has the download still got the 'glitch' at 3' 52" in the third movement? After being patronised by a 'Ryan' at Bandcamp I deleted my download and ripped the CD, which is glitchless.

No glitch a 3' 52" but a snap/clack at 3' 57" (actually a brief run of four, three in the left channel and a further one in the right, lasting 0.005 seconds in all) which I have repaired cleanly by interpolation at each <0.0001 second transient using Sound Forge Pro 11.

[Gordon]

Good Pristine news, but I’ve been on the site (I think) and it’s hard to navigate. I couldn’t find any 1940s or 1950s Furtwangler Bruckner. Any ideas, anyone?

Although the site is "back" it is not yet complete. Andrew Rose sent out an email last week to announce a return but also explained that they had lost the whole original site and so each item has had to be rebuilt from scratch including all the review notes. Perhaps your Bruckner will appear in time. There are several items that I looked [that I already had from the old site] for but were not present also some artists listed did not have any content behind their links. I didn't find the new format difficult to navigate.

[Gordon]

I recall that they offer a 50's BBC recording conducted by Bernard Herrmann for download. Herrmann later also recorded it for Decca (Phase 4) but that recording seems to be currently unavailable.

Yes, the BBC studio [Maida Vale?] recording was made in 1956, mono only, and the Phase 4 in 1972. The Pristine may return in time as the site gets rebuilt. The Studio recording was made in Kingsway Hall and according to the Decca discography it was issued on CD as a Decca Weekend on 433 017 2.

If you are keen on this one there are several second had CDs available at Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/Ives-Symphony-Orchestral-Weekend-Classics/dp/B00000E4VF

There is a copy of the LP on Ebay for £10!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Charles-Ives-Symphony-No-2-Bernard-Herrmann-London-Symphony-Orch-PFS-4251-/152068658386

or here for £15

http://kingswayhallclassics.com/products/ives-symphony-no-2-bernard-herrmann-london-symphony-orchestra-pfs-4251-1216

so this recording isn't actually unavailable.

[mahlerei]

I presume that this time we do not get the mistakenly incorporated, but very effective, Theremin in the finale of the 4th. I don't suppose they managed to construct the "Ether Organ" mentioned by Ives. Do tell. The booklet notes refer to the Ether Organ but that's it, they just mention it and the confusion regarding what it was/is.

Alas, no theremin. A pity, IMO, even if it is unscripted.

[Bryn]

Yes, the BBC recording was in 1956, almost certainly mono only, and the Phase 4 in 1972. The Pristine may return in time as the site gets rebuilt. The Studio recording was made in Kingsway Hall and according to the Decca discography seems never to have been issued except on LP. However it was issued on CD as a Decca Weekend on 433 017 2.

If you are keen on this one there are several second had CDs available at Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/Ives-Symphony-Orchestral-Weekend-Classics/dp/B00000E4VF

There is a copy of the LP on Ebay for £10!!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Charles-Ives-Symphony-No-2-Bernard-Herrmann-London-Symphony-Orch-PFS-4251-/152068658386

or here for £15

http://kingswayhallclassics.com/products/ives-symphony-no-2-bernard-herrmann-london-symphony-orchestra-pfs-4251-1216

so this recording isn't actually unavailable.

Thanks for the info. The tempi applied by Herrmann do look to be excessively slow. I think I will give the Phase 4 CD a miss, especially as I already have the Stocky 2nd Orchestra Set. I will consider the earlier BBC recording as and when it re-appears.

[jayne lee wilson]

This forum is getting so lively I'll never keep up!
But although I haven't heard Ives 2nd for some time I'd offer a word for the Munich PO/Levine one. I bought most of "The Levine Years" series on OEHMS and was very impressed with sound and the live concerts almost throughout (thunderous Bartok Bluebeard, terrific Carter/Sessions/Wuorinen program) but most especially this Ives, c/w Harrison 3 and Gershwin. At various earlier times it was Schermerhorn or Mehta... but I've not really time to check them out just now...

Anyone know, how does the Morlot go...?
(A loud UH-HUH for his Dutilleux...)

[Bryn]

...

Anyone know, how does the Morlot go...?

All goes pretty well until that final chord. I ripped the final movement into Sonic Foundry and took a good byte or two (well, rather more than two) clean(ly} out of the middle of that Bernstein accretion and burned it, along with the rest of the symphony, to a CD-R. The applause which immediately follows the chord now seems better deserved. The edited version shares a CD-R with the repaired version of the Yale/Sinclair mentioned in #24.