Barry, it appears these SACD Ives disks from Litton are very good. I saw Hurwitz's reviews on these recently...somehow I missed the news on these disks:
CHARLES IVES
Symphonies Nos. 1 & 4; Central Park in the Dark
Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Andrew Litton
Hyperion- CDA 67540(CD)
Reference Recording - No. 1: Sinclair (Naxos); No. 4: Dohnanyi (Decca)
These are excellent performances in every respect: magnificently played, beautifully recorded, and conducted with unfailing intelligence. The First Symphony is a better piece than is often thought--immature, in its way, but also irreverent, and full of Ives' typical honesty and sincerity. This performance doesn't take the first-movement exposition repeat as does James Sinclair on Naxos, but it is a bit livelier overall and uses the latest edition (with the riotous percussion that brings the finale to a typically irreverent conclusion). The bottom line is that the music doesn't really sound like anyone else, and in Andrew Litton's hands the music in the outer movements, with its odd dissonances and freedom of modulation, clearly foretells the composer to come.
This performance of the Fourth Symphony is spectacular. I haven't heard the SACD (yet), but it's hard to imagine a more vivid engineering job. You can actually hear the steady percussive tread that wends its way through the finale at just about every point, no matter how dense the surrounding tangle of sonority. In the insane second movement, without ever underplaying the big eruptions, Litton lets us hear an unusual amount of the thematic material where you usually are least apt to find it: in the string parts. To a remarkable degree, although the jumbles still sound like jumbles (as they should), you can pick out individual strands from the welter of noise and follow them as the music progresses. It's the kind of approach that will have you coming back for more, and it keeps the music sounding always different and new. The chorus in the first movement and finale sings (or hums) excellently and is atmospherically balanced, while Litton finds both heartfelt simplicity and a surprising amount of passion in the third-movement fugue.
Central Park in the Dark makes a fine and unexpected bonus after the two big works. I am delighted not to encounter yet another recording of The Unanswered Question, a piece that for all its deserved fame offers no reason to own multiple versions of it. The only serious competition to Litton in the Ives Symphonies, taken as a cycle under one conductor, comes from Michael Tilson Thomas on Sony, who has less alluring sonics and the old edition of the First Symphony. For all intents and purposes, Litton stands in a class of his own. [10/24/2006]
--David Hurwitz
Ives: Symphonies No 2 & 3, Etc / Litton, Dallas So
Release Date: 10/10/2006
Label: Hyperion Catalog #: 67525 Spars Code: n/a
Composer: Charles Ives
Conductor: Andrew Litton
Orchestra/Ensemble: Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Number of Discs: 1
Recorded in: Stereo
What a wonderful surprise it has been, seeing this 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. The principal competition comes from Michael Tilson Thomas on Sony, featuring the Chicago Symphony and Amsterdam Concertgebouw orchestras. While good, and in spots excellent, MTT's heart really wasn't in the First Symphony, and the Concertgebouw, for all the beauty of its playing, lacks the rude heft to make something memorable out of the final appearance of Columbia the Gem of the Ocean at the end of the Second Symphony. That's certainly not the case here: the Dallas trombone section has a whale of a time, and Litton gives that shockingly dissonant raspberry an extra moment to make its point, just as Bernstein did. Purists may carp, save for the fact that doing it this way is very much in keeping with Ives' aesthetic--more to the point, it sounds right.
In any case, well before the finale's coda, Litton has made this recording of the Second Symphony the new standard by which others should be judged, and that includes Bernstein (both times). He milks the music's romantic side--the first and third movements--with unashamed emotionalism, and this makes the humor of the quick bits all the more telling. 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. Litton's sweetly sentimental take on the lyrical second subject (based on the tune "Where Oh Where Are the Pea-Green Freshmen?") also bucks current orthodoxy, which has the melody played in tempo (Nashville on Naxos)--but once again it makes good musical sense.
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. The march rhythms in the second movement skip along winningly (these are marching children, remember), and the slow finale's last bars feature beautifully judged bell sounds over their final, fading chords. As with the disc containing the First and Fourth Symphonies, the encore is unusual and very welcome. General William Booth Enters Into Heaven is one of Ives' very greatest songs, and it receives a rousing performance by Donnie Ray Albert and the Dallas Symphony Chorus. Finally, the engineering is rich, clear, and vibrant. A major achievement, no doubt about it.
--David Hurwitz
