Unanswered Question/Central Pa

Ives' Two Contemplations (The Unanswered Question and Central Park in the Dark) are amongst his most famous works. The Unanswered Question features a slowly moving diatonic string backdrop over which a trumpet calls a questioning melody, and dissonant flutes squabble over the result. Central Park in the Dark starts slowly before a playful collage of popular music brings the atmosphere to life. Bernstein recorded both of these pieces multiple times, and he is a good guide to them.

More weighty is the 'Holidays' Symphony. Not really a symphony--it is instead a collection of four musical tone poems assembled together after the fact--it still contains some of Ives' best music. Most of the music follows the typical Ives collageistic style, with often slow-moving material at lower musical levels being overlaid with wild dissonances, folk music, hymns and pretty much anything Ives could think of. In the finale, 'Thanksgiving' a choir makes an entrance towards the end, to intentionally sentimental effect. This is a tough work to bring off, and Bernstein is only intermittently successful--though there are some extraordinary moments in this performance (such as the hushed close to Washington's Birthday) it is ultimately less consistently successful than, say, Michael Tilson Thomas' more recent reading. Tilson Thomas also benefits from the results of more recent research on the score that arguably bring it closer to the composer's true conception.

Carter's Concerto for Orchestra can in some ways be regarded as a distillation of some the technical aspects of Ives' music. In it, multiple layers of music coexist at the same time, constantly changing--but typically only one layer will be prominent at any one time. Unlike Ives, though, Carter's music does not incorporate the use of collage and 'found objects', and thus the surface can be less immediately striking--but equally Carter's music has a continuity and dramatic sweep of an extent rarely found in Ives. The concerto is based on St John Perse's poem Vents, which depicts America being swept by great winds of destruction and renewal. Accordingly the work forms a Fall-to-Spring trajectory: a complex introduction leads into a dry, jerky section based on tenor instruments, then a scherzo-like section based on the soprano instruments evokes swirling winds before collapsing into a 'dead of winter' slow section in the deep bass, before the alto section revives the energy and brings the work to a glorious close. This is furiously complex music and difficult listening, but well worth the effort. Unfortunately, Bernstein's recording is somewhat tentative (this is extremely tough music to conduct and perform) and cannot be recommended in comparison to the excellent Michael Gielen on Arte Nova (and at half the price).

This isn't a bad recording, and there are moments to treasure in it, but ultimately it cannot be recommended as a first choice. If you're looking for alternative versions (particularly of the Ives), and have money to burn, then it might be worth considering.