Ives Three Places in New England
Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast
Joshua Weilerstein
4.9 • 2.5K Ratings
🗓️ 11 October 2024
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1929, the conductor Nicolas Slonimsky contacted the American composer Charles Ives about performing one of his works. This was a bit of a surprise for Ives, since he had a checkered reputation among musicians and audience members, if they even were familiar with his name at all. In fact, he was much more famous during his lifetime as an extremely successful insurance executive! Ives mostly composed in his spare time, and his music was mostly ignored or ridiculed as that of a person suffering from a crisis of mental health. Most of his music was never performed during his lifetime, and even today, he is thought of as a great but extremely eccentric composer, and orchestras and chamber ensembles often struggle to sell tickets if his name appears on the program. But for those who love Ives, there is an almost evangelical desire to spread his music to the world. I'm one of those people who loves Ives, and it is one of my personal missions to bring his music to as many places as possible. The piece I chose to talk about today is Three Places in New England, or the New England Symphony, a piece that is a perfect amalgam of what makes Ives such a spectacular composer - his radical innovations, his ahead of his time experiments, his humor, his humanity, his warmth, and the staggering creativity that marked all of Ives' great works. We'll start with a little biography of Ives in case you're not familiar with him, and then we'll dive into Three Places in New England. By the end of the show, I hope, if you're not already, that I will have converted you into an Ives fan for life!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Sticky Notes, the Classical Music Podcast. My name is Joshua |
| 0:17.5 | Weilerstein. I'm a conductor, and I'm the music director of the Orchestra Nacional de Lille, and the chief conductor of the Allborg Symphony. This podcast is |
| 0:24.9 | for anyone who loves classical music, works in the field, or is just getting ready to dive in |
| 0:29.6 | to this amazing world of incredible music. Before we get started, I want to thank my new |
| 0:33.7 | Patreon sponsors, Scott and Joanne, and all of my other Patreon sponsors for making |
| 0:39.3 | season 10 possible. If you'd like to support the show, please head over to patreon.com |
| 0:43.9 | slash sticky notes podcast. And if you are a fan of the show, please take a moment to give |
| 0:47.9 | us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts. It is greatly appreciated. I am in Allborg this week with the Alborg Symphony, doing a really nice program with Berlioza's Symphony Fantastique and Bartok's second violin concerto with Ning Fung, the absolutely amazing violinist. |
| 1:05.1 | There will also be this week a live podcast with Berlioza's Symphony Fantastique with the All Bork Symphony, which I will be |
| 1:11.3 | putting up in a few weeks. Then the following week, I will be in Lille, doing a half-American, half-French |
| 1:18.4 | program with Rivelles' La Vals and Tombou de Cuperin. And then the first half will have Gershwin's |
| 1:24.3 | concerto and F with Lise de la Salle, performing the solo piano part, |
| 1:29.1 | and then Ives' three places in New England. |
| 1:31.9 | This is a piece that I've covered before on the show, but it is one of my absolute |
| 1:36.3 | favorite pieces of American music. |
| 1:38.3 | I think it is a great insight into how American music developed over the 20th century, |
| 1:42.9 | and it's just always great to spend an hour with Charles Ives, |
| 1:47.0 | one of the most interesting, one of the most innovative and creative composers of all time. |
| 1:52.3 | Really hope you enjoy this one. The |
| 2:03.6 | The In 1929, the conductor Nicholas Slendimski contacted the American composer Charles Ives about performing one of his works. |
| 2:35.0 | This was a bit of a surprise for Ives, since he had a checkered reputation among musicians and audience members, |
| 2:40.0 | if they even were familiar with his name at all. |
... |
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