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The Complete Songs of Charles Ives
The Songs of Charles Edward Ives
The complete songs of Charles Ives (1874-1954) are presented for the first time in this four volume series by four singers with their individual accompanists. Composed throughout the thirty years of Ives's creative lifetime, these 150 songs form a unique body of works that parallels every facet of the composer's paradoxical personality and experimental mind. The performers face an enormous challenge, for these many songs differ widely from each other in both musical style and text, requiring extensive technical and interpretive skills. The music is often difficult and complex, and the vocal and piano lines tend to move in unexpected directions.
Since the songs are presented in a general chronological framework, the first two volumes are comprised of early songs: those composed when Ives was growing up in Danbury, Connecticut, where he was exposed to a wide range of music from his imaginative bandmaster father, George Ives; the songs he wrote during his Yale years (1894-98), when he studied with the well-known composer, Horatio Parker; and those composed in New York City at the turn-of-the-century, when he was making his way as a young insurance man. Many of these songs are of the traditional nineteenth century parlor song variety, some are prototypes of European lieder, others are hymn tune settings. Only a few show tantalizing glimpses of Ives the great innovator.
Volume three includes songs that parallel the composer's development in larger forms. His mature and most imaginative music comes from the period following his marriage to Harmony Twichell (1908). Harmony's unwavering loyalty gave Charles the confidence and courage to proceed with his most experimental ideas. The broad spectrum of styles and texts continued in Ives's later songs, but the balance has changed. As Ives aged, his nostalgia for the past increased. He continued to compose old-fashioned parlor songs, but he more frequently used innovative musical ideas to express his feelings and ideas. The combination resulted in a new and effective kind of art song.
Volume three begins with Ives's World War I song, He is There! and ends with a slightly changed version called They are There! (A War Song March), Ives's updating of the song for World War II. The music is essentially the same in both versions, but for the addition of a coda in They are There!. Ives called for violin, flute, or fife obligato (fife is used in He is There! and piccolo in They are in There!. In 4/4 marching rhythm, these lively songs bring to mind the excitement of the small town marching band with young men in uniform leaving to fight for their country. In his well-known style of quotation of pre-existing material Ives used no less than thirteen borrowed tunes, among them The Battle Cry of Freedom, Reveille, and The Star Spangled Banner. The great Ives scholar and performer, John Kirkpatrick, in describing Ives's paradoxical nature, said, "Charlie was a passionate pacifist, but he could get fightin' mad about his pacifism." In the performance of They are There! on this disc, departures from the printed score derive from a unique 1943 recording of Ives singing this song and sounding "fightin' mad."
In an entirely different mood are Ives's two other wartime songs. Tom Sails Away begins and ends quietly with the words, "Scenes form my childhood" In between, brief phrases and text by Ives move in a fragmented stream of consciousness style that builds to a climax, before Tom gently sails away accompanied by the music and text of the popular World War I song, Over There. In Flanders Field, the poppy fields in France are immediately brought to mind by Ives's quotation of La Marseilleise that runs seamlessly into The Battle Cry of Freedom. These war songs are akin to the sentimental household variety, but they are more, and they leave no doubt of Ives's passionate feelings against the ravages of war.
Ives also had strong feelings about the abuses of power in politics and concerning the environment. In a wildly dissonant song, Vote for Names, he described part of the accompaniment as, "The same chord hit hard over and over. Hot Air Election Slogan." And in a memo made on presidential election day in 1912, Ives claimed that Roosevelt, Wilson, and Taft were about as different as the three chords that were exactly the same "a sad chord a hopeless chord a chord of futility." Ives was infuriated by the destruction of natural beauty, and his fury and frustration were transferred to his music. The New River rails against the pollution of waterways by industrial chemicals. The song's original title was The Ruined River "Gas machine kills Housatonic!"
Volume three includes traditional parlor songs, hymn settings, and lieder, among them: My Native Land, Old Home Day, To Edith, Pictures, Farewell to Land, At the River, Weil auf mir, and Ilmenau. The humorous cowboy song, Charlie Rutlage, might at first seem simply that with its forthright text, guitar-like accompaniment, and bouncy horseback rhythm. But Ives includes unusual effects such as a spoken recitative and tone-clusters to emphasize the dramatic death of the cowboy. At that moment, his instructions read, "louder, louder, faster, faster." The music builds to a terrific climax followed by effective dead silence. Then a straightforward return of the original cowboy tune seems to advise the listener not to take the tragedy too seriously.
On first hearing Down East might also seem nothing more than a homey parlor song with a lovely singable melody. Further listening reveals that the hymn tune Bethany (Nearer My God to Thee) which appears in full only late in the song is the musical basis for the entire piece. "Quotation" is perhaps not the best term to describe Ives's extensive use of borrowed materials, for it is frequently much more than mere quotation, and as in Down East, the
very texture of the piece.
In The Things Our Fathers Loved (and the greatest of these was Liberty) Ives subtly weaves bits of six popular songs into a fleeting evocation of a time and place familiar and beloved to him a small New England town of long ago. Its brief twenty-two measures seems disarmingly simple, but it is a highly condensed form, rich in personal and social history. The text begins, "I think there must be a place in the soul all made of tunes of long ago," and the music is literally made of tunes of long ago. This is not a medley or an imitation or a parody, but a tightly fashioned work of art, a miniature masterpiece of great intensity. Ives achieves a tension between the past and the present not found in works of other composers of his time.
Another song that successfully combines old-fashioned nostalgia with modernism is Walking. But this is not Ives's conscious intent. What he is after is a sense of immediacy and spontaneity. He wants to take us along on his walk through town "On a big October morning," and he does so by grabbing hold with a steady rhythmic stride and a partially spoken text in the present tense that reveals "a roadhouse, a dance going on." Bits of ragtime float by as we move along the way. Ives's desire for projecting the intensity of an experience was the motivation for much of his writing. He occasionally composed very short songs in which the exaggerated brevity emphasizes the vivid imagery. An example is The Cage, a song in which a child asks himself about the meaning of life while observing a leopard in a cage. One is reminded of composer Bernard Herrmann's description of Ives's music as "a photograph of a happening."
Soliloquy carries the subtitle A Study in 7ths and Other Things indicating Ives's conscious intent to experiment with musical materials. In this case, he anticipates later uses of 12-tone composition. In other songs, his prophetic innovations stem from emotional sources or philosophical ideas. Like a Sick Eagle was composed when Harmony was in the hospital. Ives chose a melancholy text by Keats and used a quarter tone vocal line in asymetrical, unbarred phrases to achieve a heartbreaking mood of despair and loneliness.
Ives continued to admire and to set texts by other great nineteenth century writers. The Children's Hour to Longfellow's famous poem creates a sustained sense of serentiy that simulates the feeling "between the dark and the daylight." Whitman so inspired Ives that he composed a song titled Walt Whitman. Its abrupt ending is characteristic of Ives. The song seems to claim an existence in time without end, a prophetic concept that anticipates later composers.
Carl Ruggles, Ives's closest colleague and friend, told this writer in an interview, "If Ives had written but one song, he would be a great composer General William Booth Enters Into Heaven." Ruggles was not alone in his opinion of this song as Ives's greatest. Its text by Vachel Lindsay depicts the salvation army's leader as he guides the poor and unwashed to Jesus. Ives presents us with a musical image of an afterlife, a kind of American primitive view of the resurrection. The mood is set by a slightly behind-the-beat figure in the bass that evokes the limping band of unfortunates, as Booth, using hymn tunes, brings them to St. Peter, not at the pearly gates but to a New England courthouse square. Band music, Reveille, and Golden Slippers are imbedded in the texture that also includes dramatic declamation ("Yet! in an instant") and subtle word painting accompanying the repeated words, "round and round" with figures of three against two that seem to go round in the accompaniment. At the words, "a new sweet world," hope is fulfilled with a full tonic chord, then complete silence, before the song continues to the end with repeats of "Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?" This strange, haunting, and extraordinary song ends with a dissonant quiet chord, and the simulated drum beat and limping march that fade into the distance an innovative spatial effect. Ives did not include General William Booth in his book of 114 Songs. He seemed to recognize that this song is in a class by itself.
March'd beside his grandaddy
In the Decoration Day parade.
The village band would play those old wartunes,
And the G.A.R. would shout,
“Hip Hip Hooray!” in the same old way,
As it sounded on the old camp ground.
That boy has sail'd o'er the ocean,
He is there, he is there, he is there.
He's fighting for the right,
But when it comes to might,
He is there, he is there, he is there;
As the Allies beat up all the Warlords,
He'll be there, he'll be there,
And then the world will shout the Battle Cry of Freedom
Tenting on a new campground.
A little Yankee with a German name
Heard the tale of “forty-eight”
Why his granddaddy join'd Uncle Sam.
His fathers fought that medieval stuff,
And he will fight it now,
“Hip Hip Hooray! this is the day,”
When he'll finish up that aged job.
There's a time in ev'ry life
When it's do or die and our Yankee boy
Does his bit that we may live
In a world where all may have a “say.”
He's conscious always of his country's aim,
Which is Liberty for all,
“Hip Hip Hooray!” is all he'll say,
As he marches to the Flanders front.
Tenting tonight, tenting on a new campground,
For it's rally round the Flag, boys,
Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom.
Weil auf mir, du dunkles Auge,
ernste, milde, traümerische
unergründlich süsse Nacht.
Nimm mit deinem Zauber dunkel
diese Welt von hinnen mir,
dass du über meinem Leben
einsam schwebest für und für.
Eyes so dark, on me reposing,
Let me feel now all your might.
With thy grave and dreamy sweetness
thine unfathomed wondrous night.
Take now with thy sombre magic
from my sight this world away,
That alone Thou may'st forever
O'er my life extend thy sway.
A leopard went around his cage
from one side back to the other side;
he stopped only when the keeper came around with meat;
A boy who had been there three hours began to wonder,
“Is life anything like that?”
My native land now meets my eye,
The old oaks raise their boughs on high,
Violets greeting, violets greeting seem,
Ah! 'tis a dream, Ah! 'tis a dream.
I feel the kiss in youth so dear
The words “I love” fall on my ear,
I feel the beam, the eyes' soft beam,
Ah! 'tis a dream, ah! 'tis a dream.
And when in distant lands I roam,
My heart will wander to my home.
While these fancies, while these fancies teem,
Still let me dream, still let me dream.
the childrens' hour (1901)
Between the dark and the daylight,
When the night is beginning to lower,
Comes a pause in the days occupations,
That is known as Childrens' Hour
I hear in the chamber above me
the patter of little feet
The sound of a door that is opened
and voices soft and sweet.
From my study I see in the lamplight
Descending the broad hall stair,
Grave Alice and laughing Allegra
and Edith with golden hair.
Between the dark and daylight,
That is known as Childrens' Hour.
mea carmina, ducite Daphnin'
Draw Daphnis from the city.
A minor tune from Todd's opera house,
comes to me as I cross the square, there,
We boys used to shout the songs that rouse
the hearts of the brave and fair,
As we march along down Main street,
The dear old trees, with their arch of leaves
seem to grasp us by the hand.
to the tune of an Irish song,
Glad but wistful sounds the old church bell,
for underneath's a note of sadness,
“Old home town” farewell.
A corner lot, a white picket fence,
daisies almost everywhere, there,
We boys used to play “One old cat,”
and base hits filled the air,
As we march along on Main street,
of that “Down East” Yankee town,
Comes a sign of life, from the “3rd Corps” fife,
strains of an old breakdown;
While we step along to the tune of its Irish song;
Comes another sound we all know well,
It takes us way back forty years,
that little red school house bell.
or a Study in 7ths and Other Things
When a man is sitting, before the fire on the hearth,
he says “Nature is a simple affair”
Then he looks out the window and sees a hail storm,
and he begins to think that
“Nature can't be so easily disposed of!”
Over all the treetops is rest,
A gentle breeze scarcely stirs their waving crest;
All the birds are silent each in his quiet nest.
So my heart, waiting, soon will rest.
trans. by Harmony T. Ives
An old man with a straw in his mouth
sat all day long before the village grocery store;
he liked to watch the funny things agoing, going by!
Her work is done, her fields lie bare,
and 'ere the night of winter comes
to hush her song and close her tired eyes,
She turns her face for the sun to smile upon
and radiantly, thro' Fall's bright glow,
he smiles and brings the Peace of God!
When the wind blows fair,
The white foam is frothing
Like the tossing shrouds.
The moor is a king's robe
The wild rose sleeps above the pool,
Round her sleepeth every leaf;
The night air, soft and cool,
Cradles them all above the pool,
And all their shadows sleep beneath.
Hankering, gross, mystical and nude;
How is it I extract strength from the beef I eat?
you shall offset it with your own;
Else it were time lost alistening to me.
Low lie the mists; they hide each hill and dell;
The grey skies weep with us who bid farewell.
But happier days through memory weaves a spell,
And brings new hope to hearts who bid farewell.
the road along the ridge,
the chestnut burr and sumach,
the hills above the bridge with autumn colors glow.
Now we strike a steady gait,
walking towards the future,
letting past and present wait,
Now hark! Something bids us pause
(down the valley, a church, a funeral going on.)
(up the valley, a roadhouse, a dance going on.)
the road still calls us onward,
today we do not choose to die or to dance,
a farewell to land (1925?)
And shrieks the wild seamew.
Yon sun that sets upon the sea,
Farewell awhile to him and thee,
While one will search the season over,
To find the magic four-leaved clover,
Another, with not half the trouble,
Will plant a crop to bear him double.
(from a movement of Symphony No. 3)
Across the summer meadows fair,
there comes a song of fervent prayer,
It rises radiantly o'er the world,
Exulting, in the power of God!
Exalting Faith in life above
But humbly yielding to His love.
Just as I am without one plea,
But that Thy blood was shed for me,
and that Thou bidd'st me come to Thee,
O Lamb of God, I come! I come!
charlie rutlage (1914/15?)
has gone to meet his fate,
I hope he'll find a resting place,
Another place is vacant on the ranch of the X I T,
'Twill be hard to find another
that's liked as well as he.
The first that died was Kid White,
a man both tough and brave,
While Charlie Rutlage makes the third
Caused by a cowhorse falling,
While running after stock;
'Twas on the spring round up,
A place where death men mock,
He went forward one morning
on a circle through the hills,
He was gay and full of glee,
and free from earthly ills;
But when it came to finish up
the work on which he went,
Nothing came back from him;
his time on earth was spent.
'Twas as he rode the roundup,
A X I T turned back to the herd;
Poor Charlie shoved him in again,
his cutting horse he spurred;
the creature spied and turned and fell with him,
beneath poor Charlie died,
His relations in Texas his face never more will see,
But I hope he'll meet his loved ones beyond in eternity,
I hope he'll meet his parents,
will meet them face to face,
And that they'll grasp him by the right hand
at the shining throne of grace.
Adapted from 2nd Violin Sonata
For the grandeur of Thy nature,
grand beyond a seraph's thought
For the wonders of Creation,
Works with skill and kindness wrought;
Through Thine Empires wide domain
Blessed by Thy gentle Reign
(From First Sonata for Violin and Piano)
Watchman, tell us of the night,
what its signs of promise are:
Traveler, o'er yon mountain's height,
See that glory beaming star!
Watchman, aught of joy or hope?
Traveller, Yes! Traveller Yes!
Traveller yes; it brings the day,
Dos't thou see its beauteous ray?
Vote for names! Names! Names!
After trying hard to think
what's the best way to vote I say:
Just walk right in and grab a ballot
with the eyes shut and walk right out again.
the great commoner” (1921)
And so he came from the prairie cabin to the Capitol,
One fair ideal led our chieftain on,
He built the rail pile as he built the State,
The conscience testing every stroke,
to make his deed the measure of the man.
So came our Captain with the mighty heart;
and when the step of earthquake shook the house,
wrenching rafters from their ancient hold,
and spiked again the rafters of the Home
he held the long purpose like a growing tree
Held on thro' blame and faltered not at praise,
and when he fell in whirlwind,
he went down as when a Kingly cedar
green with boughs goes down
with a great shout, upon the hills!
like a sick eagle (1920?)
mortality weighs heavily on me
and each imagined pinnacle
and steep of Godlike hardship
like a sick eagle looking towards the sky.
from “the swimmers” (1915)
Then the swift plunge into the cool green dark,
the windy waters rushing past me, through me
Filled with the sense of some heroic lark,
exulting in a vigor clean and roomy.
Swiftly I rose to meet the feline sea
Pitting against a cold turbulent strife,
The feverish intensity of life
Out of the foam I lurched and rode the wave
Swimming hand over hand, against the wind;
I felt the sea's vain pounding, and I grinned
knowing I was its master, not its slave.
Shall we gather at the river,
Where bright angel feet have trod,
With its crystal tide forever
flowing by the throne of God?
Yes, we'll gather at the river,
The beautiful, the beautiful river,
Yes we'll gather at the river
that flows by the throne of God.
Shall we gather, shall we gather at the river?
Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig a grave and let me lie,
Glad did I live and gladly die,
and I laid me down with a will.
This be the verse you grave for me,
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.
At the quiet close of day,
Gently yet the willows sway;
When the sunset light is low,
Lingers still the afterglow;
Beauty tarries loth to die,
lovelier grows in memory,
Where the truer beauties lie.
James Fenimore Cooper, Jr.
enters into heaven (1914)
Booth led boldly with his big bass drum
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb
Saints smiled gravely and they said, “He's come”
(Washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Walking lepers followed rank on rank,
Lurching bravoes from the ditches dank
Drabs from the alleyways and drug fiends pale
Minds still passion ridden, soul powers frail:
Vermin-eaten saints with mouldy breath,
Unwashed legions with the ways of Death
(Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)
Ev'ry slum had sent its half a score
(Booth had groaned for more).
Ev'ry banner that the wide world flies,
Bloomed with glory and transcendent dyes.
Big-voiced lassies made their banjos bang,
Tranced, fanatical they shrieked and sang:
'Are you? Are you washed in the blood?
In the blood of the Lamb of the Lamb?
Hallelujah, Lord, Hallelujah!
Bullnecked convicts with that land make free.
Loons with trumpets blowed a blare
On, on, upward thro' the golden air!
(Are you washed in the blood in the blood of the Lamb,
in the blood of the Lamb,
the Lamb of the Lamb, the Lamb?)
Jesus came from the courthouse door,
Stretched his hands above the passing poor.
Booth saw not, but led his queer ones,
Round and round the mighty courthouse square,
Yet! in an instant all that blear review
Marched on spotless, clad in rainment new.
The lame were straightened, withered limbs uncurled
And blind eyes opened on a new sweet world
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
So like a flower, thy little four year face
That to my bedside comes each morn in happy guise
O, little flowerlike face that comes to me,
Bend thou near me while I inhale its fragrance sweet
And put a blessing there.
And day by day and night by night, unconsciously,
The heart lives by faith the lips deny;
Lizzie York Case - Dr. James T. Bixby
Down the river comes a noise!
It is not the voice of rolling waters.
It's only the sounds of man,
dancing halls and tambourine,
phonographs and gasoline,
human beings gone machine.
Killed is the blare of the hunting horn
Songs! Visions of my homeland,
come with strains of childhood,
Come with tunes we sang in school days
and with songs from mother's heart,
Way down east in a village by the sea,
stands an old, red farm house that watches o'er the lea;
All that is best in me, lying deep in memory,
draws my heart where I would be, nearer to thee
Ev'ry Sunday morning, when the chores were almost done,
from that little parlor sounds the old melodeon,
“Nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee;”
With those strains a stronger hope comes nearer to me.
the things our fathers loved (1917)
(and the greatest of these was Liberty)
I think there must be a place in the soul
all made of tunes, of tunes of long ago;
I hear the organ on the Main Street corner,
Aunt Sarah humming Gospels;
The village cornet band, playing inthe square.
The town's Red, White and Blue,
I know not what are the words
of the things our Fathers loved.
in flanders fields (1919)
In Flanders fields the poppies blow,
Between the crosses, row on row
And in the sky the larks still bravely singing fly,
Scarce heard amidst the guns below
Short days ago we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie in Flanders fields
Take up our quarrel with the foe!
To you from falling hands we throw, we throw the torch.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep though the poppies grow
Scenes from my childhood are with me,
I'm in the lot behind our house upon the hill,
a spring day's sun is setting,
mother with Tom in her arms is coming towards the garden;
the lettuce rows are showing green.
Thinner grows the smoke oe'r the town,
stronger comes the breeze from the ridge,
'Tis after six, the whistles have blown,
the milk train's gone down the valley
Daddy is coming up the hill from the mill,
We run down the lane to meet him
But today! In freedom's cause Tom sailed away
for over there, over there, over there!
Scenes from my childhood are floating before my eyes.
they are there (War Song March) (1940)
(Fighting for the People's New Free World)
There's a time in many a life,
When it's do though facing death
and our soldier boys will do their part
In a world where all will have a say,
They're conscious always of their country's aim,
which is Liberty for all.
Hip hip hooray you'll hear them say
as they go to the fighting front.
Brave boys are now in action
They are there, they will help to free the world
They are fighting for the right
But when it comes to might,
They are there, they are there, they are there,
As the Allies beat up all the warhogs,
The boys'll be there fighting hard
and then the world will shout
the battle cry of Freedom.
Tenting on a new campground.
When we're through this cursed war,
All started by a sneaking gouger,
Then let all the people rise and stand together
most wars are made by small stupid selfish bossing groups
while the people have no say.
But there'll come a day Hip hip Hooray
when they'll smash all dictators to the wall
Then it's build a people's world nation Hooray
Ev'ry honest country free
to live its own native life.
They will stand for the right,
but if it comes to might,
They are there, they are there, they are there,
Then the people, not just politicians
will rule their own lands and lives.
Then you'll hear the whole universe shouting
the battle cry of Freedom.
Tenting on a new campground.
Tenting on a new camp ground.
Tenting on a new camp ground.
For it's rally round the flag
of the people's new free world
Shouting the battle cry of Freedom.
Dora Ohrenstein, soprano,is known for her achievements in performing and building audiences for American vocal repertoire, particularly by living composers. She was solo vocalist of the internationally acclaimed Philip Glass Ensemble for over 10 years, and has her own touring production called Urban Diva, featuring works written for her by Anthony Davis, Scott Johnson and others. A compact disc of Urban Diva, is being released in 1993 on CRI's Emergency Music series. In 1993 Ms. Ohrenstein joined pianist Kathleen Supové and double bassist Robert Black in forming Bermuda Triangle, a trio devoted to innovative programming of chamber music from diverse periods, styles and cultures. A favorite among composers on the "cutting edge," she has had works written for her by such emerging talents as Linda Bouchard, Guy Klucevsek, and Ben Neill. Other recent recordings are Conrad Cummings' "Photo-Op" on the CRI label and songs by Ben Johnston on New World; she can also be heard on several CBS Masterworks discs of music by Glass.
Phillip Bush was awarded the 1983 Beethoven Foundation Fellowship and made his New York debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art the following year. Since then, he has become increasingly active as solo recitalist and chamber musician, with a particular devotion to the contemporary repertoire. Mr. Bush has collaborated with many of today's most outstanding artists in performances throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. He has appeared as guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, performs frequently on New York's Bargemusic series, and has been in residence at the Newport Music Festival since 1983. Mr. Bush has performed throughout the world with the ensembles of composers Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Scott Johnson. He has appeared as soloist with the Houston and Cincinnati symphonies, among others, and was awarded the NEA Solo Recitalists' Fellowship for the 1992-93 season. Mr. Bush is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory, where he was a student of Leon Fleisher.
Mezzo soprano Mary Ann Hart has delighted audiences and critics alike with her performances. She has sung with the New York Philharmonic, the Minnesota Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, the San Antonio Symphony, Boston's Banchetto Musicale, and has been a guest artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Her festival appearances include the Marlboro, Connecticut Early Music, Basically Bach, and San Luis Obispo Mozart Festivals.
Using the international competition as a showcase for her communicative powers, Miss Hart won First Prize in the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Second Prize in the 1987 Carnegie Hall International Competition for American Music, and top prizes in the Washington International and Robert Schumann International Competitions. Recital appearances have taken her to 26 American States, Austria, Germany, and Rumania. She is on the faculty of Vassar College.
Out of sight (but still in earshot) Miss Hart did voice characterizations for the Disney animated film Beauty and the Beast, and has made recordings under the auspices of the Eterna, Arabesque, Telefunken-Decca, Musical Heritage, Chandos, and Nonesuch labels.
Almost from the outset of his career Dennis Helmrich has concentrated on chamber music and the art song literature. It is as a sonata partner and accompanist that he now makes most of his concert appearances, in a busy schedule which in the last few years has taken him to thirty states, Canada, Latin America and Europe, to stages such as Avery Fisher, Alice Tully, and Carnegie Halls in New York, the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco, Symphony Hall in Boston, and the Ordway Theater in St. Paul, with artists such as Kathleen Battle, Phyllis Curtin, Richard Stilwell, D'Anna Fortunato, Eugenia Zukerman and the late, legendary Charles Holland. A continuing interest in contemporary music has led him to first performances of many American compositions, and to recordings on Orion, Spectrum and Nonesuch. Helmrich is a member of the faculties of the State University of New York at Purchase, as well as the Jewish Theological Seminary and the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. Since 1970 he has been Vocal Coach at the Tanglewood Music Center.
Paul Sperry is recognized as one of today's outstanding interpreters of American music. Although he is equally at home in a repertoire that extends from Monteverdi opera and the Bach Passions to Britten's War Requiem and hundreds of songs in more than a dozen languages, he brings to American music a
conviction and an enthusiasm that has brought it to life for countless listeners. Sperry has world premieres of works by more than thirty Americans to his credit including Leonard Bernstein, William Bolcom, Stephen Paulus, Louise Talma and Robert Beaser. He created Jacob Druckman's Animus IV for the opening of the Centre Georges Pompidou at Beaubourg in Paris in 1977, and Bernard Rands' Pulitzer Prize winning Canti del Sole with a New York Philharmonic in 1983 under Zubin Mehta. He teaches a course in American song at the Juilliard School and was formerly President of the American Music Center. He loves the songs of Ives and has been singing many of them since he began giving recitals.
Irma Vallecillo is that rare pianist who puts a prodigious solo technique and remarkable musical gifts at the service of chamber music. Her repertoire is extensive and spans every style from baroque to contemporary. She has premiered more than twenty works, and actively enjoys finding out-of-the-way pieces from every period. She has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Louisville Orchestra, the Utah Symphony and the Casals Festival Orchestra Orchestra among others, but in recent years she has appeared principally as a collaborator with such distinguished artists as Jean-Pierre Rampal, James Galway, Julius Baker, Benny Goodman, Richard Stoltzman, David Shifrin, Sidney Harth, Charles Treger, Aurora Ginastera, Nathaniel Rosen, Paul Neubauer, Walter Trampler, Benita Valente, Bethany Beardslee and Paul Sperry. Ms. Vallecillo has recorded extensively on the RCA, Louisville Orchestra, Moss Music, Delos, Desmar, Orion, Laurel, Avanti and Albany Records labels. She has recently joined the faculty of the Hartt School of Music where she is in charge of building a graduate program in piano, chamber music and accompanying.
The extraordinary American baritone William Sharp is widely known as a versatile singer who has received the highest critical acclaim for his work in concert, with orchestra, in opera and on recordings. In 1989 he was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Solo Vocal Performance for his recording featuring the works of American composers on the New World label. As a recitalist, he has appeared in major concert halls throughout the country, including the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall. He has sung with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, St. Louis Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. He has made numerous appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and is a frequent participant in music festivals, including Mostly Mozart, Aspen, Marlboro, New England and Bethlehem Bach Festivals and the Maryland Handel Festival. In 1987 Mr. Sharp won First Prize in the Carnegie Hall International American Music Competition and is also a winner of the Geneva International Competition and the Young concert Artists International Auditions.
Steven Blier enjoys an eminent career as accompanist and musical collaborator. Among the many artists he has partnered in recital are June Anderson, Roberta Peters, Arleen Auger, and Maureen Forrester. Mr. Blier is founder and co-artistic director of the New York Festival of Song, a recital series featuring new works, standard repertoire and rediscoveries, innovative programs, and many of America's finest singers. Their recording of Leonard Bernstein's last work, Arias and Barcarolles, won a 1991 Grammy Award. A champion of American music, Mr. Blier has premiered works by Aaron Kernis, William Bolcom, Lee Hoiby, John Musto, and many others; his repertoire also includes a solo program of ragtime, blues, and stride piano pieces by composers ranging from Copland to Eubie Blake. He is currently on the faculty of SUNY Purchase.
The Complete Songs of Charles Ives · Vol. III
Dora Ohrenstein, soprano · Phillip Bush, piano-1
Mary Ann Hart, mezzo soprano · Dennis Helmrich, piano-2
Paul Sperry, tenor · Irma Vallecillo, piano-3
William Sharp, baritone · Steven Blier, piano-4
The Childrens' Hour-2 (2:09)
A Farewell to Land-1 (1:28)
from "Lincoln the Great Commoner"-4 (3:24)
Like a Sick Eagle-3 (1:51)
from "The Swimmers"-2 (1:23)
General William Booth Enters Into Heaven-4 (5:43)
The Things Our Fathers Loved-2 (1:28)
In Flanders Fields-4 (2:33)
He is There!: Les Scott, fife · Old Home Day: Jayn Rosenfeld, piccolo
Camp Meeting: Gerard Hecht, second pianist · They Are There: Jayn Rosenfeld, piccolo
Producer & Engineer: Judith Sherman · Executive Producer: Dora Ohrenstein
This recording is made possible, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Recording Date: September 17-27, 1991
Recording Location: American Academy of Arts & Letters, New York
Photograph: 1924 passport photo of Charles & Edith Ives from the Charles Ives Archives, Yale University.
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