Ives / Barto,Tzimon - Ives: Piano Sonata No. 2 Concord - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

G. Verdi - Forza Del Destino [COMPACT DISCS] date 02/28/2006

The overtures and preludes by Richard Wagner not only are masterly composed openings to his dramatic works - as independent pieces they are also among the most popular compositions of the 19th century. For the first studio record of the new tag Philharmonia Records general music director of the Opernhaus Zurich and the Philharmonia Zurich Fabio Luisi made his personal selection it leads from the early overtures to Die Feen and Das Liebesverbot, in which Wagner still was oriented towards paragons such as Berlioz or Meyerbeer, through masterpieces as the preludes to Lohengrin and Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg and the famous Walkurenritt up to the mystically transfigured prelude from Parsifal. The record offers a cross section through Richard Wagner's orchestral work and presents one of the most distinguished European opera orchestras - the Philharmonia Zurich.

Concord, Mass., 1840-1860, this is the subtitle of Charles Ives's second piano sonata. It refers to the town of Concord in the American state of Massachusetts and to the years in which Concord was the focal point of an intellectual movement commonly called InchTranscendentalismInch, which continues to influence the spiritual life of America even today In the battle against the dominance of Rationalism and Empiricism, Transcendentalism, with it's mystical and philosophical characteristics as well as it's social criticism, emphasized the self-reliance of the individual.Charles Ives was familiar from childhood on with the teachings and literature of the Transcendentalists, shared many of their ideas, and sought to realize them as a businessman and composer in his public as well as private life. Artistically, politically, morally, and philosophically, these ideas represented his intellectual home; all his life, musically and in his literary essays, he dealt with the legacy of Transcendentalism. This is why he named the four movements of his 'Concord Sonata' after famous persons from the circle of the Transcendentalists InchThe whole is an attempt to present (one person´s) impression of the spirit of transcendentalism. This is undertaken in impressionistic pictures of [Ralph Waldo] Emerson and [Henry David] Thoreau, a sketch of the [Bronson Amos] Alcotts, and a scherzo supposed to reflect a lighter quality which is often found in the fantastic side of [Nathaniel] Hawthorne.Inch (Charles Ives)