Smithsonian Folkways FW-03346-CCD Charles Ives- The Sonatas for Violin and Piano- Vol. 1

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution, the national museum of the United States. We are dedicated to supporting cultural diversity and increased understanding among peoples through the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of sound. We believe that musical and cultural diversity contributes to the vitality and quality of life throughout the world. Through the dissemination of audio recordings and educational materials we seek to strengthen people's engagement with their own cultural heritage and to enhance their awareness and appreciation of the cultural heritage of others.

Charles Ives has grown into one of the most important American classical composers of international distinction, but it wasn’t always like this: Ives was frustrated by indifferent audiences and ambivalent critics throughout his entire career and most of his life. Violinist Paul Zukofsky and pianist Gilbert Kalish perform Sonatas No. 1 and No. 2. Evidently, the range of compositional devices Ives used—polytonality, atonality, complex multi-rhythms, tone clusters, twelve-tone rows, metrical modulation, and microtonality—“disturbed or bewildered nearly all of [Ives’] contemporaries.” But the sonatas present some of the most appealing and listenable material Ives produced. See also FW03347 Charles Ives: The Sonatas for Violin and Piano, Vol. 2.

Instrument(s) Piano; Violin.

Year of Recording 1964.

Record Label Folkways Records.

Source Archive Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

Credits Produced by Samuel Barclay Charters ; Composed by Charles Ives ; Artist Paul Zukofsky ; Artist Gilbert Kalish.

101 Sonata No. 1: Andante, Allegro vivace Paul Zukofsky and Gilbert Kalish 8:21.

102 Sonata No. 1: Largo cantabile Paul Zukofsky and Gilbert Kalish 8:50.

103 Sonata No. 1: Allegro Paul Zukofsky and Gilbert Kalish 9:00.

201 Sonata No. 2: Autumn: Adagio maestoso, Allegro moderato Paul Zukofsky and Gilbert Kalish 5:29.

202 Sonata No. 2: In the Barn: Presto, Allegro moderato Paul Zukofsky and Gilbert Kalish 4:11.

203 Sonata No. 2: The Revival: Largo, Allegretto Paul Zukofsky and Gilbert Kalish 4:40.