Charles Ives – Ives: The Celestial Country – Warren: Abram in Egypt (2021) [FLAC 24bit/44,1kHz]

Charles Ives was a “public” composer for only a brief time, after which – and for the remaining time of his active composing career – he composed strictly in private, essentially as a part-time activity while being engaged full-time as a business executive in the life insurance industry.

The catalyzing event that caused this shift was the premiere performance, and the subsequent print press reception, of the major work on this CD, his cantata “The Celestial Country.” Composed in the years immediately following his graduation from Yale, the cantata was first performed on April 18, 1902 (almost exactly four years after leaving Yale) at the Central Presbyterian Church in New York (where Ives was the organist), to a full house, with Ives conducting the work from his organ console.

The two reviews (one in the New York Times and one in Musical Courier, both of them reprinted in their entirety in “Charles Ives and His World,” edited by J. Peter Burkholder) were hardly dismissive of the work. From the Times, we read “The composition seems worthy of a more complete hearing. It has the elementary merit of being scholarly and well made. But it is also spirited and melodious…” The review from the Musical Courier concludes with a paragraph stating that “An audience completely filling the church listened with expressions of pleasure, and at the close the composer was overwhelmed with congratulations, which he accepted in modest fashion.”

Tracklist:
1. London Symphony Orchestra – Abram in Egypt
2. The Sch”utz Choir Of London – The Celestial Country: I. Prelude, Trio and Chorus
3. The Sch”utz Choir Of London – The Celestial Country: II. Aria for Baritone
4. The Sch”utz Choir Of London – The Celestial Country: III. Quartet
5. The Sch”utz Choir Of London – The Celestial Country: III. Intermezzo for String Quartet
6. The Sch”utz Choir Of London – The Celestial Country: IV. Double Chorus
7. The Sch”utz Choir Of London – The Celestial Country: V. Aria for Tenor
8. The Sch”utz Choir Of London – The Celestial Country: VI. Chorale and Finale

Download:

mqs.link_CharlesIvesIvesTheCelestialC0untryWarrenAbraminEgypt202124441.rar