Notes and Editorial Reviews
Finley brings a Lieder singer’s touch to a quieter Charles Ives selection.
This is the second volume of Ives songs from this accomplished team whose CD of Barber was Disc of the Month in January. Their first Ives volume (11/05) contained some of the blockbusters like “Charlie Rutlage” and “General William Booth” but the mood of this volume is fairly sedate. In particular some of the early songs in a conventional style are treated with the same seriousness that Finley would apply to Lieder. I’m reminded of the authority Fischer-Dieskau, a lighter baritone, brought to his DG LP of Ives songs in 1976.
An unusual but effective feature here is the provision of violin obbligato both for the jingoistic wartime
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song “They Are There!” and the mawkish take-off “Romanzo (di Central Park)”. Sentimentality is a Victorian characteristic but in “Songs My Mother Taught Me”, as elsewhere in Ives, the emotion is genuine so it invariably convinces.
Many of the songs are transposed down – hard work for the pianist and it makes some of the textures rather dense. The contemplative ones are delivered with an impressive serenity and Finley has his own way of attacking the razzle-dazzle of something like “The Circus Band” or “They Are There!” He’s close-miked, which works best in the intimacy of the quieter songs.
Several fine recordings of these uniquely fascinating slices of life as seen by Ives have disappeared from the catalogue – notably by the British team Henry Herford and Robin Bowman (Unicorn Kanchana) from 1991. The absence of their two-CD set puts Finley and Drake in a strong position in this well documented and presented release.
-- Peter Dickinson, Gramophone [4/2008]
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Works on This Recording
1.
On the Counter by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1920; Arnstadt, Germany
2.
Two Little Flowers by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1921; USA
3.
Ilmenau by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1901; USA
4.
Down East by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1919; USA
5.
Premonitions by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1921; USA
6.
Songs my mother taught me by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1895; USA
7.
In the Alley by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1896; USA
8.
Mists by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1910; USA
9.
They are there! by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone),
Magnus Johnston (Violin)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1942; USA
10.
In Flanders Fields by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1917; USA
11.
My Native Land by Charles Ives
Performer:
Gerald Finley (Baritone),
Julius Drake (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: ?1895; USA
12.
Watchman by Charles Ives
Performer:
Gerald Finley (Baritone),
Julius Drake (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1913; USA
13.
Evidence by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1910; USA
14.
Slow March by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: ?1887; USA
15.
Omens and Oracles by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1899; USA
16.
Those Evening Bells by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1907; USA
17.
Allegro by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1900; USA
18.
Evening by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1921; USA
19.
To Edith by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1919; USA
20.
At the River by Charles Ives
Performer:
Julius Drake (Piano),
Gerald Finley (Baritone)
Period: 20th Century
Written: ?1916; USA
21.
The Circus Band by Charles Ives
Performer:
Gerald Finley (Baritone),
Julius Drake (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: ?1894; USA
22.
A Night Song by Charles Ives
Performer:
Gerald Finley (Baritone),
Julius Drake (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1895; USA
23.
The See'r by Charles Ives
Performer:
Gerald Finley (Baritone),
Julius Drake (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: ?1913; USA
24.
The South Wind by Charles Ives
Performer:
Gerald Finley (Baritone),
Julius Drake (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1908; USA
25.
The Children's Hour by Charles Ives
Performer:
Gerald Finley (Baritone),
Julius Drake (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1901; USA
26.
The World's Wanderers by Charles Ives
Performer:
Gerald Finley (Baritone),
Julius Drake (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: ?1895; USA
27.
The Last Reader by Charles Ives
Performer:
Gerald Finley (Baritone),
Julius Drake (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1921; USA
28.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Ives
Performer:
Gerald Finley (Baritone),
Julius Drake (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1894; USA
29.
The Light that is felt by Charles Ives
Performer:
Gerald Finley (Baritone),
Julius Drake (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1903; USA
30.
Romanzo di Central Park by Charles Ives
Performer:
Gerald Finley (Baritone),
Julius Drake (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1900; USA
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