Charles Ives: The 100th Anniversary [disc one] (Columbia)
Purchased at Jerry's Records
Hello. My postings here have been intermittent, I know. I guess after all of my online blabbering, I'm unsure what it is I have to say that is in any way original.
And to be clear, I gave up on the idea of being "original" long ago. Not that it isn't a goal to be achieved, certainly. Only that if all I strive to do is be original, then that is potentially a trap in itself. Some still manage to do so; I've just decided I won't worry about it.
Back to Ives, not for the first time this year. Listening to The 100th Anniversary box set, released in 1974. So yes, 2025 was 151 years of Mr. Ives. How many more years before the world catches up with his music? If it will ever?
Maybe yes, maybe no. One of the elements of Ives' music was his willingness to quote any piece of music (particularly works known to most Americans a century ago) mixed with anything else at any given time. When there are two, three, four distinctive musical lines or events happening simultaneously, he's challenging us to sort it out.
Let me paraphrase something from Bill Dixon somewhere...we still don't entirely understand Duke Ellington. How long before we understand John Coltrane, let alone Ornette Coleman or Cecil Taylor?
To which I say, are we supposed to "understand" it? I get what Bill's saying, the world catches up with forward-looking artists. I hope the question of whether Ives knew what he was doing or not has long since passed. But will we, generally, collectively, ever really "get" it?
Perhaps I don't want that. I'd say Ives is a glorious mystery, but that sounds too spiritual. I don't need to read detailed analyses of any given work. The proof is in the pudding, that is to say the listening.
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