Just right
D. Jack Elliot | Omaha, Nebraska | 10/22/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"There's something really all-American about the way Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra play Ives here. The very timbre of the orchestra is idiomatic; the Boston Symphony or the Philadelphia Orchestra, by contrast, have opulent, Old World sounds that don't suit these scores as well as the direct, no-nonsense, clean-cut, grassroots, Midwestern sort of sonority produced by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra here. I mean it... it may sound doubtful as written on the page and it's difficult to put it into words, but you'll hear for yourself that St. Louis has got the right sort of sound for this music where other orchestras don't. Furthermore, Slatkin has a real knack for getting intimate, controlled, chamber music-type playing out of large orchestras and sprawling scores. This allows for some really interesting interpretations, and it only serves to enhance the sound of an orchestra already well suited to playing Ives. Add this one to your collection without delay."
A fine representative set of Ives' orchestral music.
Howard G Brown | Port St. Lucie, FL USA | 08/27/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The recording is excellent, the performances are as fine as any I can remember. If you have the Orpheus recording, you won't need this one -- and vice-verse -- as far as the two major works are concerned. The pieces are arranged well for a complete Ives concert on a single disc. Highly recommended, but I wish it were midprice like the Eastman disc on Mercury."