Steven Mayer - Concord Sonata [CD]

Charles Ives' Piano Sonata No. 2, Concord Mass.: 1840-60, popularly known as the Concord Sonata, has been recorded a good many times in the last 55 years, with no two interpretations turning out quite the same. This one, by pianist Steven Mayer, radically departs from most in that between the movements actor Kerry Shale reads relevant passages from Ives' writings on the subject, in addition to a couple of bits drawn from Emerson and Thoreau, transcendentalist authors whose works inspired Ives to compose this sonata. The effect is not distracting and the passages are brief; to those still struggling to come to terms with Ives' difficult work, the spoken interpolations may well prove enlightening.