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For Immediate Release
Contact:
Kathryn King
917-751-8228
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Charles Ives Society Celebrates
The Centennial of Charles Ives's Magnum Opus for Piano:
Sonata No. 2 for Piano: Concord, Mass., 1840-1860
New 90-minute Program to Stream
from Mechanics Hall on the publication's
100th Anniversary:
20 October 2020
Program to include Complete Performance of Concord Sonata
Exploration of Links to Worcester and Boston, MA, including Mechanics Hall and St. Gaudens' Shaw Memorial
+Two world Premieres in tribute to Transcendentalists
Harriet Tubman and Louisa May Alcott:
Underground by David Sanford
The Piano in the Palace Beautiful by Marti Epstein
Discussions by Ives Society President Donald Berman
Ives Scholar Kyle Gann
Mechanics Hall Executive Director Kathleen Gagne
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On Tuesday, 20 October 2020 at 7:30pm Eastern time, the Charles Ives Society, under the direction of pianist and Society president Donald Berman, will live stream a celebra-tion of the 100th anni-versary of G. Schirmer's publication of Charles Ives's Concord Sonata (whose first page is featured at right, with annotations by Ives himself) one of the greatest compositions written in the 20th century. The event will take place in New England's Mechanics Hall, once a beehive of activity for the Transcendentalists, four of whose proponents are saluted in the sonata: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Bronson Alcott and Henry David Thoreau. The event will feature a complete performance by Donald Berman of the sonata, its movements interspersed with explorations of the Transcendentalists - their ideas, their influence, even their appearances at Mechanics Hall - along with comments by Ives scholar and Concord Sonata expert Kyle Gann, and a discussion with Mechanics Hall Executive Director Kathleen Gagne, relevant photos, film footage and texts. The program will be streamed on 20 October and will be available thereafter by accessing this link or charlesives.org.
"For years I have been studying and playing the Concord Sonata," says Mr. Berman. "As I was preparing to record it with my producer Adam Abeshouse we came to the conclusion that we should not allow the 100th anniversary of the publication of this astonishing work to pass unheralded. For anyone who knows this piece, such a milestone is worth celebrating. We approached Kathleen Gagne, Executive Director of Mechanics Hall, to ask if we could create a live-streaming event at the Hall. The temptation to set this celebration at what was the epicenter of Transcendentalist activity in the late 19th century and one of the sites where Henry David Thoreau famously delivered his impassioned A Plea for Captain John Brown was irresistible, since the Concord Sonata is an evocation of the Transcendentalists and their time. Kathleen will join us in a couple conversations to illuminate the role Mechanics Hall played as a haven for these inspired visionaries."
"The idea came at a felicitous time for us," says Ms. Gagne, "as we are in the midst of adding two important paintings to Mechanics Hall's famous portrait gallery of prominent Americans. Soon George Washington, William Lloyd Garrison, Clara Barton and 19 others will be joined on our walls by two African Americans whose lives and stories have key links to Mechanics Hall. First will be the inventor, tradesman and prominent businessman William Brown, who was the first African American inducted into the Worcester County Mechanics Association, and is said to have played a part in the Underground Railroad. The second new portrait is of Frederick Douglass, the great abolitionist, orator and statesman, who actually gave addresses at Mechanics Hall. Both of these individuals were contemporaries of Ives's subjects in the Concord Sonata. So I expect Donald Berman and I will have much to discuss at the Ives Society's streaming event on 20 October."
Another treat awaiting those who seek out the live stream is a talk by composer/critic Kyle Gann whose 2017 book Charles Ives's CONCORD / Essays After a Sonata is considered the definitive statement about the Concord Sonata. This book, 40 years in the making, has been called "absolutely essential reading", "quite indispensable" and "a masterpiece". Viewers of the live stream will have the benefit of Mr. Gann's insights as they have developed even since the publication of CONCORD / Essays After a Sonata.
The streaming celebration of the 100th anniversary of the publication of the Concord Sonata is of a piece with Donald Berman's many years' devotion to Charles Ives and his music. Another manifestation of this focus is his editing work on Ives's Shorter Works for Piano, in three volumes. Volumes 1 and 3 have been published, and Peermusic Classical is to issue Volume 2: Piano Studies, which Mr. Berman edited in collaboration with fellow Ives scholar James B. Sinclair, later this fall. Mr. Sinclair also collaborated with Ives champion Neely Bruce on another publication of Ives's music, Twelve Easy Songs, issued in versions for both high and low voice by Peermusic Classical in June 2020.
The Charles Ives Society is a not-for-profit organization that was formed to stimulate public interest in the music of Charles Ives (1874-1954) and to include and encourage the performance, recording, and study of his work, as well as the publication of definitive editions. The Society's revenues come from contributions, grants, and investment income.
For more information about Charles Ives, his music and the Ives Society's streaming event, visit https://charlesives.org/.
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