Ives Unlocked

I see the awaited Ives CD from Sony is in the shops, and at Naxos price (UKP5-ish).

(The two quartets - Juilliard (1966/7), Three Places in New England & Variations on America - Philadelphia, Ormandy)

For those not in UK, MDT are listing it.

So let me get this straight

As if that weren't bad enough, the Three Places in New England was already reissued on a Sony Essential Classics release coupled with Ormandy's recording of Ives Symphony #1 and Stoky's recording of the Robert Browning Overture. I suppose compulsive collectors like myself will order the new release from MDT or other source just to get the two quartets, but the duplication is an added (but expected) aggravation.

Rich Sandmeyer richsand at iximd dot com

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That's pretty much why I'm going to order it, although what I REALLY want are all those Gregg Smith Singers recordings, and the vocal music with Thomas Stewart, Evelyn Lear, and Helen Boatwright. (Yes, I know that Boatwright's earlier mono Ives recordings have been available on CRI.)

If Gelb hates Americans, what do we make of the proprietors of Nonesuch, who continue to suppress the Concord Quartet's stellar recordings of the Ives

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That is only one of Warner Music's many sins against classical music. They also seem to hate potentially profitable projects; as I've often remarked, they refuse to reissue Joshua Rifkin's 'Baroque Beatles Book,' and also refuse to sell the rights back to Rifkin himself. This could be a nicely profitable crossover item, without even resorting to phoney-baloney fake performers (such as the same label's Filippa Giordano).

Reportedly the junkyard dog now in charge of mining the Warner treasures is one Matthew Cosgrove, based in the UK. I hope that somebody will come up with his office address and post it here.

Cripey, the other day I was in our local Value Village and noted an LP on Columbia of some godawful Pennsylvania polka band led by some incredibly ugly (weak-chinned) guy. The back of the jacket displayed thumbnails of at least ten more records by the same outfit. Bet that too is locked in the vaults!

I heard a tease on the radio for a later program (which I didn't hear) which claimed that in the coming year the top-selling popular record genres would be Rap, Rock and Polka (in that order). Might be soemthing to it, since a local bank has a commercial, among others with other types of music