AND HE'S ABOUT TO BLOW THE ROOF OFF THE JOINT
Gerald Finley, bass-baritone; Magnus Johnston, violin; Julius Drake, piano. Hyperion, recorded Feb. 16-20, 2007
by Ken
In last week's post, "A touch of Ives (featuring a bunch of questions -- not least: Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?)," I concluded a batch of quick hits on the Ives songworld with the unassuming note: "NOTE: I think we'll be spending more time with the Ives songs." Which I thought would be safe, because I had a number of threads I wanted to pursue, starting as usual with several that had failed to make it into the current post. What I didn't anticipate, even after plugging away at the material all week, was that I would never quite figure out --
HOW DO WE REJOIN OUR LISTEN-TO OF SELECT IVES SONGS?
What I came up with, sort of, was a quick version -- no multiple performances, no printed song texts -- of the new material that would go above the byline, which would then be repeated in more typical, more discursive Sunday Classics form. And I stuck to this seemingly simple agenda long after it became clear that it wasn't going to work. Even pursuing only a couple of the threads I anticipated from last week, that "above the byline" run-through was stretching out to the horizon.
Unfortunately, "Plan B" turned out to be a cheat version of "Plan A": The so-called quick run-through was dragged down below the byline, where it no longer needed to be quite so compact, and from it a single performance was plucked out and made the post opener. The picture of Gerald Finley -- like the picture of Sam Ramey we're going to see in a bit -- was already ready, from a still-earlier conception of this post that had long since gone by the wayside. (I just had to find them, among the several versions-in-progress of this continuation post that had already sprouted.
So here we are, basically pursuing that rickety, largely discredited Plan B, which continues with several proposed options for rejoining our listen-to of select Ives songs.
(1) We heard Donald Gramm sing "Serenity" with an Aaron Copland intro; we could hear the other two songs from that TV group
"Two Little Flowers (and dedicated to them)" (1921)
"Charlie Rutlage" (1920-21)
"Donald Gramm, with Richard Cumming at the piano, is going to sing three songs by Ives. I want you to hear first a simple song called 'Two Little Flowers.' It has a vocal line that's very straightforward, in 4/4 time, against which the piano provides a background in 7/8 rhythm.""Two Little Flowers"
" 'Charlie Rutlage' is a 'cowboy song,' about Charlie the cow-puncher, who met an unhappy fate while on the roundup. Ives begins with a folksy and tongue-in-cheek treatment, but moves on to a musically realistic tone-painting, which is absolutely brilliant, of Charlie falling off his horse. It's a strange Ivesian brew of realism, developing a mood that is somehow larger than a mere 'cowboy song.' " -- Aaron Copland
"Charlie Rutlage"
Donald Gramm, bass-baritone; Richard Cumming, piano. TV performances (watch here) (perhaps NBC, Nov. 29, 1964?)
(2) Or how about a march -- who doesn't like a nice march?
IVES: "Slow March (Inscribed to the Children's Faithful Friend)"
(1887-88; accompaniment revised 1921)
Samuel Ramey, bass; Warren Jones, piano. Argo, recorded in Henry Wood Hall, London, September 1990
(3) Or maybe a different sort of march? (Hip hip hooray!)
IVES: "They are there! (Fighting for the people's new free world)"
[c] Choral version, 1942-43
Gregg Smith Singers, Ithaca College Concert Choir, American Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in Manhattan Center, Oct. 18, 1967
[b] Solo version, 1942-43
[We heard this performance at the top of the post.]
Gerald Finley, bass-baritone; Magnus Johnston, violin; Julius Drake, piano. Hyperion, recorded Feb. 16-20, 2007
[a] IVES: "He is there!" (1917)
Samuel Ramey, bass; Warren Jones, piano. Argo, recorded in Henry Wood Hall, London, September 1990
SO MUCH FOR THE "QUICK RUN-THROUGH." PLAN B
CALLS FOR DOING IT ALL OVER, ONLY NOT SO QUICK
So now, according to Plan B, we start by revisiting the group of three Ives songs which Donald Gramm and Richard Cumming performed on TV c1964, with brief introductions to each song by Aaron Copland. Only this time we'll hear all three songs, and this time in addition to rehearing the Gramm performances, we'll hear some others. I know there were still yet others I was in the process of tracking down. If I remember what they were, and I figure out how to lasso them, maybe we'll have some additions. Then again, maybe not.
So, according to the plan, we're back at the TV group of three songs performed by Donald Gramm, except that now we're going to hear all three, with printed texts, and with some additional performances.
AARON COPLAND INTRODUCES DONALD GRAMM'S
TV PERFORMANCES OF THREE SONGS BY IVES
IVES: "Two Little Flowers (and dedicated to them)" (1921)
"Donald Gramm, with Richard Cumming at the piano, is going to sing three songs by Ives. I want you to hear first a simple song called 'Two Little Flowers.' It has a vocal line that's very straightforward, in 4/4 time, against which the piano provides a background in 7/8 rhythm." -- Aaron Copland
On sunny days in our backyard
two little flowers are seen,
one dressed, at times, in brightest pink
and one in green.
The marigold is radiant,
the rose passing fair;
the violet is ever dear,
the orchid, ever rare.
There’s loveliness in wild flow’rs
of field or wide savannah,
but fairest, rarest of them all
are Edith and Susanna.
-- text by Charles and Harmony Twichell Ives, written while watching daughter Edith playing in the backyard with a friend
[introduction by Aaron Copland; song at 0:21] Donald Gramm, bass-baritone; Richard Cumming, piano. TV performance (perhaps NBC, Nov. 29, 1964?)
Gerald Finley, bass-baritone; Julius Drake, piano. Hyperion, recorded Feb. 16-20, 2007
I thought we would have a couple more performances of this radiant song, but Gramm and Cumming are so good -- not only singing and playing with such effortless yet precise beauty but doing so with such generosity and grace. The final lines make me shiver. Alongside, Finley and Drake sound a little effortful.
IVES: "Serenity" (1919)
" 'Serenity' has a vocal line that hovers between just a few notes, following the natural speech rhythm of Whittier's poem in a very subtle and touching way. It's a truly inspired song. I use that word rarely, but I can use it in relation to 'Serenity.' "-- Aaron Copland
O, Sabbath rest of Galilee!
O, calm of hills above,
where Jesus knelt to share with Thee
the silence of eternity,
interpreted by love.
Drop Thy still dews of quietness,
till all our strivings cease:
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
and let our ordered lives confess,
the beauty of thy peace.
-- text by John Greenleaf Whittier
[introduction by Aaron Copland; song at 0:20] Donald Gramm, bass-baritone; Richard Cumming, piano. TV performance (you can watch here; perhaps from NBC, Nov. 29, 1964?)
Jan DeGaetani, mezzo-soprano; Gilbert Kalish, piano. Nonesuch, recorded c1975
Gerald Finley, bass-baritone; Julius Drake, piano. Hyperion, recorded in All Saints Church (Durham Road), East Finchley, London, Nov. 10-12, 2004
[orch. John Adams] Thomas Hampson, baritone; members of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas, cond. RCA, from MTT's Charles Ives: An American Journey CD, recorded live in Davies Symphony Hall, Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 1999
These are the same performances we heard last week, and none of them is a bust. Hampson has what seems to me one of his happier outings here, but the competition is awfully tough. I assume the orchestration is meant to make the song seem more approachable, but all three pianists seem to me a good deal more attention-grabbing. The limited scrutability of words and music here is made to order for Gramm, who makes it all sound like simple sense. Finley and Drake do a lovely job. But the miracle here is the DeGaetani-Kalish performance, which stretches the song out to a considerably larger scale without any sense of dragging -- Jan and Gil individually and together fill their expanded space to overflowing.
IVES: "Charlie Rutlage" (1920-21)
" 'Charlie Rutlage' is a 'cowboy song,' about Charlie the cow-puncher, who met an unhappy fate while on the roundup. Ives begins with a folksy and tongue-in-cheek treatment, but moves on to a musically realistic tone-painting, which is absolutely brilliant, of Charlie falling off his horse. It's a strange Ivesian brew of realism, developing a mood that is somehow larger than a mere 'cowboy song.' " -- Aaron Copland
Another good cowpuncher has gone to meet his fate;
I hope he’ll find a resting place within the golden gate.
Another place is vacant on the ranch of the XIT;
'twill be hard to find another that’s liked as well as he.
The first that died was Kid White, a man both tough and brave,
while Charlie Rutlage makes the third to be sent to his grave,
caused by a cowhorse falling, while running after stock.
'Twas on the spring roundup, a place where death men mock.
He went forward one morning on a circle through the hills;
he was gay and full of glee, and free from earthly ills.
But when it came to finish up the work on which he went,
nothing came back from him; his time on earth was spent.
'Twas as he rode the round up, a XIT turned back to the herd;
poor Charlie shoved him in again, his cutting horse he spurred.
Another turned; at that moment his horse the creature spied,
and turned and fell with him -- beneath, poor Charlie died.
His relations in Texas his face never more will see,
but I hope he’ll meet his loved ones beyond in eternity.
I hope he’ll meet his parents, will meet them face to face,
and that they’ll grasp him by the right hand at the shining throne of grace.
-- traditional, collected by John Avery Lomax
[introduction by Aaron Copland; song at 0:29] Donald Gramm, bass-baritone; Richard Cumming, piano. TV performance (perhaps NBC, Nov. 29, 1964?)
Samuel Ramey, bass; Warren Jones, piano. Argo, recorded in Henry Wood Hall, London, September 1990
Gerald Finley, bass-baritone; Julius Drake, piano. Hyperion, recorded in All Saints Church (Durham Road), East Finchley, London, Nov. 10-12, 2004
[orch. by ???] Thomas Hampson, baritone; members of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas, cond. RCA, from MTT's Charles Ives: An American Journey CD, recorded live in Davies Symphony Hall, Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 1999
"Charlie Rutlage" has become one of the more popular Ives songs, I guess because if you don't listen closely it sounds like a friendly, approachable cowpoke-type song. But as Aaron Copland points out, it really isn't that at all -- I've seen it described online as "a humorous cowboy song," and I can only wonder what that describer was thinking. Figuring out what it is and how to communicate that seems to me to make this an exceptionally difficult song to perform; certainly both the singer and the accompanist want to make damned sure that they're "in the moment" at every moment.
The Gramm-Cumming and Ramey-Jones teams seem to me to do just fine -- fine, smart singing and, well, fine, smart piano-playing. Finley and Drake do seem to know that "Charlie" isn't a humorous song, but I'm not sure that "drawl-y" and languorous are much closer to the mark. Hampson too seems to think what he really needs here is a cute drawl, but what happens is that he seems to lose the words -- and as I suggested, this is not a good song in which to allow that to happen; if the performers aren't crystal clear about the story they're supposed to be telling -- c'mon, the song is about a series of gruesome deaths -- then the listener doesn't have much of a chance. I wonder too about the uncredited (as far as I can tell) orchestration, which at first seems plausible enough, until you consider that at every moment the orchestrator is making a whole set of choices that make it awfully hard for even a conductor who knows what's wanted to be able to get it.
On the bright side, the song only lasts 2½ minutes, so we're practically already getting on with our lives. Worth noting that the Ramey-Jones and Hampson-Thomas performances last almost identical times -- but what a difference!
NOW PLAN B HAS US REVISITING THE MARCHES
Part of the plan was sampling some of the staggering variety of songs Ives composed. So here's some variety in marches.
THE MARCHES: (1) "Slow March"
What a gorgeous little number! And it brings to vivid life a situation I think will grab the heart of anyone who has experienced, from either a parent's or a child's vantage point, the death of a pet. Of special note: " 'Slow March,' John Kirkpatrick wrote in his notes for the 1974 Columbia Ives 100th Anniversary set, where he dates the original song to "possibly summer 1887" (we usually see it rough-datedd 1888), "may be Ives's earliest known music (age 12)." (He noted, however, that "the accompaniment was revised in 1921.")
And we've got a pair of gorgeous performances -- I don't think I could choose between the sonorous bass depth of Ramey's and the more baritonal empathy of Finley's. There does seem to me something special, though, a kind of pealing authority, in Julius Drake's accompaniment for Finley.
IVES: "Slow March (Inscribed to the Children's Faithful Friend)" (summer 1887? accompaniment revised 1921)
One evening just at sunset we laid him in the grave;
although a humble animal, his heart was true and brave.
All the family joined us, in solemn march and slow,
from the garden place beneath the trees and where the sunflowers grow.
Samuel Ramey, bass; Warren Jones, piano. Argo, recorded in Henry Wood Hall, London, September 1990
Gerald Finley, bass-baritone; Julius Drake, piano. Hyperion, recorded Feb. 16-20, 2007
THE MARCHES: (2) "He is there!" (1917) becomes "They are there!" (1942-43)
This isn't as complicated as it may at first seem, though I may have further complicated the story by taking it backwards in the quick version we heard earlier in this post.
The short of it is: "He is there!" and "They are there!" are and aren't the same song.
The original song, "He is there!," appears in the problematic but invaluable published volume of 114 Songs by Charles Ives, as the middle songs of a group of "3 Songs of the War," preceded by a setting of probably the most famous poem to come out of World War I, Lt. Col. John McCrae's "In Flanders Fields," and followed by "Tom Sails Away" -- set, like "He is there!," to his own text. "He is there!" appears in the 114 Songs with an exact date: May 30, 1917, a date to set against April 6, 1917, when Congress voted a declaration of war against Germany, committing the U.S. to joining a conflict that had been raging in Europe since 1914 -- the war Ives thought of as "the War," which we of course know as World War I.
If we want to think of this song -- in any version -- as a humdinger, I think we have abundant justification. Writing about "He is there!" on AllMusic, Joseph Stevenson notes that Ives --
[wove] the song from no fewer than 14 different pre-existing songs and marching tunes. All his life he had understood the potential of musical allusion of this sort. Here he brings in "Marching Through Georgia," "Columbia, Gem of the Ocean," "Dixie," "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp," "Yankee Doodle," George M. Cohan's already popular hit "Over There," "Reveille," "Maryland, my Maryland," "La Marseillaise," "Tenting on the old Camp Ground," "The Battle Cry of Freedom," and finally "The Star-Spangled Banner." {A number of the songs are referenced in the text.)IVES: "He is there!" (1917)
Fifteen years ago today
a little Yankee, little yankee boy
marched beside his granddaddy
in the Decoration Day parade.
The village band would play
those old war tunes,
and the G.A.R. would shout,
"Hip hip hooray!" in the same old way,
as it sounded on the old camp ground.
That boy has sailed o'er the ocean,
he is there, he is there, he is there!
He's fighting for the right,
but when it comes to might,
he is there, he is there, he is there,
as the Allies beat up all the warlords!
He'll be there, he'll be there!
And then the world will shout
the Battle Cry of Freedom,
tenting on a new camp ground.
For it's rally round the Flag, boys,
rally once again,
shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom.
Fifteen years ago today
a little Yankee, with a German name
heard the tale of "forty-eight."
Why his Granddaddy joined Uncle Sam,
his fathers fought that medieval stuff,
and he will fight it now!
"Hip hip hooray! This is the day!"
When he'll finish up that aged job.
That boy has sailed o'er the ocean . . .
There's a time in ev'ry life,
when it's do or die, and our yankee boy
does his bit that we may live
in a world where all may have a say.
He's conscious always of his country's aim,
which is Liberty for all.
"Hip hip hooray!" is all he'll say,
as he marches to the Flanders front.
That boy has sailed o'er the ocean.
He is there, he is there, he is there!
He's fighting for the right,
but when it comes to right,
he is there, he is there, he is there!
As the Allies beat up all the warlords! He'll be there, he'll be there, he'll be there!
And then the world will shout the Battle Cry of Freedom
Tenting on a new campground,
tenting tonight, tenting on a new campground,
For it's rally round the flag, boys,
rally once again,
shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom.
-- text by the composer
Samuel Ramey, bass; Warren Jones, piano. Argo, recorded in Henry Wood Hall, London, September 1990
I don't have another performance of "He is there!" to offer, and in truth I didn't search all that hard. Sam Ramey does about everything with the song I can imagine being done -- that big, beautiful voice rolling forward with a rhythmic momentum that seems at any moment about to run us over. And I love the extra momentum he packs into the launch of the final stanza with a well-announced slowing up.
But to return to our story, and the post-1917 world.
In time came another war . . .
Once again the U.S. was slow to enter the war, but on December 8, 1941, the day after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, Congress declared war on Japan, and days later Germany and Italy declared war on the U.S. And Ives, who had pretty much stopped composing two decades earlier, in a case of "déja vu all over again," pulled "He is there!" out of the drawer, rewrote the text, and -- voilà! -- "They are there!"
IVES: "They are there! (Fighting for the people's new free world)" (1942-43)
There's a time in many a life,
when it's do though facing death,
and our soldier boys will do their part,
that people can live
in a world where all will have a say.
They're conscious always of their country's aim,
which is Liberty for all.
Hip hip hooray, you'll hear them say
as they go to the fighting front.
Brave boys are now in action,
they are there, they will help to free the world!
They are fighting for the right,
but when it comes to might,
they are there, they are there, they are there!
As the Allies beat up all the warhogs,
the boys'll be there fighting hard,
and then the world will shout
the Battle Cry of Freedom.
Tenting on a new camp ground.
When we're through this cursed war,
all started by a sneaking gouger,
making slaves of men,
then let all the people rise,
and stand together in brave, kind Humanity.
Most wars are made by small stupid
selfish bossing groups
while the people have no say.
But there'll come a day,
hip hip hooray,
when they'll smash all dictators to the wall.
Then it's build a people's world nation, hooray!,
ev'ry honest country free to live its own native life.
They will stand up for the right,
but if it comes to might,
they are there, they are there, they are there!
Then the people, not just politicians,
will rule their own lands and lives.
Then you'll hear the whole universe
shouting the Nattle Cry of Freedom.
Tenting on a new camp ground.
For it's rally round the flag, boys,
rally once again,
shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom.
-- text by the composer
Gerald Finley, bass-baritone; Magnus Johnston, violin; Julius Drake, piano. Hyperion, recorded Feb. 16-20, 2007
A point of interest in the roof-raising Finley-Drake performance: The violin obbligato heard in it already existed as an option in the 1917 "He is there!" -- for violin, flute, or fife. It's certainly fun to hear. However, this is as nothing compared with what we're about to hear.
Because when Ives transformed "He is there!" into "They are there!" he went beyond refitting the new text, which could still be performed by the old combination of solo voice and piano, with the optional obbligato for violin, flute, or fife. We know taht Ives was, at least in part, a bells-and-whistles kind of music-maker, and now his old bells-and-whistles instincts led him to create a full-blown chorus-and-orchestra "They are there!"
IVES: "They are there! (Fighting for the people's new free world)"
(1942-43)
[text as above]
Gregg Smith Singers, Ithaca College Concert Choir, American Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in Manhattan Center, Oct. 18, 1967
Baltimore Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, David Zinman, cond. Argo, recorded in Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, September 1994
San Francisco Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, Michael Tilson Thomas. RCA, from the CD Charles Ives: An American Journey, recorded live in Davies Symphony Hall, Sept. 30-Oct. 3, 1999
It had been awhile since I heard the 1967 Stokowski recording, the recorded premiere of this version, and it was good to rehear this nice, straightforward performance, though I think the more forthright, bolder Zinman performance is closer in spirit to the tingling Finley solo version. The MTT performance is something else again. MTT tells us in his liner note: "In 'They Are There!' I have followed the phrasing and style of Ives's own historic piano/vocal recording."
Which means, I'm afraid, that we should probably hear "Ives's own historic piano/vocal recording" of "They are there!," or at any rate one of them -- he made three takes that day in 1943. I guess we'll go with the fullest of them, Take 2. (It should probably be noted that a lot of people find these recordings of Ives's charming, or something.)
IVES: "They Are There!"
Charles Ives, vocal and piano. CRI, recorded in the Mary Howard Studio, New York City, Apr. 24, 1943
COMING UP: Hmm, we still have to finish up with Ives, right?
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