Charles Ives’ “Sets” for Chamber Orchestra

Cover of the album being discussed (courtesy of A440 Arts)

This Friday Naxos will release the latest album of conductor James Sinclair’s ventures into the music of Charles Ives. The album consists primarily of ten multi-movement compositions that Ives simply called “Sets,” all scored for chamber orchestra. The album then concludes with the three-movement “Set for Theatre Orchestra.” As usual, Amazon.com has created a Web page for processing pre-orders.

Those familiar with the “life and works” of Ives probably know that he was doggedly prolific as a composer, even though he was highly successful in his “day job” as an insurance salesman. Nevertheless, very few of his works were performed during his lifetime. Late in his life he would have missed the world premiere performance of his second symphony by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein had his wife not tuned in to it on the radio. Both husband and wife were, to say the least, bemused by the tumultuous reception of that performance.

The ten “Sets” account for 36 short movements, which were “assembled” into collections between 1915 and (probably) 1934. Those familiar with the Ives canon are likely to recognize many of those movements from other sources, particularly the 114 Songs volume that Ives himself published in 1922. It is also worth noting that the final movement of the ninth set amounts to a “first draft” of “The Unanswered Question,” which has become one of Ives’ best-known compositions. The primary difference is that what the later score required of a collection of four flutes sounded like a richer blend of flutes and clarinets.

The ensemble that Sinclair leads on this album is called Orchestra New England. In trying to establish background, I discovered (through that Amazon Web page) that Sinclair had previously performed the three orchestral sets for an earlier album (as well as several other albums of orchestral compositions). Clearly, I need to learn more about his repertoire!