Bernard Herrmann, who adored Ives' music, and championed it on radio when he was conductor of the CBS Radio Symphony Orchestra, related for me a story about Charles Ives, who when informed that he had been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his 3rd Symphony, snapped "prizes are for boys and I'm a grown up person".
MTT is a great communicator & educator. His natural ability to open our ears and eyes to great music and musicians is a special gift and much appreciated. I've known of Ives from early in my musical training, but now(years later) thanks to MTT I have such a better insight and understanding of the man and his music. Thank You!
As an American with Cerebral Palsy I love Ives' music. It's like wanting my body to do one thing and it does another; than it does exactly what you want and it feels divine...
Good for you Chris! as an ancient Englishman (with not much mobility now..) I too love Ives especially the loud bits as I now I also have tinnitus & those sections help drown it out!
This illumination shifts Ives relevance from an adjunct of Scheonberg, Stravinski, Berg etc, an add-on, to a position ahead of them basically on the same podium as Mahler. Ives preconception of film music can now be seen as genius, including Psycho cuts and the "slow fade". Hail to Ives and MTT.
Charles Ives' music is the New England soul. Or so I used to think. Given recent events, the twisting of previously held norms, the misappropriation of symbols, the no longer deferrable outrage and shocking backlash, the Holiday Symphony may well be called the symphony of 2020. May it conclude as the music did.
Each piece is a richly played mix of American stories and memories ... as the brilliant MTT explained, "Ives was imagining all the songs of the people of the earth seemingly in conflict with one another, yet from a greater perspective, all merging into one song of vast mankind." Breathtaking. Thank you.
I'm torn between Ives and one or two others, but Charles Ives is certainly the artist I have the most respect for. He was a better man than any other composer I can think of.
I LOVE this series. They're so comprehensive, compassionate, and in depth. SFO, I hope you resume making some more in the future as I know the last one was made about 10 years ago. I hadn't never heard of them until seeing them pop up in my recommendations and am thankful SFO put them back out into the world for people to rediscover. And can I just say I couldn't help but literally laugh out loud at the hilariously, ironically prescient line at 4:28 where after describing Ives as a "successful business man, loyal husband, regular church goer and contributor to high-minded causes, " MTT goes on to say, looking dead into the camera with a grin as if he's breaking the 4th wall (which made it even funnier to me) "if he were alive today they'd run him for president." 😲😲😂 I see what you did there, Mr. Thomas! 😁😁
Michael Tislon Thomas could very well be one of the leaders of the new generation of classical music educators, as Bernstein was in his time, notably with the young people's concerts and other lectures.
Wonderful documentary, many thanks! Two comments: the tune Adeste Fidelis used in Decoration Day appears in some older hymnals with the non-Christmastide text "How Firm a Foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord." Perhaps this is what Ives had in mind for this springtime holiday. Then, I recall reading that Igor Stravinsky declared Ives' Decoration Day "the definition of a masterpiece."
Thank you for sharing these genius productions with us. Passionate, conscientious and compassionate is the trifecta in the conveyance of human experience. 🙏❤️🔥🙏
All of the SF symphony videos are terrific, but this one is especially informative. When the LA Philharmonic did the Ives 4th symphony earlier this year I already came to the piece knowing quite a bit about the composer and his methods. Thanks MTT!
What a brilliant analysis of Ives music. MTT, you have given me depth to music that I find challenging to appreciate. Now, at least, my head understands the Why of this music while my heart tries to find love for the music. I’m catching serious sparks here! Thank you!
"Threnody for Frank Zappa " She Dances in the wind " I wrote "Album Park in the Dark"When I was 16,inspired by Ives who I felt I may be an incarnate of.
MTT is indeed a great communicator. I departed SFO for SYD years before he became the SFS's conductor. During my time in SFO I was obliged to attend concerts conducted by the boring Edo de W and the even more boring 'vegetarian' what's 'is name?
I didn't realize Ives wrote music like that, I have to say, haha...16:33 -ish...I mean...my first thought, at the beginning of the documentary, was that that was too conservative for Ives...
Disharmony has always been a disfavorite of mine, like Schoenberg. So it appears that Mr. Ives had never ending musical ideas I don’t appreciate the cacaphony. Some of it is nice. But that’s just my taste in music.
36:00 never saw one of those in the US, haha...you see them a lot in Haiti, handwritten "pancartes" with indications about prices, or events, etc...I don't think I ever saw one in the US...
I mean...I always thought there was a way to overlap the music in such a way that, even if they were in different time signatures, they could still be written as if in the same one (using triplets, or not respecting the "true" time signature for one of them, etc)...of course, maybe the extra conductor is needed in order to make it easier if the music is too different...
No, he didn't. That claim was made by a musicologist who was looking for cheap fame and have since been debunked. Ives tried to remember 30 years after writing the pieces when he did so, he got some dates right and got some wrong, but he didn't "backdated" them. Stop spreading lies.
Not my cup of tea under any circumstance. This just sounds like random noise. I have enough of that in my head already without needing an orchestra to amplify it!
Bernard Herrmann, who adored Ives' music, and championed it on radio when he was conductor of the CBS Radio Symphony Orchestra, related for me a story about Charles Ives, who when informed that he had been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his 3rd Symphony, snapped "prizes are for boys and I'm a grown up person".
Ha ha, Ives is the best. I love what he said about Mozart: "Too effeminate; a bad influence on music." Ives was fearless, totally.
@@markpaterson2053 Hated Mozart's music, which made "Benny" angry.
MTT is a great communicator & educator. His natural ability to open our ears and eyes to great music and musicians is a special gift and much appreciated.
I've known of Ives from early in my musical training, but now(years later) thanks to MTT I have such a better insight and understanding of the man and his music.
Thank You!
Ives was the only composer I'm aware of who actually controlled chaos; he stood above all others in that respect, in my opinion.
"Chaos control" has a technical meaning in physics. And it's not so pretty.
Many thanks for making Keeping Score available.
What?
Charlies Ives was a glorious monster.
As an American with Cerebral Palsy I love Ives' music. It's like wanting my body to do one thing and it does another; than it does exactly what you want and it feels divine...
Good for you Chris! as an ancient Englishman (with not much mobility now..) I too love Ives especially the loud bits as I now I also have tinnitus & those sections help drown it out!
Amazing introduction to a huge composer, difficult to understand without knowing where he comes from and what he means.
"🎹❤Loved this Documentary on Charles Ives. Michael Tilson Thomas totally delivers the Heart and Soul of this Fabulous Composer."
This illumination shifts Ives relevance from an adjunct of Scheonberg, Stravinski, Berg etc, an add-on, to a position ahead of them basically on the same podium as Mahler. Ives preconception of film music can now be seen as genius, including Psycho cuts and the "slow fade". Hail to Ives and MTT.
God bless you Maestro and SFO 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼😊😊😊❤️
Charles Ives' music is the New England soul. Or so I used to think. Given recent events, the twisting of previously held norms, the misappropriation of symbols, the no longer deferrable outrage and shocking backlash, the Holiday Symphony may well be called the symphony of 2020. May it conclude as the music did.
everyone has their favorite piece of music. "Decorartion Day" is mine. this took my breath away and made me cry copiously. but I thank you
Each piece is a richly played mix of American stories and memories ... as the brilliant MTT explained, "Ives was imagining all the songs of the people of the earth seemingly in conflict with one another, yet from a greater perspective, all merging into one song of vast mankind." Breathtaking. Thank you.
I've always loved MTT's championship of Charles Ives
Let's also thank Bernstein leading the way, as MTT also mentioned.
I'm torn between Ives and one or two others, but Charles Ives is certainly the artist I have the most respect for. He was a better man than any other composer I can think of.
my composition school during quarantine. thank you for the amazing analysis and background story of each composer masterpiece
I miss the concerts!
Wonderful, informative documentary. Thank you!
A great elucidation. A distinctive splurge of americana made clear.
Thank you mister Thomas! Very impressive and very informative. I am very grateful to you for your work and wish you all the best with your health!
To me, this symphony reflects the unique diversity of America in musical terms: out of many, one. Thank you, San Francisco Symphony and MTT.
I LOVE this series. They're so comprehensive, compassionate, and in depth. SFO, I hope you resume making some more in the future as I know the last one was made about 10 years ago. I hadn't never heard of them until seeing them pop up in my recommendations and am thankful SFO put them back out into the world for people to rediscover.
And can I just say I couldn't help but literally laugh out loud at the hilariously, ironically prescient line at 4:28 where after describing Ives as a "successful business man, loyal husband, regular church goer and contributor to high-minded causes, " MTT goes on to say, looking dead into the camera with a grin as if he's breaking the 4th wall (which made it even funnier to me) "if he were alive today they'd run him for president." 😲😲😂 I see what you did there, Mr. Thomas! 😁😁
Thank you so much! Incredible program and performance.
Ives music explains Itself.
Oh such a beautiful way to open this talk.
I love these Keeping Score videos. I enjoy learning insight into the music I listen to.
Thank you so much SFS for sharing these....helping to keep me sane!
Michael Tislon Thomas could very well be one of the leaders of the new generation of classical music educators, as Bernstein was in his time, notably with the young people's concerts and other lectures.
A sweet and lovely thought, though it is worth noting that MTT is 75. Bernstein was 72 when he died.
MTT succeeded Bernstein with the New York Philharmonic Young People's Concerts, some of which were televised with him back in the early Seventies.
blown away by the composition as well as the performance, and the documentary was great
... Ma che commovente capolavoro e' questa " Holidays Symphony"?? Thanks ,Charlie...and thanks MTT che ce la fa amare così intensamente!
Thank you, Maestro MTT, and the SFS for allowing me to experience this music so close to the inside of your orchestra!
Wonderful documentary, many thanks! Two comments: the tune Adeste Fidelis used in Decoration Day appears in some older hymnals with the non-Christmastide text "How Firm a Foundation, Ye Saints of the Lord." Perhaps this is what Ives had in mind for this springtime holiday. Then, I recall reading that Igor Stravinsky declared Ives' Decoration Day "the definition of a masterpiece."
As for Stravinsky commenting on Ives, it's sort of like one genius appreciating another of the same ilk.
Thank you for sharing these genius productions with us. Passionate, conscientious and compassionate is the trifecta in the conveyance of human experience. 🙏❤️🔥🙏
Brilliant program Michael!! (John Harding, your friend from the distant past.)
All of the SF symphony videos are terrific, but this one is especially informative. When the LA Philharmonic did the Ives 4th symphony earlier this year I already came to the piece knowing quite a bit about the composer and his methods. Thanks MTT!
Documentary: 00:00
Symphony
Washington’s Birthday: introduction 54:18, music 57:21
Decoration Day: introduction 1:07:32, music 1:09:35
The Fourth of July: introduction 1:19:08, music 1:20:16
Thanksgiving & Forefather’s Day: introduction 1:26:17, music 1:28:30
What a brilliant analysis of Ives music. MTT, you have given me depth to music that I find challenging to appreciate. Now, at least, my head understands the Why of this music while my heart tries to find love for the music. I’m catching serious sparks here! Thank you!
Great piece
"Threnody for Frank Zappa "
She Dances in the wind " I wrote "Album Park in the Dark"When I was 16,inspired by Ives who I felt I may be an incarnate of.
stimulating..tumultuous like dvorak
MTT FOR PRESIDENT!!! 🇺🇸🎵
I enjoyed seeing Dan Rather's cameo appearance at 43:21.
MTT is indeed a great communicator. I departed SFO for SYD years before he became the SFS's conductor. During my time in SFO I was obliged to attend concerts conducted by the boring Edo de W and the even more boring 'vegetarian' what's 'is name?
I didn't realize Ives wrote music like that, I have to say, haha...16:33 -ish...I mean...my first thought, at the beginning of the documentary, was that that was too conservative for Ives...
21:48
1:07:27
Memorial Day
Disharmony has always been a disfavorite of mine, like Schoenberg. So it appears that Mr. Ives had never ending musical ideas I don’t appreciate the cacaphony. Some of it is nice. But that’s just my taste in music.
55:35 Washington Birthday
25:13 -ish...that actually sounds a lot like what it represents...it sounds like it could represent the question: "Why are we here?"...
36:00 never saw one of those in the US, haha...you see them a lot in Haiti, handwritten "pancartes" with indications about prices, or events, etc...I don't think I ever saw one in the US...
39:00 - ish...never heard of a piece of music needing a second conductor, haha, I have to say...
I mean...I always thought there was a way to overlap the music in such a way that, even if they were in different time signatures, they could still be written as if in the same one (using triplets, or not respecting the "true" time signature for one of them, etc)...of course, maybe the extra conductor is needed in order to make it easier if the music is too different...
3:08-3:23 is the funniest thing ive ever seen
can you stop with the commercials im on a time limit
This is so frequently interrupted by annoying ads that I can't watch it.
Memo to RUclips: I boycott all the products you advertise.
Excellent documentary, like the others in this series, but I have to say I find Ives' music physically painful to listen to.
Do you know his first, second and third symphonies? Maybe it is more safe to say that you don't like some of his works rather than "Ives' music"...
@@geoffroymb A valid comment which 2906nico could benefit from.
Ah, those poor Yankees and their own lost cause.
Orribile la 4 sinfonia bellissime la 1 2 3
You can like or dislike Ives' music but he wasn't the revolutionary he claimed to be. He backdated his compositions.
No, he didn't. That claim was made by a musicologist who was looking for cheap fame and have since been debunked. Ives tried to remember 30 years after writing the pieces when he did so, he got some dates right and got some wrong, but he didn't "backdated" them. Stop spreading lies.
Not my cup of tea under any circumstance. This just sounds like random noise. I have enough of that in my head already without needing an orchestra to amplify it!