Ives: Piano Sonata No. 2, "Concord"
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News & Reviews
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Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw, Gilbert Kalish Share Story Behind New Album, 'Narrow Sea'
Composer Caroline Shaw's new album, Narrow Sea, featuring Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw, and Gilbert Kalish's performance of the title piece—five parts, each a new setting of a text from The Sacred Harp, the 19th-century collection of shape-note hymns—is due next Friday, January 22, on Nonesuch. Here, the artists talk with writer Matthew Guerrieri about the album, which also includes Sō Percussion's performance of Shaw's Taxidermy. Find out why she tells Guerrieri: "I was telling a friend, half-jokingly, that, in a lot of my music, I’m trying to figure out a way to talk about death and mortality, or think about it."
Nonesuch Records releases its second album from Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Caroline Shaw, Narrow Sea, on January 22, 2021. The title piece was written for Sō Percussion, Dawn Upshaw, and Gilbert Kalish, who perform it on this recording: five parts, each a new setting of a text from The Sacred Harp nineteenth century collection of shape-note hymns. Also on the album is Sō Percussion's performance of Shaw's Taxidermy, which she wrote for the ensemble. A video for Part 2 of Narrow Sea can be seen here.
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About This Album
The Second Piano Sonata, Ives’s most expansive work for the instrument, was, according to the composer, “an attempt to present [one person’s] impression of the spirit of transcendentalism that is associated in the minds of many with Concord, Mass.,” of the mid 19th century. This album features a performance of this landmark work by pianist Gilbert Kalish, whose intimate understanding of the piece led the Boston Globe to declare that he “quite simply owns this music.”
Credits
MUSICIANS
Gilbert Kalish, piano
Samuel Baron, flute (4)
John Graham, viola (1)PRODUCTION CREDITS
Engineering and musical supervision: Marc J. Aubort, Joanna Nickrenz
Recorded September 27-29, 1976, New York
Mastering: Robert C. Ludwig
Coordinator: Teresa Sterne
Cover art: Peter Cox
Design and art direction: Paula Bisacca
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The Second Piano Sonata, Ives’s most expansive work for the instrument, was, according to the composer, “an attempt to present [one person’s] impression of the spirit of transcendentalism that is associated in the minds of many with Concord, Mass.,” of the mid 19th century. Gilbert Kalish performs the landmark work here; his intimate understanding of the piece led the Boston Globe to declare that he “quite simply owns this music.”
The Second Piano Sonata, Ives’s most expansive work for the instrument, was, according to the composer, “an attempt to present [one person’s] impression of the spirit of transcendentalism that is associated in the minds of many with Concord, Mass.,” of the mid 19th century. This album features a performance of this landmark work by pianist Gilbert Kalish, whose intimate understanding of the piece led the Boston Globe to declare that he “quite simply owns this music.”
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Engineering and musical supervision: Marc J. Aubort, Joanna Nickrenz
Recorded September 27-29, 1976, New York
Mastering: Robert C. Ludwig
Coordinator: Teresa Sterne
Cover art: Peter Cox
Design and art direction: Paula Bisacca

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MUSICIANS
Gilbert Kalish, piano
Samuel Baron, flute (4)
John Graham, viola (1)