Recording Review

Charles Ives, Violin Sonatas Nos. 1–4. Curt Thompson, violin. Rodney Waters, piano. Liner notes by H. Wiley Hitchcock. 2003. Naxos American Classics 8.559119.

Thought to be unplayable by at least one reputable violinist of 1914 (one Franz Milcke), Charles Ives’s violin sonatas have become staples of the modern string chamber music repertory. This says as much about contemporary tastes and aesthetics as it does about the work of Ives, and in many respects the Ives sonatas for violin and piano embody the central question surrounding much of his music in other genres as well: what are we to make of a relentlessly eclectic manner, an approach that flouts the rules and quotes from the greatest possible number of utterly commonplace tune fragments, while at the same time apparently pursuing a quest for transcendent artistry that compares in intensity, sincerity, and complexity with the most impassioned utterings of Brahms or Scriabin?