I have been thinking about my response to the music of Charles Ives over the last week or so. Then, Lynn at Reflections in d minor commented on Samuel Barber: Beyond his famous Adagio for Strings and the wonderful String Quartet in B minor from which it was taken, I haven't found much by Barber that appeals to me a great deal.
I entered the worlds of both Ives and Barber by first hearing a really compelling work (The Unanswered Question, Adagio for Strings). With Barber, I went on to find other music of his I like, in a low-key kind of way. But with Ives, after hearing his eye-opening work, I went on to give him the benefit of the doubt on anything else he has done. I may ultimately disdain what I hear but something clicked initially so much that I am compelled to try to repeat the experience. John Adams' Shaker Loops provoked the same response in me. How one piece can shape my experience with the rest of a composer's work amazes me, especially since Barber's Adagio did not give me that same sense of momentum.
So, the intersection of my Ives and Adams enthusiasm (and maybe my American music enthusiasm in general) is the CD where John Adams conducts American elegies, including The Unanswered Question as well as excellent music by David Diamond and Ingram Marshall. Ironically, Adams' own Eros Piano is the weakest piece on the CD. Amazon samples much of the album.
By the way, I've also learned to not recommend The Unanswered Question to the unitiated; it's just too jarring, although I find it stimulating. My current guidance would be to start with Ives' more conventional first three symphonies (and skip the 4th which is "out there").
