Ives "Concord Sonata" by Brant

Note to Daniel Sterns:

I will correspond off-list regarding my reactions to the transcription of
the Ives' Concord Sonata by Henry Brant which was performed and conducted
by him in Carnegie Hall a few years ago...

However, I don't fully believe this is totally an "off list" topic, since
Johnny Reinhard has "threatened" a new version of the Concord Sonata for
piano which will alter pitches to correspond with Reinhard's "extended
Pythagorean" viewpoint of Ives.

Joseph Pehrson

[Joseph Pehrson:]
>However, I don't fully believe this is totally an "off list" topic,
since Johnny Reinhard has "threatened" a new version of the Concord
Sonata for piano which will alter pitches to correspond with
Reinhard's "extended Pythagorean" viewpoint of Ives.

I think that your probably right (though if it seems like a borderline
topic I'll usually try to take it off-list, especially if I'm the
instigator), and interestingly enough I just found this quote by Brant
(online at the G. Schirmer, Inc. and Associated Music Publishers
WebPage, where it is presented as an "arrangers note") about the
Concord Symphony...

"In choosing the Concord Sonata for orchestral treatment I felt, above
all, that here Ives had achieved his most complete and comprehensive
expression, and that of all his works, this was the one with the most
immediate appeal. Henry Cowell agreed, and encouraged me to go ahead
with the project... My task throughout was illuminated by Ives's own
"Essays Before a Sonata" and his collected "Memos," and in some cases
Ives's words helped me decipher what at first seemed baffling in his
printed music..."

The last bit of this would especially seem to have some obvious
similarities to a lot of what has been discussed here at the TD
pertaining to Ives and the possible implications of his note
spellings... I wonder what Brant's take on this was... this would seem
especially relevant as an orchestration of the Concord would not
neceserily be rigidly tied to the standard fixed pitch modus operandi
of the piano, and there would ostensibly be a variety of ways to
address instances of especially peculiar note spellings (which may be
some of what Brant is referring to when he wrote "what at first seemed
baffling in his printed music") that wouldn't neceserily entail
retuning the piano and/or the whole piece...

Dan