Charles Ives: The Ideas Behind The Music by J. Peter Burkholder (review)

advanced ages of 10, 12 or 14 while continuing to study, and often were given a priceless violin or two with a treasured bow. There are exceptions to this overgeneralized account, of course. Schwarz recognizes the existence and service of orchestra musicians, and some virtuosi have migrated from solo concertizing to concertmaster positions to conservatory professorships or teaching privately, while others have become outstanding chamber musicians, composers or conductors. His book, however,is built on the assumption that a great master is a solo concertizer and one who is a kind of unique absolute himself. Schwarz’s conceptual net fails to catch some present violinists who are surely masters and possibly great: Vadim Brodsky, Iona Brown, Joseph Roisman and Joseph Suk (the latter two barely mentioned), to name only four. And his net, strangely, does catch a number of very young and promising virtuosi who may ultimately deserve his highest accolade, ‘great’, but who at his writing had not reached that stage. However, a reader will very likely find the name and biography of virtually any violinist of importance from 1530 through 1980, so extensive was Schwarz’s search. One could cite an endless number of interesting facts that Schwarz marshalls. (Hewas a fine historian and accomplished violinist.) For example, Yehudi Menuhin made his debut in Berlin on 12April 1929 at the age of 12. During that concert, he performed three of the most challenging concertos in the literature: Bach, Beethoven and Brahms! Anyone who has tried to launch a chamber music series, or to sustain a community concert series,can profoundly appreciate these two separate accounts. In 1814 Baillot realized his most ambitiousproject:heestablishedregular chamber music concerts in Paris. The public response was apathetic ... . “Quartets are not popular at all in Paris. Baillot, at present the idol and one of the most finished players, gives a subscription seriesduringthe winterfor an audience of fifty people; that is all one can gather in this colossal city for this type of music” (p. 165). In 1879, Brahms and Joachim made a concert tour together through Transylvania . Schwarz continues: Thoughnolongeraconcertizingpianist, Brahms did not wish to be a mere accompanist, and the programs were carefully balanced to include sonatas, piano solos, and a violin concerto like the Mendelssohn, the Bruch, or even the new Brahms concerto! The tour went well, though the provincial public was often overwhelmed by the weighty programs of the two celebrities. In one little town there was only a single listener,andJoachim suggestedthat his money be refunded and no concert given. But Brahms said, “Our only admirer does not deserve such lack of consideration” and he insisted on playing the entire program, including some encores! @. 275) On the other hand, David Mannes conducted free concerts in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art from 19181947to an audience estimated at over two million (pp. 502-503). The book is devoted to a detailed explanationof thecontributionsof specific countries overthecenturies-Italy, France, Germany, Russia, England, Norway, the U.S., China, Japan and Korea-but also to specificconservatories and their varying styles. In short,this isalso a history of the evolution of violin playing and the composition of music for the instrument. More than one half of the work is devoted to the twentieth century, when recordings became possible. (Many of Schwarz’srecommendations area valuable bonus.) With recordings, not only do we have a growing resource for listening and study,we also are seeing the development of a new dimension of violin performance: the recording artist who may concertize seldom or not at all, preferring to prepare for the single effort in the recording studio. The evolution of this great instrument continues ... . CHARLES IVES: THE IDEAS BEHIND THE MUSIC by J. Peter Burkholder. Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1985.116 pp., illus. Trade, $17.95. ISBN: 0-03261-7. Reviewed by Allan Shields, 4890 Old Highway, Mariposa, CA 95338, U.S.A. Charles Ives has become a composer of international importance during the past three decades, first as an avant-garde writer, then as a composer of solid masterworks. Since his death in 1954, much of his oeuvre has been recorded and performed, and a great deal has been written about his...