Charles Ives (1874-1954): Four Ragtime Dances (1902-04, rev. 1916)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): Fugue in Four Keys on "The Shining Shore", (c. 1903)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): The Pond (c. 1906, rev. c. 1912-13)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): The Rainbow (1914) (version 1)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): An Old Song Deranged (c. 1903)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): Skit for Danbury Fair (c. 1909) (incomplete)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): The Gong on the Hook and Ladder or Firemen's Parade on Main Street (c. 1911) (version for ensemble 1934)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): Chromâtimelôdtune (c. 1923)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): Tone Roads No. 1 (c. 1913-14)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): Tone Roads No. 3 (c. 1911/1913-14)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): Set of Incomplete Works and Fragments
Charles Ives (1874-1954): March No. 2, with "Son of a Gambolier" (c. 1892)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): March No. 3, with "My Old Kentucky Home" (c. 1893)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): March: The Circus Band (c. 1898-99/1932-33)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): Franz Schubert - 3 Marches militaires, Op. 51, D. 733: No. 1 in D Major (arr. C. Ives, 1896-97)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): Robert Schumann - Carnaval, Op. 9 - No. 4. Valse noble (arr. C. Ives)
Charles Ives (1874-1954): Franz Schubert - Four Impromptus, Op. 90, D. 899 - No. 1 in C minor (arr. C. Ives)

An Ives completists dream release, collecting a wonderfully varied miscellany of the composer's shorter orchestral works stretching across most of his composing life. Well recorded, and well (enough) played, the scope of these short pieces is surprisingly broad.

Always a fascinating composer, this release displays the composer's trademark mixture of eclectic marches, dances, and sudden discordant often atonal changes in pace and texture. It also adds student arrangements of early Romantic pieces from Schubert and Schumann, including the longest work in the release, Schubert's Impromptu No. 1 at 12 minutes. They are the most conventionally arranged of all the works on the disc. The majority of pieces are between 1 and 4 minutes in duration, so the experience of listening all the way through is necessarily episodic, the orchestral textures varied throughout and well caught by the recording.

I had been reviewing a Haydn release just prior to listening to this one for review, and the four Ragtime dances that open the release are a considerable change in mood. The smaller orchestra, with a close balance that adds to the feeling of a music hall performance (fitting for the Ragtime dances) provides a competent run through, but I do not sense a 100% certainty in all the playing. It's all quite interesting, often enjoyable, and the slightly rough and ready playing adds to the overall everyday and everyman feel that is echt Ives in my experience.

His style often reminds me of Mahler (yes, really!) in that common march themes often interjected over more sober material, and with lots of percussion and brass, though a much smaller orchestra here. Of course, he does not carry a tragic heart on his sleeve in the manner of Mahler, Ives invests the marches with a wide-eyed Americana type of openness, so it's a contrast with the great Austrian composer that the curious could explore.

Following the Ragtime dances, there is a sober Fugue in Four Keys on The Shining Shore for mainly strings and solo trumpet. It reminded me of Copland's Quiet City but written over 30 years before the Copland minor masterpiece. This is one of the remarkable aspects of Ives. An insurance actuary and executive in his business life, his compositions very often presage later developments in classical music, often earlier than they fully emerged into the avant garde of the time.

Chromâtimelôdtune is an interesting example of the composer's more iconoclastic side, 12-tone almost all the way through, building slowly to a climax and ending on a clear C Major chord. Ives had a sharp, sometimes sarcastic sense of humor, but humor it often is. It is one of the longer pieces on the disc (nearly 7 minutes).

This release follows three previous releases of Ives' orchestral works on Naxos (not yet the symphonies), all conducted by James Sinclair, a renowned Ives specialist, the Executive Editor for the Charles Ives Society. Those previous releases were with the Malmö Symphony Orchestra. They are all recommendable. The booklet in this release provides a good introduction to these works (written by Sinclair). I encourage any Ives devotee to hear this disc, if only to appreciate again the incredible modernity of the composer, but also his astonishing fecundity while pursuing a full-time career outside the music world.