Kirkpatrick plays Ives
Synopsis
On today\u2019s date in 1939, pianist John Kirkpatrick gave a recital at Town Hall in New York City that included the New York premiere of the Concord Sonata, by American composer Charles Ives.
Ives had self-published his Concord Sonata some 20 years earlier and sent copies of it free to anyone he thought might be interested, including then-prominent composer and teacher Rubin Goldmark, who, in 1921, was giving composition lessons to young Aaron Copland. Copland recalled seeing the Concord Sonata on Goldmark\u2019s piano but was not allowed to borrow it.
\u201cYou stay away from it,\u201d Goldmark warned him. \u201cI don\u2019t want you to be contaminated by stuff like that.\u201d
In 1934, Kirkpatrick saw a copy of the Concord Sonata in Paris and wrote Ives: \u201cI have decided quite resolutely to learn the whole sonata.\u201d
It would take him five years, but Kirkpatrick\u2019s Town Hall recital would put both him and Ives on the map.
A New York Times critic wrote, \u201cThis sonata is exceptionally great music \u2014 it is, indeed, the greatest music composed by an American, and the most deeply felt and essential. ... Kirkpatrick\u2019s performance was that of a poet and a master, an unobtrusive minister of genius.\u201d
Music Played in Today's Program
Charles Ives (1874-1954) Piano Sonata No. 2 (Concord, Mass., 1840-1860) Marc-Andr\xe9 Hamelin, piano New World 378