Charles Ives's Concord : Essays After a Sonata, Paperback by Gann, Kyle, Like...

Charles Ives's Concord : Essays After a Sonata, Paperback by Gann, Kyle, ISBN 0252086309, ISBN-13 9780252086304, Like New Used, Free shipping in the USIn 1921, insurance executive Charles Ives sent out copies of a piano sonata to two hundred strangers. Laden with dissonant chords, complex rhythm, and a seemingly chaotic structure, the so-called <i>Concord</i> Sonata confounded the recipients, as did the accompanying book, <i>Essays before a Sonata</i>. <p>Kyle Gann merges exhaustive research with his own experience as a composer to reveal the <i>Concord</i> Sonata and the essays in full. Diffracting the twinned works into their essential aspects, Gann lays out the historical context that produced Ives&#39;s masterpiece and illuminates the arguments Ives himself explored in the <i>Essays</i>. Gann also provides a movement-by-movement analysis of the work&#39;s harmonic structure and compositional technique; connects the sonata to Ives works that share parts of its material; and compares the 1921 version of the <i>Concord</i> with its 1947 revision to reveal important aspects of Ives&#39;s creative process.</p><p>A tour de force of critical, theoretical, and historical thought, <i>Charles Ives&#39;s Concord</i> provides nothing less than the first comprehensive consideration of a work at the heart of twentieth century American music.</p>