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Title: Much Better Choices Available
Review: Tilson Thomas--a wonderful conductor of much 20th-century music--just doesn't have the ear for Ives. This seems true for all of the composer's work, as varied as it was. The 1st Symphony, a student composition, in Tilson Thomas's hands seems exactly the proficient but minor piece it was long regarded as. Mehta's rendering on Decca is infinitely more compelling, revealing it as one of the first outstanding American symphonies. Likewise, Tilson Thomas's rendering of the still astonishingly radical 4th does not come close to Stokowski's premiere recording on Sony (I hardly know what to think of the reviewer who finds problems with that recording's audio quality--it's powerful and absolutely first-rate) or Ozawa's thrilling version on DG. That last is paired (along with Ozawa's definitive take on "Central Park in the Dark") with a Tilson Thomas "Three Places in New England"--once again, unconvincing.
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