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Charles Ives report. Anna Trubnikova

Ives sounds like an attempt to escape – both the formalities of the contemporary (to him) music and from yourself as an underlying concept of his pieces. It is a dance of shadows, a tornado of thoughts chasing one’s perspective and well-being. It is full of unexpected turns and points, but it has no end or goal like the philosophical idea of a human life itself. There is a way and many opportunities to take it. There is grief and solace, happiness and acceptance.

“The unanswered question” reminded me of Interstellar for some reason, it is a piece of self-discovery, realization of freedom and that you do not need to pursue it in any form by means of trying to look for answers to the questions that are deemed to be rhetorical. The moment of freeing one’s soul is captured in the piece, along with its long travel, but it is not the moment before death, it is the moment of renewal and rebirth. It seems like it becomes able to tear into thousands of pieces and take any new shapes it wants.

 “Central Park in the Dark” is a big adventure comparable with the struggles of the first settlers to the American continent. It begins as a promising, big, new and faraway travel and develops as a hopeful song of trials, countless sunsets in the land of freedom and exploration of your own self and of the territories. The atmosphere of the piece is tremendous, seemingly peaceful melody keeps you on the edge of your seat, excited, wondering and waiting for the outcome, which comes unexpectedly as a hurricane, knocking down everything it could and leaving us wondering whether it actually happened or it was all a dream.

The “Concord Sonata” gives off similar kind of emotions, however it sounds more like an old classical piece in terms of modern perception foe sure. So it may be a bit more difficult to capture what the composer intended to put into it, yet it is still possible. It is his most popular and complicated piece, in terms of both playing and understanding. There is something so very American to this piece, like if you were listening to America itself, trying to capture all the sounds and voices it is comprised of, attempting to understand and hear its pieces.

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