Mordicai Gerstein narrates his innovative portrait of a musical maverick in this latest release from Live Oak Music Makers. This daring and original book tells the story of Charles Ives, a great twentieth-century composer who, despite criticism and public scorn, composed music that expressed what he heard in the world. Others didn't always hear the music that Charlie heard -- they heard only noise. Later in his life, his work was accepted and he won a Puliter Prize in 1947.
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Mordicai Gerstein narrates his innovative portrait of a musical maverick in this latest release from Live Oak Music Makers. This daring and original book tells the story of Charles Ives, a great twentieth-century composer who, despite criticism and public scorn, composed music that expressed what he heard in the world. Others didn't always hear the music that Charlie heard -- they heard only noise. Later in his life, his work was accepted and he won a Puliter Prize in 1947.
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Seller's Description:
May have some shelf-wear due to normal use. Your purchase funds free job training and education in the greater Seattle area. Thank you for supporting Goodwill's nonprofit mission!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fair. This is a former library book with stickers, inserts and markings. May have some shelf-wear due to normal use. Your purchase funds free job training and education in the greater Seattle area. Thank you for supporting Goodwill's nonprofit mission!
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very good. A well-cared-for item that has seen limited use but remains in great condition. The item is complete, unmarked, and undamaged, but may show some limited signs of wear. Item works perfectly. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine is undamaged.
I bought this book in 2004 for my new-born granddaughter on the strength of the recommendation of my friend and Ives scholar, the late Bob Zeidler. Through moves and the intervening few years, my daughter and her husband kept the book. On a visit in 2008, this grandfather was surprised to learn that it had become a favorite. My graddaughter knows the story. "Who is that", I ask, pointing to a picture. "Charlie", she says. "And what's Charlie's wife's name?" "Harmony" she replies.
The great American composer, Charles Ives (1874 -- 1954) filled the air with what author Mordicai Gerstein calls that "mysterious, invisible, magical stuff -- music." I remember from my own childhood books on Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and the like. But a children's book on Charles Ives is a welcome rarity. Gerstein makes it succeed.
Ives was the son of a Civil War musician and band leader in Danbury, Connecticut. The precocious child absorbed his father's love for and wayward way with music -- the glorious noise -- as young Charlie used the piano, organ, and trumpet to capture the sounds and ideas that filled his life. Charlie attended Yale, married, and became a successful insurance executive. He kept composing increasingly audacious music, including songs, piano sonatas, violin sonatas,short orchestral pieces,and symphonies. But when his work was played, it was met with bewilderment and mockery. Ives stopped composing in mid-life. In his latter years, he saw his music attain recognition, as he received a Pulitzer Prize in 1947 for his Third Symphony. Gerstein's book recounts Charles Ives's reaction to the premiere of his Second Symphony in 1951, when the composer was 77. Many musicians began to champion other music of Ives, including his difficult "Concord" sonata for piano.
"If only they would open their ears they might open their hearts" Charlie says to Harmony in Gerstein's book. Gerstein captures the bravado and pace of early 20th Century America as well as the spirit of Ives's music, with its combination of American traditionalism and wild iconoclasm. Gerstein makes music a joyful experience. Gerstein captures the influence of revival meetings on young Charlie. "They didn't have beautiful voices, but they made beautiful music", is Gertstein's apt and important for young readers characterization of the influence of the hymn singing Charlie heard.
Gerstein based his book on Jan Swafford's biography of Charles Ives, "Charles Ives: A Life with Music" and on his own listening. A page at the end of the story offers a summary of Ives's work to parents who themselves might be encountering Ives for the first time in reading this book to a child. This book delightfully introduces young children to a great American composer. More importantly, it may help "open their ears and their hearts" to the world of music.
