John Kirkpatrick & Donald Berman - Bear's Sonic Journals - Concordance: 150 Years of Charles Ives (2026) [Hi-Res]

Review by Jane Harrison
This release places two interpretations of Ives's notoriously difficult Concord Mass. Sonata side by side: John Kirkpatrick's 1974 recording and Donald Berman's live performance from 2025. Each pianist works from a considered, distinct vision of the piece and excel at drawing melodic threads out of Ives's dense textures. Kirkpatrick's is the wilder ride: he seems to tell the listener, "Hold on, and see what happens," leaning into contrast and letting individual moments speak for themselves. The longer timings of Berman's tracks reflect a more deliberate approach. He favors the long line, giving the ear a stronger sense of each movement's large-scale architecture. Berman's more pensive mood is especially effective in the third movement. Knowing that Berman's account is live adds a certain excitement, since we know that he must somehow deal with any mistakes in this long, difficult score instantly.

The first movement starts out with full chaos but seems to resolve to a calmer state as the piece progresses, or perhaps it is that the listener gets the chance to get used to the chaos. The second movement centers on a hymn tune quotation that both pianists make sound very distant, like it comes from another room, before the music dissolves into dissonant breakdown, swinging repeatedly between extreme quiet and extreme noise. Ives can't stay away from his layering technique for long, even mid-quotation of a tonal, popular tune, and both pianists seem to relish every bit of the planned chaos. Inventive chords feature in the next movement, alongside an imitation of 19th century parlor music so vivid it makes you wonder where, exactly, you've landed. The fourth begins with calm, intriguing harmonies before settling into something slower and more sustained, clangorous, beautiful, and a reminder of what a formidable improviser Ives must have been at the keyboard.

The album's single-movement pieces function like extended character studies, and Berman navigates all of them with interpretive clarity: As Syllable from Sound unfolds beautifully and slowly, Underground roils with ostinatos and scalar figures, and The Piano at the Palace Beautiful stays hushed throughout. All are captured live, and the recording handles Berman's performances well; the venue's acoustics are especially appropriate to the resonant, sustained harmonies of As Syllable from Sound.