Pianist Donald Berman will perform Charles Ives’ “Concord” Sonata followed by four related commissioned pieces at a free guest artist recital Sunday, Jan. 26 at 3 p.m. in Bryan Recital Hall on the BGSU campus.
Each of the four movements of the nearly hour-long sonata is meant to reflect the Transcendentalists, the writers, philosophers, and activists centered around 19th century Concord Massachusetts. The movements are: “Emerson,” “Hawthorne,” “The Alcotts,” and “Thoreau.”
Berman, who is president of the Ives Society and teaches at Longy School of Music of Bard College in Boston, recently recorded the “Concord” Sonata. The recording was featured on a segment of NPR’s “Fresh Air.” The program’s classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz called it “an impressive new recording that incorporates changes Ives made even after his later revision.”
Berman studied with John Kilpatrick who first recorded the sonata.
At BGSU, Berman will pair the sonata with four pieces he commissioned to honor women Transcendentalists. The composers are Eve Beglarian (on Emily Dickinson), David Sanford (on Harriett Tubman) , Marti Epstein (on Louisa May Alcott), and Elena Ruehr (on Margaret Fuller).
