Gustavo Dudamel conducts Ives and Tchaikovsky

American modernist composer Charles Ives was one of the first to attempt to bridge the divide between traditional American popular and sacred music and European art music. Ahead of his time, his work went largely ignored during his life with certain exceptions, including his masterful Symphony No. 2, premiered by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic in 1951 to universal acclaim. Ives's particular compositional voice includes unorthodox reworkings of numerous popular American tunes as well as allusions to Beethoven’s Fifth, Brahms’s First, Bach’s F Minor three-part invention, and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde.

The second work on this program, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, represents a similar turning point in its creator’s compositional output. By the time he wrote the Fourth, Tchaikovsky had found his own artistic voice that enabled him to produce works of incredible depth, poignancy, and ardor. For the first time he also presented an explicit program to accompany his symphony, one that led to the Symphony's sometime nickname of "Fatum" or "fate".

The concert is available for two days only!

Photo: Gustavo Dudamel © Nohely Oliveros