Ives' music is so turn of the 20th century - very patriotic in its own way. He was writing this dissonant and atonal stuff even before Stravinsky started composing! Most people don't know that Ives was just an insurance salesman who wrote music for enjoyment - he never made much money off it. And yet, 120+ years later, it's still performed regularly. His violin sonatas are all very difficult and require significant musicianship for both instruments. This violinist Curt Thompson - I have not heard any of his other recordings but he sure knew what he was doing with Ives!
nonono he was not *just* an insurance salesman, he attained remarkable fame in the insurance industry of that time and wrote a book "Life Insurance with Relation to Inheritance Tax", which was highly regarded. he also devised creative ways to structure life insurance for people of means (laying the foundation for the modern practice of estate planning) and created his OWN insurance agency with a friend! he was not just an insurance salesman, he was an entrepreneur at the forefront of the insurance industry and excelling exceptionally at what he did!
One can hear hymnal and "dissonance" here. The combination is beautiful.
Ives' music is so turn of the 20th century - very patriotic in its own way. He was writing this dissonant and atonal stuff even before Stravinsky started composing! Most people don't know that Ives was just an insurance salesman who wrote music for enjoyment - he never made much money off it. And yet, 120+ years later, it's still performed regularly. His violin sonatas are all very difficult and require significant musicianship for both instruments. This violinist Curt Thompson - I have not heard any of his other recordings but he sure knew what he was doing with Ives!
nonono he was not *just* an insurance salesman, he attained remarkable fame in the insurance industry of that time and wrote a book "Life Insurance with Relation to Inheritance Tax", which was highly regarded. he also devised creative ways to structure life insurance for people of means (laying the foundation for the modern practice of estate planning) and created his OWN insurance agency with a friend! he was not just an insurance salesman, he was an entrepreneur at the forefront of the insurance industry and excelling exceptionally at what he did!
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