Of all the composers on whom modern musicology is inflicting its current "completion mania", the cause of Ives makes more sense than most. His manuscripts were a mess, his decision-making random, and much of his music consists of "works in progress". He was working on a Third Set for orchestra in the late 1920s when he gave up composing, and with the exception of the last movement--that at 12 minutes lasts way too long--this collaboration between David Gray Porter and Nors Josephson comes across as pretty convincing. Certainly this is true of Porter's reconstruction of the first two movements (of three).
James Sinclair conducts Ives with unflagging confidence and expertise. He uses the first version (1914) of Three Places in New England--less angular than the chamber orchestral revision, with its prominent piano part--and the result sounds markedly less radical, more "late Romantic", and that's a refreshing change. Now that the shock value of Ives has largely worn off, we need to be able to experience his works simply as good music, and Sinclair makes that case here, as he also does in the Second Set. This neglected piece is every bit as fine as the more popular Three Places, and it deserves as much attention. Warmly detailed engineering keeps the often dense textures clear, and the Malmö orchestra plays with an easy naturalness that goes hand in hand with Sinclair's sure guidance.
