Few pianists have had the courage to tackle Ives' "Concord" Sonata in public. Easley Blackwood made it his signature piece. Blackwood earned high praise for his concert performances of Ives' "Concord" Sonata, a set of transcendentalist meditations named for Emerson, Hawthorne, the Alcott family and Thoreau, all of whom lived in Concord, Mass. Critic Max Harrison of The London Times declared Blackwood's performance of the piece "the finest account I have ever heard."
Chicago Symphony Orchestra flutist Richard Graef, a Blackwood colleague in the Grammy Award-winning Chicago Pro Musica chamber music ensemble, performs in the sonata's "Thoreau" movement.
Copland's Piano Sonata, long overshadowed by his populist works, represents his most profound and personal thoughts. A surprisingly lively middle movement explores fast rhythms in irregular, rapidly changing meters. "I never would have thought of those rhythms if I had not been familiar with jazz," Copland remarked.
