Charles Ives

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Donald Macleod explores the work of the 20th century modernist American composer, whose work gained in significance after his death in 1954. Son of an army bandleader, he experimented with bitonality. Ives's brand of patriotism verged on the jingoistic, but his music tells a more nuanced story, as in the deeply moving From Hanover Square North, the composer's evocation of a moment of spontaneous popular grief at the news of the sinking of the liner Lusitania. Ives's 'symphony', New England Holidays, which has been described as an American Four Seasons.