Perhaps I should say at the start that I wrote the sleeve-note for this record—repertoire I have known and performed for many years—but I never heard any of the tapes. Of course I knew of Henry Herford's natural fluency in American music ever since he won the International American Music Competition in 1982 and he and Robin Bowman make an excellent team in every way. This is by way of introducing an outstanding achievement.
The late Jan de Gaetani's partnership with Gilbert Kalish (Nonesuch and Bridge) is a high point of Ives recordings, more idiomatic and intelligent than Roberta Alexander and Tan Crone (Etcetera). Amongst male singers, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (DG) is unforgettable, especially in Abide with me. Henry Herford now joins this distinguished company at the top level of Ives interpreters. You don't have to be American but you do have to be aware that the sound is different with an American accent—and authentic! Herford judges this beautifully with slightly more American for the vernacular numbers such as The Circus Band which demand it. Vocally Herford is perfectly matched to Ives. He can be boyish and fun in Memories or the jingoistic First World War song (modified for the Second World War), They are there! which Ives even recorded himself. Herford can also be rapt and transcendental in sostenuto—Berceuse, The Indians or The White Gulls. Both performers understand Ives's humour—The Side-show is perfectly done, and bears repetition to catch all the references. More picture-painting in The See'r is exactly right.
Herford and Bowman relish the tougher numbers, which are carefully programmed to give an integral portrait of Ives and his world. General William Booth Enters into Heaven, for years virtually a campaign song on behalf of Ives, is admirable with a few individual touches. The pianist deliberately gets a bit excited and adds things at 2'02'' and there seem to be some extras on the set at 4'02'' who provide shouts of near charismatic intensity. In the adagio, at 2'45'', where Jesus appears, Herford catches the mood but has slight problems with the final consonants on the repeated phrase ''round and round''. Otherwise his production in all registers is virtually flawless—full, slightly reedy low down and mellow and unaffected even in high tessitura. Plenty of dynamic range, well exploited. Diction in Memories is not quite quick enough to catch all the words but this adds to the effect and they are in the CD booklet. These are minuscule points compared with the effortless way Herford handles the high-and-dry ending of The Indians—a single note after calm lyrical intensity beautifully controlled.
Performances like this demonstrate the stature of Ives: these are some of the greatest songs written in English during the last hundred years. Far from appearing as a hotch-potch of influences and styles, they now cohere as the output of a major composer. The selection is richly rewarding and moves to its climax with Booth followed by Ives's 1929 arrangement of a spiritual, a version of ''Give me Jesus'' called In the Mornin'. The CD, which is a little short at 60 minutes, is technically very well balanced in spite of hefty piano parts delivered with real aplomb. The CD is labelled Volume 1 and the second volume is now in preparation. That is good news for Ives since this excellent duo, in such sympathy with the music, must be recorded in as much of the repertoire as possible.'