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It is one of my special passions to combine works of composers who are quite well-known with those who are less familiar to the general audience. It is an honor and privilege to be releasing the first commercial recording of Ethel Smyth’s String Quintet as arranged for string orchestra by the composer, only the second recording of her Serenade, and the first commercial recording of William Grant Still’s Mother and Child for string orchestra. I hope that this exploration of the unfamiliar and the familiar together will prove as rewarding to you as it was to myself and to the musicians of the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, who were faithful and enthusiastic partners throughout the recording process.
I would like to add special thanks and appreciation here to the late John Heiss, a professor at the New England Conservatory of Music, and one of my great inspirations in taking on the challenge of recording Three Places in New England, as well as my parents, who were playing Ives’ music for me even before I was born, instilling in me a lifelong love for this American Maverick.
I would like to dedicate this recording to my wife Bernice, who always helps me explore the unexplored.
Joshua Weilerstein
Charles Ives (1874-1954)