Ives, The Unanswered Question

"The Unanswered Question" is one of Charles Ives' most famous works. Long before Stravinsky and other Europeans tried out the clashing keys technically referred to as 'bitonality' or 'polytonality', this independent Yankee businessman and artist had discovered these things for himself. Indeed, he was so bold, so radical in his experiments that he could find almost no one to take his music seriously until long after Stravinsky, Bartók, Hindemith and other Europeans had made such sounds fashionable and even popular. This work was recorded live at New York's Carnegie Hall on 20 May 1976. Under Leonard Bernstein, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra gave a concert of American music in honor of the American Bicentennial.