Charles Ives - The Unanswered Question (Strings Only) 

I search this version without horn for long time!

I like Ives' original, but this is also beautiful. Ives was a genius and there is nothing wrong with taking a beautiful *part* of one of his pieces and listening to it.

"I LOVED The Unanswered Question. I didn't like the answer so much." -Hans Zimmer

I'm not sure what feelings this music brings on me... Sadness? Hope? Expectation? Wonder? Compassion?...

spartan117q13 I do not agree. The different instruments is indeed the original but without the instruments this piece of art is much more relax to listen to. I prefer this version.

Thank you for this, I adore the string section of this piece it is hauntingly beautiful. So to be able to have just this section is magical.

Heavenly.... all I can say. When I check outta here, I wanna hear this.

"Why is there something rather than nothing?'"

I love this version ... I think its deeper in feelings then the original.

Modifications, edits are very common in classical music. Tempi, size of forces used are all part of the creative expression of art process. Leonard Bernstein at the Fall of the Wall Concert, Christmas Day, 1989 changed a few Friedrich Schiller's words in the final chorus for this occasion. The great composers, Beethoven, Mahler, Bach gave concerts and only conducted segments of an entire work. This is brilliant what Johan Cappaert did here. Thank you very much, Johan. When I was very young I was very interested in classical music. At that time I loved the music from the Wagner operas. I didn't care too much for the singing and I was too young and immature to sit through an entire one of his operas. So, when the opera without words trend began I was elated. What Johan has done here is made this work more accessable to those just starting in classical music or who know nothing about classical music who would never consider listening to Charles Ives. "I just wish those sounds weren't squawking. It's beautiful except for that", was what I heard during my 15 years working at Tower Records Classical. Some will discover the rest of the piece, possibly read about it and, hopefully, about Charles Ives. It's like the new genre of video game scoring. It seems to be bringng people to classical music too. Possibly because many of these composers are taking from the greats! Lol... Thank you again, Johan! Brilliant. Beautifully done!

The strings definitely convey the tremendous magnitude and eteranl nature of existence (in a more cosmic sense) and our insignificance. Charles ives original piece is a work of genius but sometimes its nice to listen to just the strings as it can help one feel better about life and look at its vastness and our tiny lives in a more positive light. Its good for the mind! The original piece is obviously unbelievable, but this is still nice.

Wow. Thanks for creating and posting this version.

I didn't know there was another version other than this! I still love this best. It is spare, haunting, and a direct, humble but challenging question to God. It is the one piece of music I heard over and over in my head as I watched 9/11 unfold.

Utwor Ivesa najbardziej podoba mi sie w wykonaniu Tomity , o braku odpowiedzi na pytania uswiadamiamy soby , gdy słyszymy pisk kol hamujacego na torach pociąg, ktory za racji braku torow nie pojedziecie juz dalej , abysmy mogli poznac odpowidz na naszy pytanie.- stąd tytułu utworu " pytanie bez odpowiedzi , czy istnieje Bóg, co dzieje sie z nami po śmierci i jaki cel ma nasze życie- serdecznosci najmilsi❤

I also prefer this version. No dissonances needed!

I just loved this. I loved the point of the original piece, but most certainly dissonances aren't for everyone. Yes, it obbliterates the core of music of this period, but so would be adding jazz drums and bass to Bach's music, and in any case there's no need to pull tantrums, it's just some people's tastes.

Thank you for putting this together, I enjoyed listening to it. I treasure the original composition and find some of the criticism here bizarre. Nothing wrong with spending time with a part of the whole, such as during oral sex. I suppose the critics here have never admired a single figure in a painting outside of the context of the entire work. Fear not, there's still time.

The point of the original was that the dissonance in life is also there to be ' enjoyed'...The briefness of beauty and peace can be appreciated so much more intense if there is dissonance, upeaval and unrest lurking. Tough this is quite a nice piece to listen to, the fact that the 'ugly' parts have been removed, also throws out the balance.

I LOVE IT!!!

I dont like that horn either ... its so unfitting. so my friend - thanks :) this give me chills every time...

The recent movie about Emily Dickinson "A Quiet Passion" had this version at the very end of movie.

Where did you find the picture you used at the start?? It's beautiful. And thanks for this, it's beautiful :)

Strings= The universe, perfect in every way. Horn = GOD giving commands. The chaos is us dumb people twisting the commands that have been given, interpreting it to what WE want the commands to be. Tell me I'm wrong!?!

Je t'aime, Emma.....................................................................................................................

I believe it's a picture of Earth from a satellite far far away and the Earth just so happened to be caught in a ray of sunlight

This piece without horns is a Renoir without blue

A unique, intense effect that's a simplification of the original, but it works remarkably well. Like all texts this one is out in the world in with a life of its own. Eliminating the 'answers' does not harm the piece (possibly no one now knows what the final form was supposed to be, if there was one- Ives kept changing it). This makes me think of the a single, lonely being uttering its unique aloneness, perhaps before there were any busy little beings. Your creative instincts were dead on DWXII

Uploader did nothing wrong.

But I guess It only matters that some people enjoy this version

Anyone know what movie this music is in? Other than Run Lola Run

It lost its meaning. Even if the strings played the question and answer, it would lose the different sounds. The different textures would be lost. It would lose its human-ness

People are rotten..

This is the Universe, the Galaxies, the Heavens. Perfection in every single way. Trumpet is GOD speaking, the disarray is us dumb people twisting what GOD has spoken. Brilliant and so beautiful at the same time, and sad too.

You deleted the "question"

Ugh. Whoever violated one of the most important (to me, but also the development of Western music as a whole) pieces of the 20th century...well go and listen to Mantovani or light classical if you don't get why the dissonances are there, and the whole point of the piece. That also goes for anyone below saying it's 'nicer' or more 'beautiful' - the whole point of the piece is the three-fold juxtaposition, it's the conflict that's unanswered, it's why it's so moving. Delete that and you're left with no Question, No Answer, just 'The'. Philistines.

well the whole point was the different instruments representing different voices so now it's worthless

This is merely nice, denuding the music of that all important 'other' that makes it not merely nice music, but great music. I don't care what you do with recordings, cut out the first three notes, but don't call it Charles Ives, because this isn't what he wanted. It's what you want.

whats the point? if you just wanna hear that bit, why not just listen to the first section before the trumpet enters? why tamper with a genius work of music?