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I was just listening to Ives this morning, no joke.
Perhaps more than any other composer before him, Ives sort of prefigured later varieties of "remixing" or artistic collage by lifting melodies and rhythms from recognizable folk tunes and hymns, and doing all sorts of shit with them: rearranging them, speeding them up, interrupting them, slowing them down. Other composers had always done this to a point, but Ives took it to a new level and made it central to his sense of composition. I say that in part to suggest that part of the fun of getting into Ives is in recognizing tunes that he's using. Obviously there's more to him than that, but it's important to keep that in mind.
I would recommend working with Ives chronologically; he gets crazier as he goes on, and some of his later experiments can be pretty jarring out of the gate. That said, here are a few recs:
1) The Symphonies - the first is just okay, but it's a good reference point for hearing how he progressed over time. The second is a rollercoaster with tons of identifiable themes, and it ends with a ineffable burst of sheer dissonance that lasts for several seconds. The third is probably my favorite. Bernstein's recording of the second is well-known, but I wouldn't worry about specific recordings otherwise.
2) Three Places in New England - All of Ives's tricks are on display here, and the first movement - inspired by St. Gauden's statue of Shaw's black regiment in the civil war - is quite moving.
3) The Unanswered Question - totally different from much of Ives's stuff. It's a short piece that features a single repeated trumpet line, varying in phrasing, against a really murky and somewhat dark orchestra moan. Just beautiful.
4) String quartets. Start with the first, then the second. I think it's the first that has one of my favorite bits of Ives, in the third movement, where he deconstructs "O for a Thousand Tongues" - it actually reminds me of Tori Amos's own spin on the hymn for her "icicle," without the demonic descent into absolute anarchy.
5) The Concord Sonata. This is a tough listen and it took me multiple listens to start to engage with it. It's far more jagged and unpredictable than any other Ives piece. But it also has some of his most moving moments: the opening to the Alcotts movement, and the end of the fourth movement especially. This is one place where recordings matter, but good ones abound: Jeremy Denk's recent release is quite good; Pierre Aimard released a performance coupled with songs performed by Susan Graham that is excellent; and there's an easy-to-find performance by Marc-Andre hamelin that is very good.
Those should start you off. Let me know if you have questions
-thebigfunk
~ i could still snort you under the table ~
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