Edgar Varese-BOULEZ CONDUCTS VARESE (1977) Columbia Masterworks

Edgar Varese-BOULEZ CONDUCTS VARESE (Columbia Masterworks 1977)
(This L.P. won the Grammy award in 1979 for "Best engineered Classical Album").

I've made this post so large in order to give folks a look at the orchestration- the percussion section is of particular interest to me. The wire sculpture at the bottom is by Alexander Calder. (All photos were acquired by searching "Edgar Varese photos".)

wiki sez: (Wiki articles are accessible by clicking on titles)

Edgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, French pronunciation: [ɛdgaːʁ viktɔːʁ aʃil ʃaʁl vaʁɛːz], whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse[1] (December 22, 1883 – November 6, 1965), was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States.

Varèse's music emphasizes timbre and rhythm. He was the inventor of the term "organized sound", a phrase meaning that certain timbres and rhythms can be grouped together, sublimating into a whole new definition of music. Although his complete surviving works only last about three hours, he has been recognized as an influence by several major composers of the late 20th century. His use of new instruments and electronic resources led to his being known as the "Father of Electronic Music" while Henry Miller described him as "The stratospheric Colossus of Sound".

From the back cover notes (enclosed):

Ionisation was first performed at a Carnegie Hall concert March 6,1933. With Nicolas Slonimsky conducting.It was received with enormous enthusiasm by one part of the audience and whit horror - struck puzzlement by the other.
The Impact of the new work seemed all the greater for its brevity: it lasts barely six minutes.(...)

Ionisation (1929–1931) features the expansion and variation of rhythmic cells, and the title refers to the ionization of molecules. As the composer later described, "I was not influenced by composers as much as by natural objects and physical phenomena."
Varèse also acknowledged the influence of the Italian Futurist artists Luigi Russolo and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in the composition of this work.

Arcana is based on a single idea, which Varese called an idee fixe rather than a conventionally symphonic theme. This "obsessive idea" consists of eleven notes, which are basically only three: and ascending minor third repeated in a syncopated rhythm.

Amériques Was written between 1918 and 1921 and revised in 1927, it is scored for a very large, romantic orchestra with additional percussion (for eleven performers) including sirens. It was the first work Varèse composed after he moved to the United States, and although it was not his first work, he destroyed many of his earlier pieces, effectively making Amériques his opus one (although he never used that designation).[1]

Structurally, the work is in one movement which lasts for around twenty-three minutes, with full orchestral involvement virtually throughout. The work is marked by its fiercely dissonant chords, and rhythmically complex polyphonies for percussion and wind. It develops in continuous evolution with recurring short motifs, which are juxtaposed without development.
Varèse intended the title Amériques to symbolize "discoveries - new worlds on earth, in the sky, or in the minds of men."

Amériques is scored for the following very large orchestra with additional percussion:

Woodwinds

3 Piccolos
4 Flutes
Alto Flute
4 Oboes
English Horn
Heckelphone
E-flat clarinet
4 Clarinets in B-flat
Bass Clarinet
Contrabass Clarinet
4 Bassoons
2 Contrabassoons

Brass
8 Horns in F6 Trumpets
4 Tenor Trombones
Bass Trombone
Bass Tuba
2 Contrabass Tubas

Percussion
Timpani (2 players)



13 Percussion Players

1: Xylophone, Triangle, Ratchet, Sleigh Bells
2: Glockenspiel, Lion's Roar, Ratchet, Whip
3: Tambourine, Gong
4: Celesta, 2 Bass Drums, Slapsticks, Gong, Triangle, Lion's Roar
5: 2 Bass Drums, Slapsticks
6: Castanets, Sleigh Bells
7: Sleigh Bells, Siren, Boat Whistle, Wind Machine
8: Cymbals, Gong
9: Snare Drum
10: Crow Call, Sleigh Bells, Lion's Roar,
Wind Machine, Triangle, Slapsticks
11: Slapsticks, Lion's Roar, Sleigh Bells, Whip
12: Whip, Triangle, Slapsticks, Wind Machine
13: Sleigh Bells, Slapsticks, Gong, Triangle

"Interior Fanfare"
4 Trumpets (2 in E-flat, 2 in D)
3 Trombones (2 Tenor, Bass)

Strings
2 Harps

Violins I, II (16 each)
Violas (14)
Violoncellos (10)
Double basses (10) (with low C extensions)

The revised version of 1927 reduced the instrumentation.(...)























Edgard Varese- BOULEZ CONDUCTS VARESE (CBS Records, 1977)

Side One:
1: Ameriques (1918-'21, Rev. 1927) (24:44)

Side Two:
2: Ionisation (1929-31) (6:07)
3: Arcana (1927) (18:22)

The New York Philharmonic,
Conducted by Pierre Boulez.



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The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse Volume 1

Edgard Varèse - The Complete Works of Edgard Varèse Volume 1

Edgard Varèse belongs to the generation of Bela Bartok, Igor Stravinsky, and Anton Webern. Each of these composers produced a music of extreme individuality, like nothing of his contemporaries, and a radical break with that of the previous century. They may be said to have carried music to the limits of atomization, where one or another of its different elements seem to predominate. It is the irony of Varèse's career that no composer has been more highly esteemed by his fellow composers as music thinker, craftsman and teacher, and yet his public performances have been few. The reason is not that his works present any great difficulty to the ear, but rather that they demand so sharp a break with concert-hall traditions of instrumental sound and method of performance.

...

Varèse has helped make musical history in other ways than in his own music. In France and in Germany he was in the forefront of musical experiment. Living in the United States since 1916, he took a leading part in the first presentation of concerts of twentieth century music, organizing the International Composers Guild in July 1921 and declaring in a manifesto, "the present-day composer refuses to die!" He does not ascribe any esoteric meaning to the naming of his works, saying, "It serves as a convenient means of cataloging the work. Usually the title is found after the music is finished." The titles do suggest however, his deep interest in the relationships of music and science.

DENSITY 21.5, for solo flute, was written in 1936 for the inauguration of the platinum flute of Georges Barrere. 21.5 is the density of platinum. It is Varèse's melodic writing at its purest and a clue to the melodic line in all of his works. It opens simply, revolving about a single note as a tonal center, with a second note, a fifth above, appearing as a dominant. Then the range covered by the flute expands, suggesting the presence of many widely separated antiphonal voices, and moving from one tonal plane to another in a way that creates a remarkable sense of harmonic satisfaction. The high register, used fortissimo, also helps the illusion of the presence of more than one instrument.

IONIZATION (1924) displays the other extreme of Varèse's work, being written for thirteen performers who use thirty-five different percussion instruments. It is built on a most sensitive handling and contrast of different kinds of percussive sounds. There are those indefinite in pitch, like the bass drum, snare drum, wood blocks and cymbals; those of relatively definite musical pitch, such as the piano and chimes; those of continuously moving pitch, like the sirens and "lions roar." It is an example of "spatial construction, building up to a great complexity of interlocking "planes" of rhythm and timbre, and then relaxing the tension with the slowing of rhythm, the entrance of the chimes, and the enlargement of the "silences" between sounds. There are suggestions of the characteristic sounds of modern city life. Varèse says, although not in reference to this particular work, "whole symphonies of new sounds have come into the industrial world and have been all our lives..."

OCTANDRE (1924) is a chamber work written for flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, French horn, trumpet, trombone and contrabass. Here the kind of melodic writing heard in DENSITY 21.5 reaches heights of polyphonic interweaving, with a most sensitive exploration of the characteristics of each instrument, heard for example in the oboe line opening the first movement, the flutes opening the second, and the bassoon opening the third. Each of the three movements is, as in Asiatic music, a different "song" with its own slow and fast passages.

INTEGRALES (1926) combines the melodic textures of OCTANDRE with the percussive sounds of IONIZATION. Two flutes, two clarinets, two trumpets, three trombones, all of different register, along with oboe and French horn, are heard above a large percussion battery handled by four performers. Distinct themes are presented and developed both polyphonically and according to the characteristics of the different instruments which take them up. The work may be described as having an exposition, a "spatial" polyphonic development, a recapitulation, and an impressive, climatic coda. (Sidney Finkelstein)

Recorded during May and June 1950.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Integrales {10:27}

Performed by New York Wind Ensemble and Juilliard Percussion Orchestra

2. Density 21.5 {4:09}

Performed by Rene Le Roy - flute solo

Side 2

1. Ionisation {5:23}

Performed by Juilliard Percussion Orchestra

2. Octandre {7:29}

Performed by New York Wind Ensemble

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Works by Varèse, Chávez, Cage and Harrison

Amadinda Percussion Group - Works by Varèse, Chávez, Cage and Harrison

AMADINDA PERCUSSION GROUP
Zoltán Rácz, Károly Bojtos, Zsolt Sárkány (tracks 1-4, track 9), Zoltán Váczi

track 1 Ionisation
composed by Edgard Varèse
features two sirens
Zoltán Kocsis - piano

track 2 Toccata
composed by Carlos Chávez
traditional music adapted to percussion instruments
Aurél Holló, Benedek Tóth - additional percussion

track 3 4' 33"
composed by John Cage
recorded at Szombathely, Börzsöny Hills
Perhaps Cage's most famous and controversial piece. This piece was written without any music. The musician(s) are supposed to remain silent for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Any ambient noise in the room would be the music during the performance.

track 4 Double Music
composed by John Cage and Lou Harrison
Both Cage and Harrison wrote two parts for this piece independent of each other.

track 5 Amores: I. Solo for Prepared Piano
composed by John Cage
Zoltán Kocsis - piano
The prepared piano is like a percussion ensemble where each key plays a percussion instrument.

track 6 Amores: II. Trio: Nine Tom-Toms, Pod Rattle
composed by John Cage

track 7 Amores: III. Trio: Seven Woodblocks
composed by John Cage

track 8 Amores: IV. Solo for Prepared Piano
composed by John Cage
Zoltán Kocsis - piano

track 9 Third Construction
composed by John Cage
This piece has 24 sections each with 24 bars.

Tracklisting:

1. Ionisation {5:46}

2. Toccata {11:46}

3. 4' 33" {4:33}

4. Double Music {7:05}

5. Amores: I. Solo for Prepared Piano {1:10}

6. Amores: II. Trio: Nine Tom-Toms, Pod Rattle {3:00}

7. Amores: III. Trio: Seven Woodblocks {1:18}

8. Amores: IV. Solo for Prepared Piano {3:52}

9. Third Construction {10:06}

(MP1) or (FL1)

Music of Varèse

Edgard Varèse - Music of Varèse

Déserts for four orchestral groups and tape - performed by Paris Instrumental Ensemble for Contemporary Music and conducted by Konstantin Simonovitch; Electronic Tape realized by Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center

Hyperprism for small orchestra and percussion - performed by Paris Instrumental Ensemble for Contemporary Music and conducted by Konstantin Simonovitch

Intégrales for small orchestra and percussion - performed by Paris Instrumental Ensemble for Contemporary Music and conducted by Konstantin Simonovitch

Density 21.5 for flute alone - performed by Michel Debost

Tracklisting:

Side One

1. Déserts {27:45}

Side Two

1. Hyperprism {4:23}

2. Intégrales {11:09}

3. Density 21.5 {3:57}

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