Varèse: (R)evolution

Edgard Varèse puts many a contemporary music-maker to shame. Works such as Hyperprism and Integrales, composed in 1923 and 1925 respectively, still sound so radical in comparison to so much of today's music. This is especially true when performed by a group as dedicated to radical music as the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE).

The first of a two night retrospective of Varèse's complete works at the Lincoln Centre this month consisted of just that. Alice Tully Hall was sold out to a very young audience, a majority of whom seemed to be between 20 and 40 years of age. Attending concerts like this can be a confusing experience. A strange mixture of feelings... initial exhilaration at the thought of such a well attended concert of new music, followed by a biting cynicism when one realises that this "new" music was composed almost 90 years ago. This tangential discrepancy was enhanced as Poème électronique blurted out from the speakers, its synthesised groans and beeps creating waves of chuckling that moved throughout the audience.

Following a luke-warm rendition of Un Grand Sommeil Noir (soprano Anu Komski's voice was not well suited to either piece on the first night) ICE took to the stage in a variety of chamber ensemble combinations for the performances of Hyperprism, Offrandes, Intégrales and Ecuatorial. These four pieces, by far the highlight of both concerts, completely changed the way I hear Varèse's music. The sharply dissonant sonorities, radical syntax and rhythmically disjunct gestures were executed with a violence rarely heard in acoustic concert music. Peter Evans' trumpet solo in Offrandes turned the piece from a passive/polite chamber piece for soprano and ensemble into an urgent and chaotic affair, only just holding itself together. Throughout all four pieces the combined forces of ICE's wind section (Claire Chase, Joshua Rubin and Nicholas Materson in particular) delivered fortissimo sonorities in their collective altissimo registers at ear shattering levels of intensity, achieving a physical impact I had previously assumed was unique to amplified music.

The second half of the concert wasn't too spectacular. Dance for Burgess was brief and enjoyable but followed by the uninspiring Density 21.5 and the positively dreadful Étude pour Espace, which proved to be enough to drain my listening ears of the energy required to fully appreciate Déserts.



Part II, featuring the New York Philharmonic, was a more consistent evening, but a less spectacular one. Ionisation opened the concert and sounded great in Avery Fisher Hall. Taken at quite a fast tempo, much of the granular qualities of the work to be found in the two recordings I have heard (Chailly and Boulez) were subsumed into a macrostructure of textural shifting and swells. Octandre was also beautifully performed, both the performance and the composition lending itself to a more conservative interpretation than the larger chamber ensemble pieces of the previous night. Subtleties in orchestration and texture came through much more hearing this piece live than it does in recording. The clearly audible double bass part adds a lot of definition to the piece.

Tuning Up provided a nice break in the concert and much laughter before settling down for a long and loud rendition of Arcana before the intermission. A truly awe inspiring work for orchestra, the massed forces of the New York Philharmonic filled the Avery Fisher Hall with the sound of Varèse's "apocalyptic star."

Following the intermission, soprano Anu Komsi returned for Nocturnal, Varèse's final project. Ms. Komsi's voice was much more appropriate for this piece, her dry mid range fitting the context of the piece perfeclty, and her incredible control over the whistle register enabled her to blend with and emerge from the orchestra as required. This was an impressive and profound performance of a dark and disturbing work.

Following such a lengthy concert, the 25-minute Amériques was more a case of being absorbed into a frenetic and turbulent landscape than one of concentrated listening. Here Varèse clearly articulate his disposition for loudness, as the piece moves from dynamic peak to dynamic peak, reaching its catharsis in the final measures as the NY Philharmonic attempted to shake the bolts holding the auditorium chair's to the floor loose.

varèse: (R)evolution from ICE on Vimeo.