Edgard Varèse - Ionisation

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Edgard Varèse (1883 - 1965) - Ionisation (1929 - 1931)

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra, Pierre Boulez (1977)

Ionisation is a work for 13 percussionists playing almost 40 percussion instruments. A typical performance lasts around 6 minutes.

"In 1917, Varèse boldly announced that he longed 'for instruments which are obedient to my thought and whim, with their contribution of a whole new world of unsuspected sounds, which will lend themselves to the exigencies of my inner rhythm.' From 1918 to 1936, Varèse abandoned tradition almost completely. Hyperprism of 1923, for example, provoked a riot at its premiere. During his quest for new sonorities and effects, which climaxed in Ionisation, Varèse incorporated new musical instruments wherever possible. Ionisation, composed between 1929 and 1931, attracted the greatest interest and divergent critical opinions of all his works. The score introduced the electrical siren as a musical instrument for the very first time, and denoted the start of Varèse' increasing interest in electronic music. Nicolas Slonimsky conducted it at Carnegie Hall, on March 6, 1933, and the composer later dedicated the work to him. Carlos Salzedo, Henry Cowell, Paul Creston, and William Schuman performed as some of the 13 instrumentalists required. Its effect was likened by a critic at the time to receiving 'a sock in the jaw.' Varèse argued in his defence that 'in music we composers are forced to use instruments that have not changed for two centuries....Composers like anyone else today are delighted to use the many gadgets continually put on the market for our daily comfort. But when they hear sounds that no violins, wind instruments, or percussion of the orchestra can produce, it does not occur to them to demand those sounds for science. Yet science is even now equipped to give them everything they may require.'

The title is derived from the ionization of molecules, as electrons are dispersed through the process of atomic change. In Ionisation, rhythmic cells are expanded, varied, and contrasted against one another. Their timbre keeps them identifiable as each cell becomes more involved and larger, and these cells grow in such a way that renders them independent of one another. The dramatic contour is in the degrees to which these rhythmic cells, which evolve into recognizable blocks of sound, seem to not be working together, continually growing and expanding the soundscape with the friction of their coexistence. Occasional relief is found in rhythmic unisons, that bind the separate blocks of sound into a single, propulsive rush, but there are not many. Varèse loved the unmanageable aspects of nature, the things that humans have no control over, and reveled in the way that, from our perspective, nature does not run smoothly."

(source: AllMusic)

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Varese said he wanted to compose a score to the cats fighting in the alley behind is house, and now here we have this.

jasonlambert
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바레즈- 이온화 : 13명의 연주자와 35개의 다양한 타악기, 전통적 관현악번으로 부터 해방, 리듬셍의 확장과 변화를 통해 곡이 구성되고 있으며, 다양한 음색의 타악기와 사이렌과 사자 울음소리등의 비음악적 소리를 포함

허민-yf
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Really amazing. So much is in this work!!!

simonkawasaki
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You can tell that frank zappa studied this score and composed using (copied) some of these same techniques and orchestrations. The texture at 4:32 is used in Frank Zappa's "Black Page." The link below is a link to "Black Page" by Zappa plays Zappa which is Zappa's son's group that only plays Zappa compositions.

komitaskomitaskomitas
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Zappa mentioned this piece on "The Real Frank Zappa Book". That's why I am here!

rainerKafka
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My gf texted me in the middle of this and my phone vibrated. Now that... Was pure bliss

olegkuvshinov
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Say what you will, this was one of the first to be an "out there" composition and performance, yet also be mentioned in "the media".

markb
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Was Brian Wilson listening to this when he composed The Beach Boys,
“The Elements: Part 1 - Fire (Mrs.O’Leary’s Cow) in 1967?

Sam
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One of frank zappas personal favourites. Rightly so

juanfilipwinifred
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Another cookie-cutter pop song from Varèse.

tarnopol
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Who is here after reading of Frank Zappa?

distractedspaces
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not a bad little percussion piece. "The present day composer refuses to die."

ellenrosenblatt
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Pretty cool that he and Hedy Lamar got together and figured out how to bypass jamming signals in the first World War!

karenpalmer
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Sorry to disappoint, but Varèse brought me here, not Frank Zappa Shmappa whatever

vincem
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Gungans preparing for war with the Trade Federation

gordonfreeman
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Breakfast Vinnie interview with Gary Chaffee brought me here.

patricktiglao
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este instrumento que suena como una sirena... ¿sería algo muy "moderno" en la época en la que esta pieza fue compuesta?

Blueaspen
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Chi ha pubblicato la partitura? :-)))
Durand? :-)))

MagoLerio
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All i can imagien is a mafia city thriving with crime even though its riddled with cops

elbert