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Custodian 
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Joined: December 12 2004
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 Topic: Zappa Varese question
Posted: January 07 2005 at 21:30 |
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Does anybody know what Varese LP it was that Frank Zappa found as a boy? I remember reading the story that a record store was using it as a demonstration disc for sound equipment (or something like that). The clerk told FZ it was terrible but Zappa bought it and was greatly inspired by it. I've always wanted to hear the actual album that so affected him. I'd like to try searching for it on eBay or GEMM.
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Velvetclown
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Posted: January 08 2005 at 03:09 |
The Complete Works of Edgard Varese Volume I
. . . Integrales, Density 21.5, Ionization, Octandre . Rene Le Roy, the N. Y. Wind
Ensemble, the Juilliard Percussion Orchestra, Frederic Waidman Conducting.
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Certif1ed
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Posted: January 08 2005 at 04:51 |
It's awesome music, alright - I particularly like Ionisation, although Varese went on to produce even better work, such as Hyperprism.
Takes a bit of getting used to if you don't normally listen to avant-garde music - but if you do, then you'll appreciate the incredible, innovative textures in terms of both sound and experimentation outside of tonality.
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Richardw
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Posted: January 08 2005 at 05:56 |
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Ah, it's good to be in the company of such musical thoroughbreds as 'Velvetclown' and 'Certif1ed'. Nice to know "You Are Not Alone". Try Charles Ives too while you're at it.
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Velvetclown
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Posted: January 08 2005 at 06:10 |
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Certif1ed
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Posted: January 08 2005 at 08:24 |
...also add Luciano Berio, Bruno Maderna and Pierre Boulez. 
I'm not a fan of Boulez, but he has been incredibly active not only as a composer, but as a conductor and interpretor of the music of other 20th Century composers, and someone who has kept the flame burning for that music which is so hard to understand that most people simply write it off.
It's biggest problem, IMO, is that it was and still generally is decades ahead of its time.
I've never quite taken to the music of Charles Ives, although I liked his superimposition technique. Would you recommend a particular work, richardw?
Edited by Certif1ed
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Richardw
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Posted: January 08 2005 at 08:44 |
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I really like ''Symphony #1'' of the orchestral works; and the piano & organ works too, such as ''Variations on 'America' '' etc . Ives is not easy listening at all though. I can understand why a lot of people find his music inaccessible.
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Velvetclown
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Posted: January 08 2005 at 08:48 |
Most people does not have an open mind 
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Certif1ed
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Posted: January 08 2005 at 09:05 |
 Richardw wrote:
I really like ''Symphony #1'' of the orchestral works; and the piano & organ works too, such as ''Variations on 'America' '' etc . Ives is not easy listening at all though. I can understand why a lot of people find his music inaccessible. |
Heh! I'm very into music that is inaccessible - I really dig trying to find a way in. If there's more than one, then all the better 
What normally switches me off about the little Ives I have heard is that it seems somewhat whimsical and nostalgic, and lacks the degree of effortlessness that I crave in all music.
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Velvetclown
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Posted: January 08 2005 at 09:38 |
LSO album is really beautiful 
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Syzygy
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Posted: January 08 2005 at 12:12 |
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There's a great double CD on VoxBox called Ionisation, which combines the pieces on Complete Works vol.1 (though not the same recordings) with works by Penderecki and Ligeti. It's a useful introduction to three highly challenging composers, at least two of whom (Varese and Ligeti) had an important influence on the more avant garde end of prog.
Edited by Syzygy
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'Like so many of you
I've got my doubts about how much to contribute
to the already rich among us...'
Robert Wyatt, Gloria Gloom
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Dick Heath
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Joined: April 19 2004
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Posted: January 08 2005 at 19:20 |
Velvetclown wrote:
The Complete Works of Edgard Varese Volume I
. . . Integrales, Density 21.5, Ionization, Octandre . Rene Le Roy, the N. Y. Wind
Ensemble, the Juilliard Percussion Orchestra, Frederic Waidman Conducting.
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I was told a very long time ago by a school music master that Density 21.5, was
written for a flautist who was supposed to play a flute made from
osmium (one of the most dense elements), to give the desired resonances
- in comparison, for instance, flute maestro James Galway plays a gold
flute. Osmium tetroxide is used to stain organic samples in prep for
electon microscopy - however, the jars of that chemical are marked
'highly toxic'. So was this piece intended to be for any flautist
who dares play it, their swansong???  The truth, anybody?
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Custodian
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Joined: December 12 2004
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Posted: January 11 2005 at 17:38 |
Velvetclown wrote:
The Complete Works of Edgard Varese Volume I . . . Integrales, Density 21.5, Ionization, Octandre . Rene Le Roy, the N. Y. Wind Ensemble, the Juilliard Percussion Orchestra, Frederic Waidman Conducting.
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Thanks for the info. Nobody on GEMM seems to have a copy for sale at the moment. I've added it to my favorite eBay searches. Now I'll just wait and see...
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Certif1ed
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Posted: January 12 2005 at 02:35 |
There's an album entitled "Complete Works of Edgard Varese" on Amazon.
Reading between the lines of the reviews, it seems that there is a lot of questionable interpretation on the recordings on this album - but it's still an available collection of the 15 surviving compositions of this amazing composer and the consensus of the reviews seems to be that the quality is generally very good;
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000AFR8/qid%3D1105 515218/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/102-2205507-0912156
Note that you can listen to a sample of each track - I immediately jumped to Ionisation, Hyperprism, Poem Electronique, and Octandre (I+II), and I might well buy a copy of this myself!
Edited by Certif1ed
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Custodian
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Posted: January 16 2005 at 16:54 |
Thanks for the recommendation, Certif1ed. I like the reviewer on Amazon that said this set makes him "cry out all of my biles." I'm not sure I want to risk listening to it.
I don't have a lot of classical music in my collection. Some Bach. Some Beethoven, although my favorite Beethoven are Wendy Carlos' electronic interpretations on the Clockwork Orange soundtrack. I also have some more avant-garde classical music by the likes of John Cage and Gavin Bryars. Does anyone have opinions of them to share?
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Zappa Varese question
