Edgard Varèse - BBC Total Immersion Day 6th May 2017

[Beef Oven!]

The very recording which introduced FVZ to EV's music has been re-issued on él label:



It appears to be currently out of print. With labels like él you have to strike while the iron is hot.

I’m sure I came across that last year, but passed it over. What have I missed out on, Bryn?

Edit: It’s available on Qobuz for £5.49 as 16 Bit download. I think that’s where I saw it.

[Bryn]

Re. #14, which version of the interpolations do you prefer? Until David Atherton used the original Paris version in 1984 I had only ever heard the second Columbia-Princeton tapes.

[Bryn]

I’m sure I came across that last year, but passed it over. What have I missed out on, Bryn?

Edit: It’s available on Qobuz for £5.49 as 16 Bit download. I think that’s where I saw it.

Only really of interest as a way to hear what exactly FVZ found so captivating. It is mono,so the spacial aspects are missing. There again, the Déserts interpolations make an interesting complement to the Boulez recordings.

[Beef Oven!]

Re. #14, which version of the interpolations do you prefer? Until David Atherton used the original Paris version in 1984 I had only ever heard the second Columbia-Princeton tapes.

I don’t know which ones are which and the CD booklets are silent on the matter. But for example, I prefer the ones Chailly uses over the ones that Lyndon-Gee uses.

[Beef Oven!]

Currently listening on Apple Music to this very interesting version of Poème électronique arranged by Evan Hause and performed by Alarm Will Sound.

[Bryn]

I don’t know which ones are which and the CD booklets are silent on the matter. But for example, I prefer the ones Chailly uses over the ones that Lyndon-Gee uses.

Chailly (as credited in the booklet track listing) used "Original tape provided by the Columbia University Computer Music Center", as did Craft. I don't have the Lyndon-Gee immediately to hand but seem to recall he, like Nagano and Atherton, used the true original Paris interpolations. Too late tonight but I will give the 1968 Concertgebouw/Maderna a spin on the morrow.

[Bryn]

Currently listening on Apple Music to this very interesting version of Poème électronique arranged by Evan Hause and performed by Alarm Will Sound.

I must investigate.

[Beef Oven!]

Chailly (as credited in the booklet track listing) used "Original tape provided by the Columbia University Computer Music Center", as did Craft. I don't have the Lyndon-Lee immediately to hand but seem to recall he, like Nagano and Atherton, used the true original Paris interpolations. Too late tonight but I will give the 1968 Concertgebouw/Maderna a spin on the morrow.

Indeed it does on page 5 of 61 pages!!! I looked all through that booklet last night and couldn’t see it! I will re-check the Nagano & Lyndon-Gee booklets to see if I’ve overlooked those too.

The Maderna sounds interesting. CD, vinyl?

Edit: I can’t find anything regarding the tapes used in the Nagano and Lyndon-Gee booklets. I’ll google it.

[Bryn]

Indeed it does on page 5 of 61 pages!!! I looked all through that booklet last night and couldn’t see it! I will re-check the Nagano & Lyndon-Gee booklets to see if I’ve overlooked those too.

The Maderna sounds interesting. CD, vinyl?

Edit: I can’t find anything regarding the tapes used in the Nagano and Lyndon-Gee booklets. I’ll google it.

The Nagano I recognised from the Atherton performances of 20th January 1984. I will listen to the Lyndon-Gee before the Maderna (which is in Volume 3 of the (R?)CO Radio Archive series and, of course, the big RCO boxed set. Here's the premier performance:

[Beef Oven!]

The Nagano I recognised from the Atherton performances of 20th January 1984. I will listen to the Lyndon-Gee before the Maderna (which is in Volume 3 of the (R?)CO Radio Archive series and, of course, the big RCO boxed set. Here's the premier performance:

Many thanks indeed.

[Beef Oven!]

My goodness! The audience in that first performance! How rude. Jeering, laughing, hooting, whistling, shouting, talking ..... I’ve witnessed better behaviour at Milwall!

Was Varese present?

If I could time travel, I’d go back to last week and play the lottery again.

One reads about premieres like Rite of Spring etc, but to actually hear it all is a real eye-opener (I know. Don’t write in).

[Bryn]

I believe he was indeed there. The 'audience participation' was on a similar level to that which greeted the Cheltenham Festival premier of Cardew's The Great Digest, Paragraph 1 in 1968.

[Pulcinella]

The March 2017 issue of Gramophone has as its Gramophone Collection Varèse's Ameriques.

Historical classic: Utah SO/Abravanel
Essential 1922 version: RCO/Chailly
Benchmark: Cleveland O/Dohnányi
Modern classic: Seattle Symphony/Morlot

(Haven't read the article yet, but thought the choices worth posting.)

[Bryn]

The March 2017 issue of Gramophone has as its Gramophone Collection Varèse's Ameriques.

Historical classic: Utah SO/Abravanel
Essential 1922 version: RCO/Chailly
Benchmark: Cleveland O/Dohnányi
Modern classic: Seattle Symphony/Morlot

(Haven't read the article yet, but thought the choices worth posting.)

Happy to go along with their assessment, on the whole.

[Beef Oven!]

The March 2017 issue of Gramophone has as its Gramophone Collection Varèse's Ameriques.

Historical classic: Utah SO/Abravanel
Essential 1922 version: RCO/Chailly
Benchmark: Cleveland O/Dohnányi
Modern classic: Seattle Symphony/Morlot

(Haven't read the article yet, but thought the choices worth posting.)

Thanks for the heads-up on this, I hadn’t realised March’s issue is available. I’m looking at the Varèse article now.

Edit: I decided to download the Abravanel/Utah from Qobuz on 16 bit CD quality. I have a soft spot for MA & USO and have a great Honegger disc, Sibelius cycle and some others.

I also downloaded a Hi-Res recording of the Merlot/Seattle.