Varese, Braxton, and Naqvi, Orchestral Works; H&N, Sat 28/4/18; 10:00pm

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Whilst being very impatient for next week's broadcast, this one looks pretty good, too. Tom Service presents a concert recorded in the QEH on 18th April by the BBC Symph ... no; hold on! - it's the BBC CONCERT Orchestra, with the BBC Singers.

Qasim Ali Naqvi(b1977): The Bad Feelings Rainbow (world premiere)
Tyondai Braxton(b1978): Telekinesis (world premiere)
Edgard Varese(1883-1965): Deserts

Note that Naqvi's name is misspelt on the H&N website!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b11956

[Bryn]

I did not attend the concert. I wonder which, if any, version of the tapes they used for Déserts.

[Serial_Apologist]

Rather than resort to a Google! spoiler, I'm looking forward to finding out if Tyondai Braxton is any relation to Anthony!

[Bryn]

Rather than resort to a Google! spoiler, I'm looking forward to finding out if Tyondai Braxton is any relation to Anthony!

Spoiler alert! I bet Richard Barrett did not have to check.

[Serial_Apologist]

Spoiler alert! I bet Richard Barrett did not have to check.

Somehow I feel I now know!

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Rather than resort to a Google! spoiler, I'm looking forward to finding out if Tyondai Braxton is any relation to Anthony!

His son. The Music Matters interview (very worth hearing) from a couple of weeks ago is still available:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09z5k4d

... starts at 33mins - but the Laurie Anderson interview is very good, too.

[Bryn]

Slightly, but only slightly, OT, the newly released él triple album misleadingly titled "Complete Works of Edgard Varèse Volume 1" has just dropped through the letterbox. I ordered it despite already having most of its content in different transfers (though in the case of the first disc, which lends its title to the boxed set, the transfers are the same as the earlier single él disc issue). I am rather pleased to find that the slip-cases for the second and third discs bear the cover illustrations of the original UK releases of the Robert Craft directed items. The real bonus though is the supplementary items, the World Premiere of Déserts (Scherchen), the first recording of a work by Varèse (Slonimsky's of Ionisation), a further recording of Ionisation directed by Paul Price, and Arcana conducted by Bernstein. Oh, and the Wergo recording of Density 21.5 (Severino Gazzeloni). There is also a well presented booklet which even includes a section on "Zappa and Varèse".

Recommended.

All in all a very attractive set of historical recordings.

[ahinton]

Slightly, but only slightly, OT, the newly released él triple album misleadingly titled "Complete Works of Edgard Varèse Volume 1" has just dropped through the letterbox. I ordered it despite already having most of its content in different transfers (though in the case of the first disc, which lends its title to the boxed set, the transfers are the same as the earlier single él disc issue). I am rether pleased to find that the slip-cases for the second and third discs bear the cover illustrations of the original UK releases of the Robert Craft directed items. The real bonus though is the sup[lementary items, the WOrld Premier of Déserts (Scherchen), the first recording of a work by Varèse (Slonimsky's of Ionisation, a further recording of Ionisation directed by Paul Price, and Arcana conducted by Bernstein. Oh, and the Wergo recording of Density 21.5 (Severino Gazzeloni). |There is also a well presented booklet which even includes a section on "Zappa and Varèse".

Recommended.

All in all a very attractive set of historical recordings.

Whilst we know that the scores of only two works composed prior to Varèse's relocation to US survived the apparent warehouse fire, of which the latter, Bourgogne, seems to have been destroyed by the composer very late in life and, as a consequence, we have a frustratingly partial view of Varèse, I've long hoped that the orchestral material used in what I believe was the only performance of Bourgogne might one day turn up somewhere (a most unlikely event but not necessarily beyond the bounds of possibility); given that Busoni and Strauss seem to have thought well of it yet its première apparently caused at least as much of a scandal as did certain works of Schönberg just before it and Le Sacre and Varèse's own works from the 1920s, it would indeed be fascinating is a full score could ever be produced from those orchestral parts (rather as the evidently disappeared score of Shostakovich's greatest symphony had to be recreated from the parts that were to be used for its abandoned première. The saddest aspect of this is, of course, that Varèse saw fit to destroy the full score of Bourgogne so late in life; he presumably must have considered that he had good reason to retain it for at least half a century...

[Serial_Apologist]

Whilst we know that the scores of only two works composed prior to Varèse's relocation to US survived the apparent warehouse fire of which the latter, Bourgogne, seems to have been destroyed by the composer very late in life and, as a consequence, we have a frustratingly partial view of Varèse, I've long hoped that the orchestral material used in what I believe was the only performance of Bourgogne might one day turn up somewhere (a most unlikely event but not necessarily beyond the bounds of possibility); given that Busoni and Strauss seem to have thought well of it yet its première apparently caused at least as much of a scandal as did certain works of Schönberg just before it and Le Sacre and Varèse's own works from the 1920s, it would indeed be fascinating is a full score could ever be produced from those orchestral parts (rather as the evidently disappeared score of Shostakovich's greatest symphony had to be recreated from the parts that were to be used for its abandoned première. The saddest aspect of this is, of course, that Varèse saw fit to destroy the full score of Bourgogne so late in life; he presumably must have considered that he had good reason to retain it for at least half a century...

Indeed - that gap has to be one of the most serious missing links in 20th century music.

[Bryn]

I did not attend the concert. I wonder which, if any, version of the tapes they used for Déserts.

It was the final version, made at Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center.

[Beef Oven!]

It was the final version, made at Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center.

Bryn, what are the other options? I'm curious and I can't access Wiki because the president doesn't like it.

[Bryn]

The other one which is available is the earliest, made in Paris, That can be heard in the premiere mentioned re. the él box, or in a more recent recording in the Nagano double album. I first heard the Paris tapes when David Atherton opted for them when he did the Ravel and Varèse survey at the South Bank halls, 1983-4. There was, IIRC, and interim version, also made at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. I will dig out my big Varèse book* and see if it offers more detail.

* I did not pay anything like the current Amazon price. I got 2 copies at around £20 or so each at the time of publication. One for me and one for member Barrett.

[Beef Oven!]

The other one which is available is the earliest, made in Paris, That can be heard in the premiere mentioned re. the él box, or in a more recent recording in the Nagano double album. I first heard the Paris tapes when David Atherton opted for them when he did the Ravel and Varèse survey at the South Bank halls, 1983-4. There was, IIRC, and interim version, also made at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center.

Thanks Bryn. I have the Nagano set.

I can't fathom why Pierre Boulez never observed their inclusion, and I don't understand on what authority he omits them.

[Bryn]

Thanks Bryn. I have the Nagano set.

I can't fathom why Pierre Boulez never observed their inclusion, and I don't understand on what authority he omits them.

Oh that's easy. Varèse himself offered the option of excluding the interpolations. The first disc in the él triple CD set has the original interpolations (in mono) without the orchestral parts (in addition to the recording of the premiere of the full Déserts).

Oh, and the 'big Varèse book' does not appear to mention an iterim version of the interpolations. I recall reading about them in my teens, in a book I no longer recall the title or author of.

[Beef Oven!]

Oh that's easy. Varèse himself offered the option of excluding the interpolations. The first disc in the él triple CD set has the original interpolations (in mono) without the orchestral parts (in addition to the recording of the premiere of the full Déserts).

Oh, and the 'big Varèse book' does not appear to mention an iterim version of the interpolations. I recall reading about them in my teens, in a book I no longer recall the title or author of.

Blimey, I never knew EV had sanctioned that. I can understand why - greater chance of performances if a straight orchestral run-through is an option, without the aggro of the electronic tapes. But why would an artist like Boulez, with such wherewithal, want to?