# Article in the Times about Varese



## Fsharpmajor (Dec 14, 2008)

This article appeared in the Times today:

*http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/classical/article7091652.ece*


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## rojo (May 26, 2006)

That was an interesting read, thanks Fsharp. 

I read this article last night, then went and listened to two works by Varese that I hadn't heard yet, _Ameriques_ and _Arcana._ I'm already familiar with other works by him, such as _Ionisation_ and _Density 21.5._

Hard to believe these works are already 30 years old or thereabouts.

Dropping bombs indeed. Very enjoyable ones, too.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Those works are much older than only 30 years, _Ameriques_ is from the early 1920's & _Arcana_ from roughly the same time. Varese died in 1965...

This is an interesting article that provides a good overview of the impact of Varese's music over the last century now. He was really a groundbreaker, and highly influential on the development of music (not only classical) right up to this day.

At first, when I heard his music (in 2002), I thought it was just cacophony. But it took some time for me to go away and think about it and 'absorb' it's ideas in different ways. By 2008 he was amongst my favourite composers, amongst those that I know. Of his small catalogue, I've heard and enjoyed everything, except the _Poeme Electronique_.

As the article says, because of the vast array of (odd!) forces and combinations that he calls for, his music is rarely performed live. What is happening in the U.K. and Amsterdam is an excellent thing. Varese should have more publicity, him and many others like him. I think that some of the so-called "icons" and "sacred cows" of C20th classical (like Stravinsky) are vastly overrated, it's about time we reassessed the "actual" rather than the "traditional" or "conservative" history of C20th classical. Lesser-known composers like Varese, Cowell, Ornstein, Roslavets and even Ives are part of that history, and should carry equal (if not more?) weight than the usual suspects.

By the way, I know that _Ionisation_ is being performed in Perth, Western Australia, at some time this year. I can't easily go there (I'm on the Eastern side of the country, in Sydney). This is also a great thing & shows that someone in Perth is adventurous to program this kind of music, unlike our own Sydney Symphony Orchestra here that prefers feeding the audience with the regular diet of classical "greatest hits." Oh well, at least some things are changing, some people are more progressive...


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## rojo (May 26, 2006)

Oops. I guess I got some dates mixed up. I was reading about performance dates, and some pieces were mentioned in terms of when they were performed. Damn, that's the second time I got caught mixing up dates, first in the slinky thread and now this. That'll teach me to post late at night.

Thanks Andre.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

My kind of article


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