Not a symphony... Ionisation is a percussion piece for thirteen players, considered pioneer in the use of electronic devices to create new sounds in academic music (in this case, the sirens)
Drum ensamble. This is more avant garde, but I was in one in the late 70's in Vancouver WA. I think there were 14 of us, ran by a guy named Delayne Guild(e), it was extraordinary, sight reading only, I wish I had recordings. Thanks for posting. I had no idea this is what Delayne was after until I saw this.
If you can find a copy of the concert conducted in NYC by Leonard Slatkin right after 9/11, you'll hear an interesting piece of history. When Maestro Slatkin conduced the St. Louis Symphony, he had a habit of programming an entirely "modern" piece to start a concert. If the average music lover wanted to hear their pretty Schumann on the second half of the show, they had to sit through the first half. At his concert for 9/11... years after he left the SLSO for the American Orchestra in DC, right in the middle of the show, he programmed a snare drum solo. Bravo, Maestro!
That's because of the siren sound. Where I lived before all the dogs of my block (yes, ALL OF THEM) started to howl at the same time, every time the firemen of the neighborhood passed near by with the siren ON... and that was almost every day, pretty annoying... XD
then your dog is a coward. "Beauty in music is too often confused with something that lets the ears lie back in an easy chair. Many sounds that we are used to do not bother us, and for that reason we are inclined to call them beautiful. Frequently, when a new or unfamiliar work is accepted as beautiful on its first hearing, its fundamental quality is one that tends to put the mind to sleep. Stand up and take your dissonance like a man. I don’t write music for sissies. If music merely repeats itself, and becomes nothing but rote expressions of shallowness, then music will die. Charles Ives 1931
It hard to explore culture today because we are living in a commercial madhouse, culture like politics, or 'truth' is made by those who can scream the loudest. Everything is made of marketing, even dissent is absorbed and neatly packaged with nice labels, commercialised. and so..... Varese still sounds like a new voice
Just a remarkable performance. The courage, the dedication, and the conviction to the score and to the composer are evident in the performers' faces even if you are not clear on the methodology of the performance.
Very courageous to make music that 17 people find enjoyable. Bill Maher said it best, no one puts Frank Zappa on because they want to have a good time. This is in the category.
Fabulous piece of music -- I stumbled across this years ago on a compilation CD. All of Varese's music pushes the boundaries like this -- he took the idea of classical music and moved it into uncharted territory. Truly groundbreaking stuff. You can understand how this would have lit a creative fire in Frank Zappa's head.
I'm personally pretty fond of the "organized sound" definition. Despite what many claim, it doesn't necessary exclude a chaotic, random sound-source. The key is selection, if you tune your ears to a washing machine and ignore other audio input, you are acting as a sampling musician. You, the listener, is organizing the sounds. Even John Cage's famous experiments into the limits of music, like 4'33, are organized, just not in the way we are used too.
Imagine listening to this for the first time after growing up with R&B, rockabilly, country music and doowop. To the teenaged Frank Zappa it must have sounded on first hearing like it had been written by an alien.
@CiZination You will understand when you're older. The first time I listen to this I was 13, and it meant nothing to me. After listening to it constantly I woke up, and it was revelatory. Sorry for my english.
i used to hate the electronic sound movement, but to be fair the more you listen to it and accept that it really is there you understand why people enjoy it.
@aliciaamycouture This piece is actually played a lot on avant garde recitals, usually in a program of 20th century "sound" composers. These musicians are all percussionists. Theyre the ones in a symphony that play the timpany drums, the cymbals, etc. Varese wrote this piece just for percussion, in order to show how percussion can also be used to produce rhythm and music, in its own way.
John, there's 14 if you count the conductor. I got this on DC++ in 2005, and just for the info, I'm 99% sure Daniel Kawka is the conductor. I saw him conduct a French Ensemble here in São Paulo later that year (by the way, they played Varèse's "Octandre" that evening), and again last year, and I recognized him from this video - he looked pretty much like the same person to me.
It's not snobbery if you like it. It's snobbery if you think you have better taste than the mainstream because you like it, and that somehow makes you more intelligent and sophisticated than the mainstream.
+Eliezer Pennywhistler I have read to some authors whose opinion is in that way. Amadeo Roldán had written some little pieces just for percusion before Varèse, but Varèse is who writes a classical piece and universal (in occidental music) only for percusion.
+Roberto Rosillo-vich I was inspired from Ionization to compose a little music piece called "étude pour percussion". You can listen in the next link. I hope you like: myspace.com/rosillo-vich/music/songs
This is the first time I've heard an Edgar Varse composition. I can see why Frank Zappa liked him so much. I bet it's really hard to write music like this. And to play it too!
It is awesome to find an Edgard Varese piece played on RU-vid. I first listened to his work several years ago when I found out that he was one of Frank Zappa's influences. I came to find out he was one of Pink Floyd's influences also. There aren't many Varese pieces in existence. Pity...
what I love about listening to avant garde music like this is you never know if they're making mistakes. Unless you have the score in front of you, and even then...
@ArunNamboodiri That's called a "lion's roar." The string is rosined, and so the thing makes a loud groaning noise... Don't know how many pieces use one, but Ionisation will serve to keep it around.
Yes it is. It's just that being an intellectual gives you more reasons to enjoy it. Not only that but by understanding why you enjoy it, you know where to look for other similar works.
damn!!! I am from mexico (Veracruz) I played this piece back in 2008 in Oaxaca. I have no idea how did I perform this music, or better say "organized noise". I remember the whole adventure of getting the sirens from the local junk yards in Oaxaca... but I do not remember how the sheet music looks like.
Even if you personally don't enjoy this music, I think you have to respect the fact that it has inspired others to create, including Frank Zappa, a man who went on to write a LOT of music, music which has been enjoyed by many for years. Any piece of music that inspires others to create, and as a result, keeps music going, is in my opinion a force for good!
You do hear this layered through a lot of Zappa's works. I don't think if Zappa had never heard this he would have been so inspired to develop his art. Zappa has expressed a lot of emotion about Varese' works
Yes, musicians tend, sometimes, to be arrogant. But there is in this work an incredible complex analysis behind, and to realize all the turning points, the percussion games and the idea of the moments he processes, it's not easily identifiable. You have to learn in art what it takes to be art. You're not a waste of air, but you need to understand that this is more a game of comprehension rather than just listening. And for that you need to "train" you ear, as musicians normally do.
I had never heard a piece like this outside of the context of old films. Neat. I got the impression that this is desert music, but that may be because of the guy that turned me on to it. I have never seen so many percussionist babes in one room; wow.
I first heard of this piece in the 1970's as mentioned by Frank Zappa. A fascinating brew, not for everyday consumption. So pleased to have come across it once again.
crazy stuff, i just recently in an exam had to talk about the contrasts between this piece and Chavez's Toccata, never seeing them or hearing them before, but from the score theres lots to talk about, and it makes alot of sense now hearing it
Ty for info. It might be old but it's very fresh to my ears, I could quite happily spend a few years investigating and performing music like this. But I suppose the avant garde always has to be, well, avant garde!
I'm amazed how much passionate side-taking and debate is going on here. Personally, although I think this is incredibly cool and obviously groundbreaking on numerous levels, it is really not that weird anymore. Zappa's "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" may contain more conventions, but the combined effect of everything......
Fantastic, note it was only Varese early works pre 1915 that were destroyed and it was a warehouse fire in Berlin- not him going mad. Varese did later destroy his one remaining work for the period before he went to the US ie pre 1915. But his works are freely available on CD and he was producing new music up till the late 50's
Wonderful to see a video of this piece being performed, which is rare enough to be able to hear on record! That said, I think they could use some more rehearsing, because they are not very accurate sometimes. I look forward to viewing their "rematch" with the piece!
3rd of all I believe that "Ionisation" was the beginning of the end for Varese. Like all the other modernists, esp Reger and Schoenberg, Varese's intellectual growth soon took over his inspirational growth and his music soon became answers to mathematical problems, if I may put it in that way. "Ameriques" was the height of his inspiration and his genius. After Ionization his works were merely depicting portraits instead of producing music.
You're entitled to your own opinion. After all, music is about how it's perceived by the listener. I, as a composer and musician, understand what's going on because I studied it, but it doesn't mean I listen to it during my spare time.
It's amazing that 15 or so people were able to play off the sheet of music - the composition itself is rather nothing - i suppose it could be used as as a soundtrack to someone loosing sanity...
