The £4.99 sticker on the front of this record says "Georgian Music Shop, Tel. Haslemere 2696". I'm pretty certain I've never been to any record shops in Haslemere. I think I got this at a stall in the foyer of the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1985. Back before the Meltdown festival, there was something a bit more 'high culture' on the South Bank during the summer, and in 1985 it was curated by Harrison Birtwistle. That summer I could get an off-peak return to Waterloo from Woking for under £2.50, so I went to several of the concerts in Birtwistle's series, which were themed around polyphony. It was the first time I came across Berio, heard Monteverdi, saw Electric Phoenix — and my first experience of Varèse.
Since then Varèse has been a fairly common staple of the kind of classical concerts I go to. He's easy to slot into a John Cage festival or to combine with a programme Stravinsky and Mark-Anthony Turnage, such as the one I saw the BBC Symphony Orchestra perform three years ago at the Barbican. I think programmers realise how refreshing Varèse's music still is in the middle of an evening, and, with all the sirens, it's fun to look at too.
I don't understand the theory, innovations and other cultural baggage around Varèse. I've read the articles and programme notes, but forgotten what they said. (I can hear shades of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in Varèse's Octandre, but then Stravinsky's piece predates the latter by over a decade, so, though Varèse may have influenced Zappa, he can't be claimed as an influence in that case.) The thing that strikes me is the sheer joy and vibrancy of the noises.
| Discogs entry for this album |
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