EDGARD VARÈSE (1883-1965): Orchestral Works, Vol. 2 - Amériques (original 1921 version; Elizabeth Watts [soprano]), Écuatorial (Thomas Bloch [ondes martenot], Men's Voices of Camerata Silesia), Nocturnal (Watts [soprano] Men's Voices of CS), Dance for Burgess, Tuning Up, Hyperprism, Un grand Sommeil noir (Watts [soprano], Lyndon-Gee [piano]), Ionisation, Density 21.5 (Maria Grochowska [flute]).

Description: Coming a mere seven years after volume one (offered in our Sept. 2001) catalogue, this is one of the most remarkable Naxos releases yet. Not only what passes for "standard Varèse", but also such rarities as the 1947 Tuning Up - a commission for the New York PO and Stokowski in whose five minutes, various fragments of Amériques, Arcana, Intégrales, Ionisation and otherworks emerge from a mist of repeated As (reconstructed in 1998 from two sketches by Chou Wen-Chung) - and 1949's Dance for Burgess, which is a 90-second occasional "dance" in quite avant-garde style for a Broadway production Burgess Meredith was in (which had mobiles for sets by Alexander Calder and which closed during its first week)! An amazing ten full pages of notes by the conductor make this a full-price issue in everything but actual price. Spanish/French-English texts. Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra; Christopher Lyndon-Gee.