Varèse approaches

On Monday and Tuesday, the Lincoln Center Festival will unleash (R)evolution, a survey of the works of Edgard Varèse. First, the International Contemporary Ensemble, under the direction of Steven Schick, will present pieces for small groups of instruments and the Poème électronique. Then Alan Gilbert and the New York Philharmonic, fresh from their Ligeti triumph, will give the two big works for orchestra, Arcana and Amériques, together with Nocturnal, Octandre, and Ionisation.

In the early days of this blog, I posted a frame from the 1920 silent film Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in which Varèse—who dabbled in film acting at John Barrymore's invitation—had two small roles. ICE's Varèse blog points out that a resourceful YouTuber has uploaded the relevant scenes: in one, Varèse plays a nobleman who administers poison to his wife's lover, and in another he plays a police inspector in a top hat. The video is above, with Amériques as the soundtrack. There's more good stuff on the ICE blog, including Schick's ringing tribute: "Varèse’s music is all about sound—beguiling, earsplitting, incantatory, whispered, life-affirming sound." The ensemble has also released a zany theatrical trailer, with Schick throwing in a bit of Kurt Schwitters's Ursonate at the end.