Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Intégrales, for 11 winds & 4 percussionists
2. Offrandes, for soprano & chamber orchestra: Chanson de la haut
3. Offrandes, for soprano & chamber orchestra: La croix du sud
4. Density 21.5, for flute solo
5. Octandre, for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone, and double bass
6. Hyperprisme, for winds and percussion
7. Ionisation, for 13 percussionists
8. Emanations, for 2 string orchestras
9. Sonata for cello & orchestra
10. String Quartet No.1

Disc 2:

1. Stabat Mater, for 3 choruses
2. Miserere, for chorus
3. Miniatures (3) for violin & piano
4. Nouvelles aventures, for 3 voices & 7 instruments: Aventures
5. Nouvelles aventures, for 3 voices & 7 instruments: Nouvelles aventures
6. Volumina, for organ
7. Study No. 1 'Harmonies', for organ

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #284768 in Music
• Released on: 1996-07-09
• Number of discs: 2

Customer Reviews

One of recorded music's greatest bargains!
I bought this recording because I was looking for a sound version of Varese's Ionisation. What I got was a wonderful version, perhaps the best, plus an additional 125 minutes of incredible 20th Century music! This bargain-priced two-disc set surveys three of the previous centuries most exciting composers, Varese (French), Penderecki (Polish), and Ligeti (Hungarian). All works share one thing in common, they are all extraordinarily ground-breaking compositions. From the intense percussion of 'Ionisation', the tense, paranoid strings of 'Emanationen' and vocal extremes of Ligeti's 'Adventures' to the quiet beauty of Penderecki's 'Stabat Mater' and 'Misere', this recording covers a lot of compositional territory. And thankfully it provides great notes to help you along the journey. Now that we've left the 20th Century behind, perhaps its finally safe for the world to explore its fine music. Mahler's outstanding, but aren't we ready to move on?

Most perfect recording of Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures
The Varèse has been never recorded better than with "die reihe". The most perfect recording of my "Aventures and Nouvelles Aventures" is on "Vox Box" says György Ligeti

great sample of 20th century modernism!
Just as I was familiar with Gyorgy Ligeti's music because of "2001," I was familiar with the name Varese through Frank Zappa long before I learned much of anything else about 20th century composition. It wasn't until this disc, though, that I finally heard Varese's music. Frankly it took several listens before I really heard it -- I didn't find it as immediately compelling as, say, Carter or Ligeti. But give it time, and you can hear why such uncompromising later radicals as Xenakis considered Varese to be absolutely pivotal in developing a new language of space, rhythm and intensity. "Ionisation" for percussion is the culminating piece here, complete with sirens! I wish Varese had been more prolific, and realized his "vision" more fully with electronics.

I'm not sure what the logic was of including Penderecki and Ligeti with Varese, but the music is great! Penderecki's instrumentation is conventional compared to Varese, and the music is somber and tragic, with bursts of terrifying dissonance. The string quartet is splendid. Then comes Ligeti with music first for vocals, and then for organ, and any previous concept of music is out the window. I can't help but laugh at "Adventures"! Here is an excerpt from the equally amusing liner notes on Ligeti by Dr. William B. Ober: "...Ligeti's "Poeme Symphonique"..., certainly atonal, directs the 'listener' to meter without distracting his ear by melody or harmony... [H]e escapes the solecism of structural coherence, enabling the 'listener' to concentrate on texture."

I was led by this disc to seek out more 20th century music. It serves as an excellent bargain introduction, and I'm now discovering how right Stravinsky was to emphasize the importance of multiple interpretations of compositions, so it's great to eventually duplicate some of these pieces on other recordings.