EDGARD VARESE

edgard varese is one of my favorite composers (edged out slightly by ligeti, penderecki and satie), and his pervasive influence and persuasion resonates wildly despite his relative dearth of available material. not many composers can hold stake to informing or inspiring such a diverse parade of musicians, but varese's ideas have infected everyone from henry miller, stockhausen, frank zappa, kryzstof penderecki and the keyboard player from chicago (yeah...try not to go into convulsive shock). the ghost of literature haunted a number of his works, as he appropriated texts from anais nin, paul verlaine and kenneth patchen (whose "journal of albion moonlight" is a book of vertiginous beauty and dynamism). he had drinking binges with the incomparable francis picabia, and his wife louise was responsible for my favorite rimbaud translations (both "season in hell" and "illuminations"). there is also something of the pataphysician in varese's music, and i find his music to be a perfect audible companion to the literature of alfred jarry (particularly "dr. faustroll"). lamentably, collaborations with henry miller, antonin artaud and robert desnos uniformly failed to materialize. all of this, yes, is unassailable and delectable, but it is ultimately ephemera and white noise, having only a minor bearing on the foresight and prescience of his vision. varese was borne of a spirit and conviction that placed him amongst the highest echelons of what can only be termed modernism, a spirit that has long since departed the lexicon and breath of contemporary art (though the vibrations of modernism can be felt in the work of scott walker, most self-described artists and musicians - less than half walker's age - are incurious and lack those boundless impulses). regardless, the depth and exploratory nature of varese's music is self-evident, and here is presented his complete works (or more precisely, the works he completed).




complete works of edgard varese (thanks to ferocity of practical life):

http://lix.in/-7840fc
(do not click on "download" when the screen comes up --- click on "continue")