Chapin Hall Friday March 12, leaving Sweetwood at 7:30pm. Please sign up
Program
With this concert, the Berkshire Symphony Orchestra continues a tradition of bringing together diverse audiences and styles. Edgard Varèse is a composer who doesn’t necessarily appear on the radar of classical music listeners. His music was no less than a shot across the bow of a music establishment at a time when the foundations of western culture were atremble under the weight of a war to end all wars. On hearing the fascinating Intégrales today it will surprise most experienced listeners to learn that the piece is 85 years old. Edgard Varèse, starting this composition in Paris and finishing it in New York in 1925, was an artist in the middle of a scene that saw little point in trying to out-Mozart or out-Brahms classical music. In the context of pre-WWI Berlin and post war Paris and New York expressionism and the dada movement, Varèse makes sense. For audiences today Varèse still seems strange, but less so, especially for those who have ever gone to the movies. These sound-scapes, which gave nineteenth century harmony and melody the backseat, alienated concert audiences of the day. These ideas excited, perhaps ironically, listeners when invoked to accompany the images of the silver screen. Octandre (1923) is scored for flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone and double bass. Its startling originality reminds us that music is comprised ultimately of sound and that sonic texture can transport us, in and of itself. For listeners who can relate to the music of Stockhausen, Xenakis or Birtwistle, Edgard Varèse is an inescapable reference. (from press release: Williams College)