We get conditioned to how music is supposed to go based on the recordings we hear, and the performances we attend. In the case of Edgard Varèse, I got to know his music through Pierre Boulez’s recordings with the New York Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. They both have a fierce edge to them, all [...]
The two-night, two-concert summary of Edgard Varèse’s music at the Lincoln Center Festival was that rarest form of musical outings: an honest-to-goodness event. About thirty, maybe more, people were waiting for returned tickets at Monday night’s Alice Tully Hall concert featuring the International Contemporary Ensemble with Steven Schick, and the New York Philharmonic’s concert the [...]