Edgard Varèse

Overview - Recordings - Scores - Books - Links

Born: December 22, 1883, Paris, France
Died: November 6, 1965, New York, New York, USA

The complete works of Varèse fit on two CDs, and a significant fraction are for winds and percussion. (Here we are just listing the larger wind ensemble pieces.) Déserts is the largest piece, both in scope and ensemble, and it must be one of the first works for wind ensemble and electronic sound. The Chailly set is probably your best bet. The performances and sound are great, and this is the most complete set of Varèse's music currently available, including the Poème électronique missing from Nagano and Boulez, and some unpublished works. The Boulez recordings of Déserts omit the electronic sections, so watch out for that if you want the complete work.

Recordings

Works	Performers	Reviews	Stores
Déserts Intégrales Hyperprism	ASKO Ensemble Riccardo Chailly	Abbot	Tower Amazon
Déserts Intégrales	Orchestre National de France Kent Nagano	Abbot	Tower Amazon
Hyperprism	Orchestre National de France Kent Nagano	North	Tower Amazon
Déserts Intégrales	Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra Christopher Lyndon-Gee	Abbot	Tower Amazon
Intégrales	Meadows Wind Ensemble Jack Delaney		Tower
Intégrales	Ensemble InterContemporain Pierre Boulez	Schwarz	Tower Amazon
Déserts Hyperprism	Ensemble InterContemporain Pierre Boulez	Schwarz	Tower Amazon
Déserts	Chicago Symphony Orchestra Pierre Boulez	Kirzinger Abbot	Tower Amazon

Scores

Déserts
Intégrales (Chou Wen-chung edition)
Hyperprism (Richard Sacks edition)