A few short years ago,
Varèse’s short output was covered
by basically one recording, Boulez on
Sony (then CBS). How times change, for
we now have two modern digital two-disc
sets re-released in the same month for
the buyer to choose from. This Apex
set started life as two full price Erato
discs and is now at superbudget, so
makes for good value. However its rival,
the award-winning Decca
set from Chailly and the Concertgebouw
(and friends) is now, in its new budget-price
format, all but unbeatable.
Listening to the two
side by side is very instructive. Nagano
is good in this repertoire, his forces
play well and he has a decent recording.
Chailly has state-of-the-art sound (necessary
in much of this music) and playing nothing
short of miraculous, even in the most
dense and complicated passages. His
set is also more ‘complete’ with a number
of shorter items that are worth having.
Amérique
displays the contrast quite well. Nagano
is strong on detail, as you would expect,
allowing those bizarre and frequent
Rite of Spring allusions (near
quotations in places) to really register
in the texture. The bass flute at the
opening, for instance, has a fragment
that occurs as a motto throughout, but
Chailly sees a bigger, more symphonic
picture, so that when that fragment
is altered and expanded (as at 14’51)
we get a greater sense of urgency and
propulsion that help in material that
is largely rhythmic rather than melodic.
Chailly’s all-important percussion department
is also superior, the bass-drums and
tam-tam growling menacingly from the
depths.
Arcana, in many
ways a companion piece to Amérique,
gets similar treatment, Chailly’s forces
holding the line and painting with bolder
brushstrokes. His more flexible treatment
allows a few appropriate glimpses of
Debussy to shine through – Varèse
was a lifelong admirer – but we also
get a firmer idea of Varèse’s
own influence on future generations,
particularly the orchestral works of
Xenakis, whose genesis can be detected
in passages of Arcana.
All these works require
scrupulous attention to the plethora
of detail in the scores, and Nagano
certainly does that. Octandre
and Intégrale never sound
simply crude or aggressive, as they
so often can, but Chailly is even more
attentive to the tiny nuances without
losing the explosive element, as the
phenomenal opening of Hyperprism
amply demonstrates. Chailly even finds
warmth in the supposedly bleak depiction
of the new atomic age that is behind
Desérts; Nagano is also
good but the sheer space and amplitude
of the Decca recording really pays dividends
here.
Solo work is exceptionally
fine on the Nagano, with the ultra-experienced
Phyllis Bryn-Julson wringing every last
ounce of subtlety out of the surreal
texts of Offrandes, and Philippe
Pierlot’s gorgeous French flute tone
ringing out evocatively in Densité
21.5.
As you will have gathered,
my opinion is that the Chailly set takes
a lot of beating. It’s unfortunate for
Nagano and Apex that the Decca double
has been re-issued at the same time
– if it were still at full price they
may have had a chance. But in its new
format, and with the extra items (Tuning
up, Poème électronique,
Dance for Burgess and Un grand
sommeil noir) making for two exceptionally
well-filled discs, there really is no
contest.
Tony Haywood
Phyllis Bryn-Julson (soprano) 
