Amériques

"Amériques" is a musical composition by the French-born composer Edgard Varèse.

Written between 1918 and 1921 and revised in 1927, it is scored for a very large, romantic orchestra with additional percussion (for eleven performers) including sirens. It was the first work Varèse composed after he moved to the United States, and although it was not his first work, he destroyed many of his earlier pieces, effectively making "Amériques" his opus one (although he never used that designation). [ [http://www.sfsymphony.org/templates/composer.asp?nodeid=199&strchar=T Composer Biography - Varese, Edgard ] ]

Structurally, the work is in one movement which lasts for around twenty-three minutes, with full orchestral involvement virtually throughout. Although it opens quietly, with "Debussy-like musing", ["Gramophone" Magazine, September 2001] it quickly builds in dynamic power, and is punctuated by massive crescendos which are similar in style Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" but on a much larger scale. The work is marked by its fiercely dissonant chords, rhythmically complex polyphonies for percussion and wind. It develops in continuous evolution with recurring short motifs, which are however juxtaposed without development.

Opinions of the work have focused on its elemental power, [ [http://www.khaldea.com/rudhyar/varesefire.html Varèse and the Music of Fire | Rudhyar Archival Project | Musical Works and Writings ] ] its vivid expression of New York (replete with howling police cars). The siren was for Varèse of structural importance, however, representing a continuum pitch beyond the twelve tone system. Varèse intended the title "Amériques" to symbolise "discoveries - new worlds on earth, in the sky, or in the minds of men." [Quoted in "Cambridge Companion to the Orchestra" (2003) ed. Lawson, p. 63]

Performances

"Amériques" was premiered on 9 April 1926 by the Philadelphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski, although it was not until 1960 that it was recorded by the Utah Symphony Orchestra and Maurice Abravanel. In recent years it has emerged as a popular modernist showpiece in the orchestral repertoire, with recordings by Pierre Boulez, Christoph von Dohnanyi and Riccardo Chailly among others.

References