'kaleidoscopic colour and propulsive impact' - 1.08.07

[BBC Proms Concert review: Ilan Volkov / BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra / Tenebrae] Geoffrey Norris

Listening to Edgard Varèse’s “Ecuatorial”, it is hard to believe that this is a piece written more than seven decades ago, so radical is its voice, so revolutionary its use of instruments, rhythm and texture.

This is stark, savage, primeval music, qualities on which this fine performance capitalised. At its centre was the solemn Mayan text, sometimes sung by a solo bass but in this instance, to give it extra power, by the men’s voices of Tenebrae.

It was backed and reinforced by Varèse’s extraordinarily audacious range of orchestral timbres, be it the percussiveness of the piano, the exotic whoops of the two ondes martenots, the brazen brass interjections or the almost surreal emergence of an organ at crucial junctures.

In its freshness and vigour, its kaleidoscopic colour and its propulsive impact, this was a work that dynamically underlined Varèse’s startling, ground-breaking originality.

To see full review go to:
Telegraph Proms 2007