Edgard Varèse from the BBC SO's Total Immersion Day

Edgard Varèse's Octandre, Density 21.5 and Hyperprism played by musicians from the Guildhall School; and the cityscape Amériques from the BBC SO conducted by Sakari Oramo.

Recorded on the 6th May 2017 at Milton Court, and the Barbican Hall, London as part of the BBC's Total Immersion Varèse day.
Presented by Andrew McGregor.

Varèse: Octandre (1923)
Guildhall New Music Ensemble
Geoffrey Paterson (conductor)

Varèse: Density 21.5 (1936)
Antonia Berg (flute)

Varèse: Hyperprism (1923)
Guildhall New Music Ensemble
Geoffrey Paterson (conductor)

Varèse: Amériques
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Sakari Oramo (conductor)

The radical French composer Edgard Varèse displayed in all his startling stripes. From the 'collision of masses' and the lion's roar in the soundworld of the chamber work Hyperprism, to Density 21.5 just for solo flute. To conclude, his celebrated Amériques, the siren-infused New York cityscape written by Varèse in the New World in 1918, and here performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo.