Varèse 360° (2)

These powerful short works each pack a huge world of expression into the space of just a few minutes. Deep, cavernous chords, huge batteries of percussion and vast sonic spaces create powerful and thrilling musical episodes.

In the violently percussive Hyperprism, nine wind instruments explore the extremes of volume and pitch, while the piece races through numerous changes of speed and character. Intégrales is a short, terse exploration for 11 wind instruments and percussion. With rumbling and roaring percussive colours, it’s a precise and mechanistic work. Octandre is a gentler piece, conjuring up images of exotic birdsong through occasional flashes of high-pitched melodies.

Offrandes is ‘the most extraordinary noise in all of Varèse’, according to Igor Stravinsky. An angular soprano melody drifts over a stormy accompaniment, punctuated by moments of fierce instrumental attack.

Varèse 360° is a Holland Festival production, co-produced with the Festival d’Automne à Paris, Radio France, Salle Pleyel, Southbank Centre and Ensemble Asko/Schoenberg. The London performances are presented by Southbank Centre, the London Sinfonietta and the National Youth Orchestra.

Image: Still from Varèse 360° visuals by Pippa Nissen & Cathie Boyd