Edgard Varèse's Intégrales: A study of the relation between winds and percussions

Abstract

Percussion represents a new means of expression whose exploitation testifies the
will of sound liberation tirelessly defended by Varèse. Although praised unanimously,
the precursory part played by the composer in this field is only superficially
studied. Dated 1977, the analysis of Ionisation by Chou Wen-Chung remains
indeed a rare instance. Created in 1925, Intégrales was conceived for a percussion
and wind instruments orchestra. In this article, the work is primarily examined with
an approach of the relations these two parts maintain. First of all, the comparison of
certain ideas gives a clear indication of the need for occasionally passing beyond
such a cleavage. Some examples obviously display the variability of this relation at
the scale of periods: verging sometimes on autonomy, it remains elsewhere fully
interdependent. Percussion is finally considered at the highest level of the musical
organization. Its position and its function together develop in a way which can
prove to be significant at a structural level.