EDGARD VARESE TUNING UP for Orchestra Completed from sketches by Chou Wen-chung (1998) RICORDIimo a visitare il sito Internet, dove troverete anche il catalogo completo delle edizioni in vendita: All current editions in print can be found in our on-line catalog at: www.ricordi.it - www.ricordi.com Performance material available on hire | materiali per lesecuzione sono disponibili per il noleggio Casa Ricordi, Milano © Copyright 1998 by CASA RICORDI - BMG RICORDI S.p.A. © Copyright 2001 by CASA RICORDI - BMG RICORDI S.p.A. for this edition Tutti riserve All rights reserved Printed in Italy 138108 ISMN M-041-38108-4LIST OF INSTRUMENTS Piccolo (sounding an octave above written) 3 Flutes (Flute 3 doubling Piccolo 2) 3 Oboes English Horn 3 Clarinets in BP Bass Clarinet (sounding a major 9th below written) 3 Bassoons Contrabassoon (sounding an octeve below written) 4 Horns in F 4 Trumpets in BP 2 Trombones Bass Trombone Tuba Timpani 6 Percussions: Tanboaie ow Ride Cymbal ames) (pene wee Drom “ero rom i Tigh Ride Grmtal Tow Cash Cymbal (pene {epente low Taam ey ow Taann _vry ow as ra 2% = = Tanounne {ret ih aw tow Ai Xyltone 3 =¢ Tiawe io as tow Marcas highCyméusa2__low Cymtls?_g_ Geen 45 “rangifTambrine tee Chines Blok ett) (cape tig Sie, tan ped 5 = Tanto “ery ow Gone Comat) Stig eth {itty tic) low Se, tan operated 6 Violas Violoncellos Contrabasses Duration: 7’ caTUNING UP Ironically, the story of Tuning Up sums up in a nutshell that of Varése’s life-long failure to gain support for his vision, therefore wasting so much of his creativity. The 1947 film, Carnegie Hall, produced by Boris Morros, featured many musicians, such as Leopold Stokowski, Bruno Walter, and Fritz Reiner. Varése had long known Morros through Walter Anderson, a loyal advocate for Varése and the editor of The Commonweal, who published Varése’s seminal essay, "Organized Sound for the Sound Film,” in 1940. Morros, however, failed in the 1930's to support Varese in gaining use of the sound studios in Hollywood for his acoustic experiments. While Carnegie Hall was in production in 1946, Morros persuaded Varese, through Anderson, to compose a couple of minutes of music parodying the orchestra's pre-concert tuning up, to be played by ‘the New York Philharmonic with Stokowski. Varése evidently took the request seriously, whereas Morros wanted slapstick and abandoned the idea. It was said that Varése was paid a large sum, but that he rejected the cheque in a fury upon hearing his music distorted at rehearsal. The truth was that Varése had, without discussing a fee, worked hastily on the piece, and that no rehearsals had ever taken place. Besides, no score or parts exist. What Varése kept of this venture are two short drafts of about one-and-a-half minutes each, employing quotations from his own music (as well as a few fleeting suggestions of other familiar music). The drafts appear to be revisions of an earlier version, with parts of manuscript pages and photocopies pasted over each other. The quotations, ranging from a single percussion figure to a few measures, are taken from Amériques, Arcana, lonisation, and Intégrales, and are often modified or juxtaposed with new material. To create a complete edition of Tuning Up for performance, the first decision was whether it would make sense for the two drafts to be played successively. At the end of one of the drafts, following a statement on the pitch A in six octaves, there are two additional measures (mm. 36, 37) of soft and isolated sounds of A- related pitches that call to mind the final and penultimate endings of Déserts, which suggest openness and the expectation for continuation (perhaps suggesting the endless expanse of a desert). Déserts was composed a few years after Tuning Up, but much of the material actually came from Espace, with which Varése was involved in 1946. It was then concluded that this draft should precede the other, with its ‘open ending expanded in the fashion of the passages in Déserts, to serve as transition to the second draft which ends on open As. Three measures are interposed (mm. 38-40), essentially reiterating the pitches already stated (E, F#, and B) in the preceding measures (mm. 36-37) with the addition of one pitch (D#). These statements on A covering the entire orchestral range obviously have a significant role and are therefore elaborated slightly, with emphasis on registral expansion (mm. 33-35, 95-100). The most enigmatic notation in the drafts are the numerous large (in size) and long (in number of measures) signs of crescendo and diminuendo. These are not synchronized with the dynamic marks for instruments, being often contradictory. it could easily be assumed that he had some electronic means in mind. But Varese had been trying to contact Thérémin in Russia without success since 1940, and he would have hardly had time to explore other devices not then available to him. Besides, there are no other indications in the drafis as to what kind of musical content these hairpin signs are for. On the other hand, Varése’s two sirens were in plain view in his workshop and could easily be brought to Carnegie Hall on demand. It was therefore decided to interpret these signs as for instruments in the orchestra to play “as if tuning” and for the sirens as used in lonisation. In the completed edition, available instrumental groups are assigned to “tuning” passages in a total of forty-nine measures, about half the score, in accordance with Varése’s notation in the drafts. Sirens join in some of the passages (mm. 28-30, 73-74, and 87-90) as suggested by the nature of the quotations. Elsewhere, sirens are assigned when no hed instruments are available (mm. 49-51, 52-54, 68-69, 75, 79-81, and 86). In recognition of his usual attention to register, timbre, and dynamics, these added “tuning” passages are ‘organized according to how they interact with the notated parts by Varase with respect to these parameters.Similarly, percussion parts are expanded or filled in, mostly by quoting in Varése’s own manner from lonisation ‘and Amériques, to highlight or contrast the pitched parts written by him, and to correlate with the parabolic sounds of the sirens. Because of the fast-paced quotations, the drafts consist of frequent tempo changes, with a total of seventeen in barely three minutes. These tempo marks have been adjusted and edited, with the number of tempi reduced from seven to four. In addition, a few measures have been added to provide space or expansion to ‘the sketched materials in the drafts (mm. 26, 70, 78, 92-93, 96, 99-100). ‘As completed, Tuning Up is an interplay of flashes of orchestral sonorities, rainbow-like colors of percussion, spatial trajectories of sirens, and the undulating sound of “tuning.” On another level, Varase clearly had fun with the pitch A—teasing and flirting with it, juxtaposing or building upon it, and often resorting to his favorite scheme of intercepting cycles of intervals, frequently the fifth. Tuning Up is a perfect overture to Varése’s music, and an equally fascinating opening for any symphonic concert. Because of questions raised above, no attempt at reconstructing or completing Tuning Up (1947) was undertaken until 1998, when reasonable solutions as noted above were arrived at. The completed edition was commissioned jointly by Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (of Amsterdam), Casa Ricordi, and The Decca Record Company, Lid. Chou Wen-chungTUNING UP ag snes atie pd=12 poco accel. 7 poco accel. —s— atempo atempo accel.J =138es 1 =66o=112 poco accel. a tempo accel. 7 poco accel. a tempo16J =138 sub. 19OATMEAL AT. ( | | |