Ionisation (Varèse)

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Ionisation (1929 - 1931) is a musical composition by Edgard Varèse written for thirteen percussionists playing the following instruments:

3 Bass Drums, 2 Side Drums, 2 Snare Drums, Tarole, 2 Bongos, Tambourine, Tambour militaire, crash cymbal, suspended cymbals, 3 tam-tams, gong, 2 anvils, 2 triangles, sleigh bells, chimes, celesta, piano, Chinese blocks, claves, maracas, castanets, whip (instrument), guiro, high & low sirens,and a lion's roar.

It was first performed at Carnegie Hall, on March 6 1933, conducted by Nicolas Slonimsky, to whom the piece was later dedicated. The performance was described by a critic as "a sock in the jaw."

Ionisation features the expansion and variation of rhythmic cells, and the title refers to the ionization of molecules. As the composer later described, "I was not influenced by composers as much as by natural objects and physical phenomena." (Schuller 1965, p.34)

Frank Zappa often claimed that Ionisation inspired him to pursue a career in music.

Jack Skurnick, director of EMS Recordings, was the first to produce Varèse. This piece appears on the first Varèse recording, EMS 401. Liner notes written by Sidney Finkelstein say that Ionisation "is built on a most sensitive handling and contrast of different kinds of percussive sounds. There are those indefinite in pitch, like the bass drum, snare drum, wood blocks, and cymbols; those of relatively definite musical pitch, such as the piano and chimes; those of continually moving pitch, like the sirens and 'lion's roar.' It is an example of 'spatial construction,' building up to a great complexity of interlocking 'planes' of rhythm and timbre, and then relaxing the tension with the slowing of rhythm, the entrance of the chimes, and the enlargement of the 'silences' between sounds. There are suggestions of the characteristic sounds of modern city life."

View an excellent performance on YouTube