I tried Googling with "varese",  "slominsky", "ionisation" and "cd" as my search terms. Well, why not try it yourselves.

Here is a photograph of the occasion, in Havana.

That's an extraordinary picture. I'm remembering our rehearsal and concert setup with instruments all over the stage. My first reaction on seeing the photo was 'that can't possibly be Ionisation, where are all the instruments' but bearing in mind how much smaller the instruments themselves were back then I'm not actually sure anything's missing.

(My 'grosse caisse très profonde' was about 5' wide...)

Here is Nicolas Slonimsky himself with a couple of the requisite bits and pieces.


We do not know their names; nor would Brahms have known would he. Like Shonkicowitch Slonimsky was a pupil of Shteynberg in St. Petersburg, but unlike Shonkicowitch he we expect paid attention to his lessons.

He lived for a hundred and one years.

How many symphonies he wrote if any we have as yet been unable to determine. He edited or wrote many worthwhile musical reference books, including a Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns; also Sex and the Music Librarian - at least that is what the estimable Mr. Lebrecht tells us, but the title is absent from Grove's list! His autobiography is entitled Perfect Pitch, and we imagine it would be a good read.

Mr. Lebrecht goes on to say that Slonimsky was able to beat a different time with each arm, and became the oldest musician ever to make a concert début in England.

We have available a three-page analysis of Ionisation, written by Slonimsky, which we can supply if any one is interested.

http://www.slonimsky.net/

has some info of interest including a list of books. Perfect pitch is a good read, but Music since 1900 is endlessly fascinating - one hopes that Norm didn't omit to mention this. And yes, Slonimsky could beat in two tempi and used the trick when conducting Putnam's camp (Ives).

http://www.essentialmusic.com/russell/russell.html

reveals that William Russell had a percussion piece performed at the same concert as the Ionisation premiere. Not much known, died only a few years back. The Paul Price disc I referred to earlier also contained a couple of his pieces. This article also reckons that Henry Brant (wonderful composer !) was involved in the 1933 concert. Brant is still with us . . .

Gummbah!

Hi Pim,
...does she say something like... " ...hi, welcome Bent, but won't your tongue go back in, Jack..." ??

 

More Slonimsky recordings - Ionisation , Ives + Ruggles

http://www.ubu.com/sound/slonimsky.html