VARESE, EDGAR - Music of Edgar Varèse Vol. 2

"'Arcana' - Requires an orchestra of 120 musicians: 70 strings, 8 percussionists playing some 40 percussion instruments, 8 horns, 5 each of the standard woodwinds, 5 trumpets, 3 trombones, 2 tubas, 2 sarrusophones, heckelphone, contrabass clarinet, contrabass trombone. First performed April 8, 1927 by The Philadelphia Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting. 'Déserts' - 2 flutes (sometimes piccolos), 2 clarinets (sometimes small clarinet and bass clarinet), 2 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, bass tuba, contrabass tuba, piano, percussion, 2 magnetic tapes of electronically organized sounds transmitted on two channels by means of a stereophonic system. First performed in Paris in 1954 by the Orchestre National, Hermann Scherchen conducting. 'Déserts' was conceived for two different media: instrumental sounds and sounds electronically produced. After planning the work as a whole, Edgar Varèse wrote the instrumental score, always keeping in mind its relation to the organized sound sequence