WXQR, New York’s classical radio station, is currently streaming a concert performance of Varèse’s remarkable Amériques for eight hands on two pianos.
Originally scored for large orchestra, including an eleven-player percussion section which uses sirens, it’s a vibrant and often alarming tone-poem depcting the city of New York itself.
Hearing it in Varèse’s own two-piano transcription, which was not discovered until recently, offers a remarkable perspective on an already notorious work.