Varese: Un Grand Sommeil Noir

This is the first entry in a series of listening notes on Varese's music. I have surveyed Varese a few times before - it's not too hard, there are only about 17 pieces, of which 16 are in circulation - most recently more than six years ago I suspect.

Un Grand Sommeil Noir (1906): Written while a student in Widor's composition class, this is said to be the only published piece of Varese's youth to have survived. It's an atmospheric song for soprano and piano that uses all the exoticisms one would suspect to describe a "grand sommeil noir": Eb minor, open fifths, chromatic progressions etc. Dark and gloomy, but listenable more as an artifact of a particular musical field at the time than as a premonition of Varese's skills.