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) Varèse also acknowledged the influence of the Italian Futurist artists Luigi Russolo and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti in the composition of this work.
Contributed by
Juan Pablo Macías