VARESE: “Ameriques”; “Nocturnal”; “Ecuatorial.” HONEGGER: “Pacific 231.”...

VARESE: “Ameriques”; “Nocturnal”; “Ecuatorial.” HONEGGER: “Pacific 231.” Ariel Bybee, soprano; Utah Symphony; Bass Ensemble of the University-Civic Chorale, conducted by Maurice Abravanel. Vanguard Classics OVC 4031. These are some of the wildest recordings to come out of supposedly staid, conservative Utah during the Abravanel regime, circa 1968. Using broad brush strokes, Abravanel offers sweeping, brilliantly lit renditions of the shattering “Ameriques” and “Equatorial”--and his version of Varese’s jagged, unfinished final work, “Nocturnal,” is still the only one in the catalogue. The sumptuous performance of the Honegger is a fittingly noisy encore.