Varese, a French composer, thought that music was an organized sound in the 192s, so he created Ionization, the first pure percussion work in the history of western music.

Ionization was written in 1929-1931. Conducted by Slonimski, it premiered in Carnegie Hall in new york on March 6th, 1933.

Because it only uses percussion instruments, it is considered as one of the most radical works of Varese. As usual, he didn't provide any words to explain what the work described except the title. But people can still feel that Varese is describing all kinds of sounds in modern urban life through the acoustics, which is in sharp contrast with Debussy's interest in natural acoustics.

Varese once said, "Every era has its own special voice." As a composer, he did fully express the characteristics of the times with music. About 4 percussion instruments (13 players) used in Ionization are mostly noise instruments with no fixed pitch. Because of this, "rhythm cells" can be freely developed and used alternately. In the last 17 bars of the work, the specific and accurate pitch appears in the form of a "sound block" in the bass area by the piano. At the same time, the three chords played by the piano, Zhong Qin and the bell have rich changes in rhythm.