Edgard Varese & Morton Feldman: What did I learn?

I studied with Morton Feldman at SUNY Buffalo (1975 - 77) as the first holder of the Edgard Varese Fellowship in composition. I'm sure that Feldman named the fellowship himself, and know that he regarded Varese very highly.

How can I express the essence of what I learned in those years? A few years ago I came across this passage by Paul Griffiths in the program notes for the CD Boulez Conducts Varese (on the Deutsche Grammophon label). Griffiths sums it up beautifully:

"After the explosion of Ameriques Varese honed his technique in pieces for smaller groupings - Hyperprism, Octandre, Integrales - before returning to the large orchestra to create Arcana (1925-27). This was a closer approach to his ideal of music in which the sounds themselves, by virtue of their force and energy, would create structural demands - for repetition, calming, change, recollection - quite independently of any pre-ordained scheme: music as a play of sheer, vital sonority."

Many thanks.