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Reviews

Reviews of events, concerts, books & CDs.

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Book Reviews
Olivier Messiaen: A Bibliographical Catalogue of Messiaen's Works. By Nigel Simeone. (Musikbibliographische Arbeiten, 14.)
Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1998. [xix, 249 p. ISBN 3-7952-0947-1. DM 142.]

The first thing that strikes the reader about this book is the obvious amount of work that has gone into it: painstaking research in the
Bibliothèque Nationale, for example, as well as in "publishers' archives or hire libraries . . . and other public and private collections in
France and England" (p. v). Yet there is some confusion from the start. On the spine, the title is First Editions of Messiaen; on the front
cover, it is Olivier Messiaen: Catalogue of Works; and on the title page, it is Olivier Messiaen: A Bibliographical Catalogue of Messiaen's Works: First Editions and First Performances. Clearly, the publisher could not put the whole of the latter on the spine; on the other hand, a catalog and a bibliography are two different things. Nigel Simeone tells us in the introduction that this is not a "systematic work catalogue" (p. v), but he does give two purposes for his book: first, "to provide detailed bibliographical information about the first . . . editions of Messiaen's published works," and second, to provide "information about the dates and places of composition, the scoring, and the first performances of Messiaen's works" (ibid.). He achieves both of these objectives admirably.
There are further problems with the bibliography Simeone provides on pages 231- 32. A complete list of books and articles, even limited
to literature in English and French (as here), would seem an excellent idea, yet here we find only two pages of references. The author does explain that he has included only materials consulted for the present volume, so it is understandable that a large number of works had to be omitted. Yet it is hard to imagine why, for example, the work of Robert Sherlaw Johnson, one of the first important writers on
Messiaen in English (along with David Drew), does not appear.
Toward the end of the book are two appendixes. The first is titled "'Un musicien, un artist . . . un mystique.' Reviews in Le Courrier musical and Le Ménestrel, 1930-39." The materials cited here are especially interesting since they reflect public and critical opinion of
Messiaen's early works during his ascendancy to international acclaim. Appendix 2 is a list of printing records of Messiaen's works by the
publishers Durand & Cie and Alphonse Leduc.
The main catalog is arranged under the headings "Published Works" (pp. 1-184), "Unpublished Works" (pp. 185-96), and "Shorter
Writings" (pp. 197-202). The first section includes longer texts such as Vingt leçons d'harmonie (1939), the two-volume Technique
de mon langage musical (1942), and the vast Traité de rythme, de couleur et d'ornithologie (1949-92). The list progresses chronologically, from Le banquet céleste of 1928 to Concert a quatre, unfinished by Messiaen at the time of his death in 1992. The information Simeone provides in the entries includes title, date of composition, scoring, dedication or superscription, and first performance; for first editions, he gives the publisher, edition, collation, plate number(s), date, wrappers, format, engraver, and printer.
Under "Shorter Writings," Simeone lists the three conference booklets (Brussels, Notre Dame, and Kyoto) and a large number of
Messiaen's reviews.
Apart from the few misgivings noted above, this is an excellent research tool that belongs in academic music libraries and on the bookshelf of anyone having a keen interest in one of the twentieth century's greatest composers.
David Morris
University of Ulster

Copyright © 2000 by the Music Library Association, Inc. All rights reserved.

Praise for Rebecca Rischin's For the End of Time:

For the End of Time.
The Story of the Messiaen Quartet
By Rebecca Rischin
Published by Cornell University Press Ithaca and London www.cornellpress.cornell.edu

Never before has there been such high profile attention focused on Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, what with Bryan Davidson’s innovative new play War Music and Rebecca Rischin’s illuminating account of the events surrounding the creation, premiere and the quartet’s life after the premiere.
Up until a few years ago it was Messiaen’s own accounts and testimonies surrounding the work that entered the history books. Rischin however exposes many myths and flaws in Messiaen’s recollections and, perhaps more importantly, the reasons for these ‘exaggerations’ of the facts (not least the 3 string cello myth!).

Rischin presents with great fluidity and clarity a time line of facts backed up by original war records and data that has come to light since Messiaen’s death. For example the order in which the movements of the Quartet for the End of Time appeared and the location in which they were composed shed new light on a piece that is one of the 20th century’s great musical legends.
It is well known that in the POW camp Stalag VIIIA in Gorlitz, Messiaen befriended a German officer who was sympathetic to his needs and supplied Messiaen with writing materials etc. necessary for composing the Quartet for the End of Time. Indeed it was the same officer who played such an important part in the lives of all 4 members of the quartet as again Rischin reveals. Curiously it was only a year before Messiaen died that he actually revealed the name of this officer.

How the Quartet for the End of Time was performed at all in the surroundings of a Nazi POW camp is made even more remarkable by the fact that Henri Akoka, the clarinettist for whom the work was written, was Jewish.

Rebecca Rischin has created a work of great substance by securing interviews with all family members of each of the quartet’s performers – the Pasquiers (those of the famous Trio Pasquier) – the Akoka family – and even the elusive La Boulaire who after the war became an actor and assumed a new identity, and of course Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen and her archive materials left by Messiaen himself. Rischin explores in great detail each player’s personality, philosophical and political ideologies and how it affected their relationships throughout the time of their captivity. She draws on the not inconsiderable archive of Hannalore Laurewald which contain photos, documents and plans of Stalag VIIIA (many of which are reproduced in the book) and to my knowledge never before published. She also manages to track down prisoners who were in the audience at the time of the premiere of Quartet for the End of Time, some of whom recall the event with great passion and tearful recollection.

All the members of the quartet that premiered Quartet for the End of Time have now passed on so, as in Holocaust testimonies, it is left to their families, friends etc and to the foresight of organisations like the Shoah foundation in the case of the Holocaust and books such as this by Rebecca Rischin to illustrate the accurate background behind events that indeed have shaped 20th century history.

Letter to the Philadelphia Orchestra re: the Messiaen Focus season.

Dear Orchestra,
What a night !
I had the pleasure of being there Sat.
It started at 7 PM with the most informed pre-concert conversation by Mr.
Levinson who gave great insight for the performance to follow. He let us
know that Messiaen was always thinking about God and music.
Then he explained about Messiaen and his love of bird songs and even gave
us a demonstration.
Well, then it was off to the concert Sir Simon Rattle was really on and the
Orchestra played great.
I could not believe how big the performance of the Eclairs Sur L'au- Dela
would be but it was magnificent. I have to know where that thunderous
sound in the 5th or 6th movement came from was it off stage?. It sounded
larger that a big bass drum. Messiaen's use of gongs and other timpani (sic)
instruments put his far eastern influence right in the work. And the wind
section got a workout throughout the whole piece. I had the pleasure of
seeing the Turangalila Symphony earlier in the season and now having seen
both works I have to say the Messiaen focus is great. I am also looking
forward to the Mahler series.
Thank You
WARNER WEBTV MAN

Thanks to David Warner who definitely had a great evening of Messiaen!!

Messiaen 2002 International Conference

This event which was one of many throughout the world marking the 10th anniversary of the composers death took place from June 20-23 2002 at Tapton campus music department of the University of Sheffield in the unusually attractive, leafy corner of the city.

Spearheaded by Messiaen scholar and expert Dr. Chris Dingle the conference aimed to celebrate the maître and provide opportunities for scholars to share their knowledge and deepen their understanding of all aspects of Messiaen, his music and his influence.

Ably supported by Peter Hill (head of the music dept.) and Nigel Simeone, Chris Dingle packed these three days with papers, talks and concerts from contributors world wide covering every aspect of Messiaens' life and work, and for once (so I gather) the sun shone continuously on Sheffield!

As usual in this type of conference delegates ranged from the intellectually high powered theorists to the equally high powered listeners but all sharing the common bond of the love of Messiaen.
It would be inappropriate to speak in detail on every event that took place as there were 12 sessions each containing two to four talks each lasting 20-30 minutes so I have listed all the speakers that took part together with their topics [ ]. Obviously all these talks were highly detailed and I have only supplied a short précis of each so links are provided where possible to the highly recommended sites of these speakers for those wishing more information on respective subjects.

The sessions kicked off with Stephen Broad (Oxford University) [Olivier Messiaen: Journalist] who highlighted the not too widely known aspect of Messiaen's brief excursions into journalism from the years 1936-39. Messiaen, it emerged wrote many articles for such publications as La Sirene, La Page Musicale and La Revue musicale and he wrote three short compositions for the journal La Monde Musicale. Stephen Broad revealed some interesting points that reflected Messiaens attitude to Ravel and Tournemire for example. There was also an underlying attempt by Messiaen to promote his own music through these articles. All of Stephen Broad's findings on Messiaen the journalist will be published in a hardback volume by Ashgate in July 2003 along with Chris Dingle's 'Olivier Messiaen's Later Works'.

Nigel Simeone (University of Wales, Bangor) ['The Dark Years' or Messiaen's concert activity during the Occupation']. This was of particular interest as both Nigel and Peter Hill have recently gained access to Messiaen's diary entries and archive material of this period. From these archives Nigel is able to collate a detailed chronology of this period 1939-45. For his talk Nigel focused on the time when Messiaen returned to Paris in 1941, after his captivity to the mid 40s which were among the most active time for Messiaen as a performer. This period saw the first performance in Paris of the Quatour and the complete cycle of organ works which he gave in Trinité in 1943 including the premiere of Les Corps Glorieux. He also spoke about those mysterious unpublished works that crop up in all the work lists but nobody seems to know too much about. This prompted Nigel to produce on overhead projector a copy of a concert programme featuring a performance in Lyon on May 11 1941 of the choruses for Jeanne d'Arc or Portique pour une fille de France.

Jean Boivin (Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada) [ Musical analysis according to Messiaen: a critical view of a most original approach] spoke on musical analysis according to Messiaen with particular reference to the recently published 'Traite de rythme, de couleur, et ornithologie' by Messiaen.
Jean Boivin has written and lectured much on Messiaen and his talk addressed Messiaen's approach to analysis from Gregorian chant and Monteverdi to Debussy and Stravinky's Rite which as Boivin suggests, helped stimulated creativity in his students and find their own paths.

Peter Hill (University of Sheffield) [Messiaen as pianist - the recording of the 4 études de rythme] provided us with a performers incite to Messiaen's music by considering the 4 études de rythme and comparing six recorded performances and their fluctuations in timings (i.e tempo). The six pianists were Messiaen himself recorded on 78s for Pathe Marconi in 1951, Loriod (in 1968) Hill, himself in 1985, Takahashi, Cheng and Austbo. To cite just one example, Neumes rythmiques produced the following timings: Messiaen 5.05, Loriod 7.15, Hill 5.49, Takahashi 6.21, Cheng 6.40, Austbo 6.32.

Siglind Bruhn (University of Michigan) [Saint François d'Assise and the imitatio Christi: A Novel Component in Messiaen's Musical Language]. Siglind Bruhn's vast knowledge of Messiaen's musical language introduced us to some key compositional features that recur in St. François d'Assise and drew attention 'to the fact that the musical language of Messiaen's opera, recurrently features one tonal aggregate that the composer had not employed in the same way before. Described in his analytic comments as "chords in transposed inversions", the device and its specific signification seem so far to have escaped the attention of scholars writing about the opera'.

Lisa M Cook (University of Colorado at Boulder) [Spirits and Saints: Connections Between Noh Drama and Saint François d'Assise]. Messiaen's love of other cultures was well known and in particular that of Japan, Sept Haikai being a direct hommage. I was pleased to hear Lisa Cook exploring the similarities between the structure and form of Noh drama (Jo - Ha - Kyu) and its influence in Messiaen's opera. Elements such as the static nature of the music, stage direction, choreography and even the dramatic religious aspects were cleverly bought into focus. This was an important paper as it provided a pathway for those to approach the opera in a way other than the traditional 19th century format.

Andrew D J. Shenton (Yale University) [The intolerable wrestle with words and meaning in Messiaen's 'Langage Communicable']. Andrew Shenton concentrated his talk on the organ work Méditations sur la mystére de la Sainte Trinité where for the first time Messiaen employed a 'communicable language' by ascribing a pitch and duration to every letter of the Roman alphabet. The paper examined what Messiaen wrote about the language and analysed key aspects and assessed the effectiveness of the system.

Matthew Schellhorn [Les Noces and Trois petites liturgies: an assessment of Stravinsky's influence on Messiaen]. This talk threw into light some interesting if not stunning similarities between Les Noces and Trois petites liturgies - something that Messiaen always refuted. Matthew Schellhorn demonstrated some remarkable textural and compositional similarities between Messiaen and Stravinsky suggesting 'a huge, crucial, and almost spititual indebtedness to the Russian forebear'.

Paul McNulty (University of Durham) [René Leibowitz's Attack on Messiaen: An Unintentional Influence?]. As Nigel Simeone exclaimed in his introduction 'it's a brave man who dares to speak about René Leibowitz and Messiaen'. He was of course referring to Leibowitz's attack on Messiaen in the now infamous 1945 article slating Messiaen saying that he juxtaposes rather than composes. Leibowitz also managed to attract some of Messiaen's pupils including Boulez who headed towards a revival of serial music and a new language. Leibowitz had many influential friends and acquaintances in Paris some who were not without a certain political sway and Paul McNulty outlined the validity of his concerns and examined to what extent his role in Parisian society effected Messiaen. This produced a thought provoking and somewhat thorny question and answer session afterwards.

Caroline Potter (Kingston University) [Messiaen and Dutilleux] There was a great mutual respect between Messiaen and Dutilleux and some interesting similarities both musically and personally (both composers were married to pianists). Caroline Potter shed light on these similarities, Gregorian chant and the love of birds but focused her talk on the vocal music of the two composers.

Timothy Day (The British Library - National Sound Archive) [Forging Meanings; Messiaen's music in performance]. Timothy Day introduced and played some early Messiaen recordings, some from 78 copies that are held at the National Sound Archive. Amazingly there are over 1400 Messiaen items held at the NSA part of the British Library so a visit by appointment is well worth it as this is the only source in this country to hear these early recordings.

Jacques Tchamkerten (Conservatoire de Musique de Genéve) [L'evolution de l'ecriture de Messiaen pour les ondes depuis la Féte des Belles-Eaix jusqu'á St François]. Jacques Tchamkerten's presentation (in French) began with an introduction to the Ondes Martenot, the physics and history with live demonstrations and led on to Messiaen's relationship with the instrument from the Fete des belles eaux to St François.

There was a surprise presentation for us all in the form of 'snippets' from an archive copy of Timbres Durees the only venture into musique concrete that Messiaen made with the help of Pierre Henry. I for one thought for many years that this material had been lost but thanks to GRM in Paris a reconstructed copy was found. As Messiaen himself said 'I was never comfortable or good at this type of experimental music' and left it for the younger generation to explore. Even here though Hindu rhythms predominate with percussion oriented sound sources in a repetitive motivic sequence.

Allen Forte (Yale University) [Some General Characteristics of Messiaen's Harmonies]. Allen Forte has written many books on music theory and analysis and his interest in Messiaen was inspired by his wife Madeleine's writing and performances of Messiaen's music. He has made a particular study of Messiaen's music from 1949-51 a sort of serial period. Allen spoke about pitch-class set-class analysis of representative harmonies and discussed their general intervallic properties in terms both of symmetric and asymmetric attributes.

Robert Sholl (King's College, London) [Tournemire, Messiaen and the culture of Redemtion through Modernity]. Robert Sholl made a postgraduate study of the 'Early Music of Olivier Messiaen' at King's and spoke about the ideas of Josephin Péladan and Joris-Karl Huysmans from the 19th century catholic revival, and how they formed a seminal aspect of the intellectual heritage of Tournemire and Messiaen.

Edward R.B. Forman (University of Bristol) [L'Harmonie de l'Univers: mystical and literary influences on the Vingt Regards sir l'Enfant-Jésus]. Edward Forman is a member of the Department of French at the University of Bristol and specializes in French drama and comedy and music on the stage from the seventeenth century to early twentieth century (Cocteau etc.) and spoke of the sources of inspiration for Vingt Regards with particular reference to Maurice Toesca's La Douze Regards. Edward shed light on a French radio programme that was planned in 1943/4 which was to include texts by Toesca and music by Messiaen.

Sander van Maas (Amsterdam Conservatory/University of Amsterdam) [On the meaning of Messiaen's stoicism]. Sander van Maas ruffled a few delegates feathers whose paper focused on the religious meaning of musical stoicism. To quote Sander: 'To listen to the music of Messiaen is not in the first place an emotional experience, or, put differently, his music does seem not to be after our emotions. - They {Messiaen's works} rather confront the listener with an experience of a musical kind of stoicism that evades the categories of present - day aesthetics'. Sander van Maas argued this case well but I'm not sure all delegates were left convinced.

Christopher Dingle (University of Sheffield) [Light and Transcendence: Symbols, tam tams and wisdom in La Transfiguration de Notre-Seigneur, Jésus Christ]. No that really isn't a typo or spelling mistake - Chris set out to explain the fascinating symbolism between the music and the text from La Transfiguration. For example the gong, tam tam and temple block motif signifying the récit évangelique chants as bells and carillon signifies call to Christian worship. Also that Messiaen chose to use the song of a particular Brazilian bird as the voice of Christ. This work formed the basis of one of many dissertations Chris has undertook during his time at Sheffield.

Thomas George Handel (New England Conservatory of Music) [Messiaen the Synesthete: The Influence of Coloured- Hearing on his Music]. The synesthesia phenomenon and Messiaen is well known and Thomas Handel elucidated on the colour/sound relationships in Messiaen's work with particular reference to La Résurrection du Christ (Livre du Saint Sacrement) whereby the superimposition of different modes are used in order to evoke the colours of the Resurrection panel of Mathias Grüewald's Isenheim Alterpiece. Messiaen always stated that two of his favourite painters were Grüewald and Delaunay and both artists work were very close to what Messiaen saw when listening to music. In Couleurs de la Cité Céleste Messiaen also used colours as formal structures akin to what Delauney was developing in painting.

Cheong, Wai-Ling (The Chinese University of Hong Kong) [Messiaen and Chord Tables]. Wai-Ling's paper focused on Messiaen's use of chord tables which has only really come to light in the third volume of Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie where Messiaen himself analyses Chronochromie and shows for the first time a table of the revolving chords, the chords of transposed inversions on the same bass note and the first chords of contracted resonance. This talk complemented that given by Allen Forte referring to pitch-class content of chords.

Jeremy Thurlow (Robinson College, University of Cambridge) [Birds of Freedom? Messiaen's 'style oiseau']. Nowadays Messiaen and birdsong are almost synonymous. While birdsong was very much idealized in pieces in the 1930s and 40s it was around 1951 that it became an integral source of inspiration. Jeremy Thurlow discussed this development that came at a time when the young 'avant garde' of the day were discovering the merits of total serialism sparked off by Messiaen in Mode de valeurs. However his own 'style oiseau' was seen by some as a 'retreat from the chilly vacuum of total serialism and an escape to the freedom of cosier and more picturesque pastures'. Using movements from Catalogue d'Oiseaux Jeremy showed how Messiaen used birdsong and blocked landscape material much like Stockhausen made use of 'groups' as integral compositional material.

Robert Fallon (University of California, Berkeley) [The Record of Realism in Messiaen's Oiseaux exotiques]. In this fascinating talk on 'how accurate' Messiaen's birdsongs are Robert Fallon was able to demonstrate from the set of six 78 rpm records that Messiaen used to compose 37 of the North American birds in Oiseaux exotiques. These records were American Bird Songs, Recorded by Albert R. Brand Bird Song Foundation. Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University and together with spectograms (wave forms made by the birds song) Robert compared the Messiaen transcriptions which were highly accurate in rhythm and pitch shape. Robert went on to discuss the aesthetic implications of these findings, including the severe compositional restrictions Messiaen set for himself.

Pére Jean-Rodolphe Kars [La musique d'Olivier Messiaen: les splendeurs de la révélation chrétienne]. I am sure I am not alone when I say that probably the most inspiring and uplifting talk of this conference was that given by Pére Jean-Rodolphe Kars. This was not due to the sheer length of the keynote session (over two hours) but simply the spiritual communication that Pére Kars induced by his contempletive exploration of the mysteries that nourished the work of Messiaen. I, like many others that were gathered, am not 'relegious' believing that one can enjoy Messiaen's music without being so and indeed Jean-Rodolphe Kars was bought up in a Jewish Vienese family with no 'relegion'. He studied music to become a concert pianist coming 2nd in the Leeds piano competition and 1st in the Concous de Piano Olivier Messiaen in 1968. However in 1966 Kars converted to Catholisism and was baptised in Sacre Coeur, Paris. In 1976 he turned entirely to priesthood and although the causes of conversion were non musical, during the course of time it became clear to Kars that Olivier Messiaen was his spiritual father.
Pére Kars gave an incredible insight into the relegious, theological and spiritual aspects of Messiaen's work pointing out that even in works where there are no literal religious sub titles (e.g. Catalogue d'Oiseaux) they are still a praise and assumption of creation, the link to St François being obvious. Even a piece such as Soixante-quatre durées from Livre d'Orgue, Messiaen says that this abstract piece is like a slow ascension into a very soft light and revelation, so the mystical is apparent in these pieces too.
The highlight of the session undoubtably was Pére Kars' analysis then live interpretation of Premiére communion de la Vierge from Vingt Regards, an awe inspiring sublime moment that even the distant chinking of crockery in the next room could not dim.

Philip Weller (University of Nottingham) [Time and Human Utterance in Messiaen's song cycles]. Philip Weller concentrated his talk on Messiaen's three major song cycles: Poemes pour Mi, Chants de Terre et de Ciel and Harawi all of which set Messiaen's own poems. With particular reference to the last movement of Chants de Terre (Resurrection) Philip explained how underlying structures and detailed phrase levels and dynamism of the writing helped Messiaen achieve such perfect translation from text to music in works that contain elements of a highly personal nature and coming at a time in his life that were key in terms of personal crisis.

Roger Nichols [Poémes pour Mi: ou le Mariage des Modes]. In this final individual talk Roger Nichols began on a welcome light hearted note speaking about his meeting with Messiaen in London after a rehearsal of L'Ascension in a rather 'glorified broom cupboard' in Brent Town Hall. In his highly entertaining and amusing approach Roger went on to explain that 'Messiaen's management of the modes to some extent constitutes a horizontal line of force linking the vertical blocks'. Using Poémes pour Mi as musical examples he explained how Messiaen arrived at 11 note scales by combing say modes 2 & 3 or mode 2 transposition one and mode 3 transposition one thereby arriving at modal and non modal coloured chords including a B flat 13th chord which Roger suggests derived from Debussy's Pelléas (a love chord). The importance to Messiaen of Pelléas et Mélisande is well known and thanks to Nigel Simeone a photograph has come to light showing Claire Delbos (Messiaen's first wife) and Messiaen dressed up as Pelléas et Mélisande, perhaps suggesting that these mode combinations are symbolic of marriage both personal and musical.

As well as the sessions there were two concert presentations that took place at Firth Hall. Thursday evening was a piano recital with the first half featuring Madeleine Forte playing seven movements from Vingt Regards and the second half Matthew Schellhorn performing La Fauvette des jardins. Both pianist displayed immense understanding for these works, however La Fauvette des jardins is a mammoth work requiring a mammoth interpretation which it certainly got with Matthew Schellhorn who brought energy, fire and great sensitivity to this work. His formidible technique produced a crystalline, sometimes awe inspiring but always vivid account of the Isere region of France and it's birds.

The Saturday evening concert produced some real surprises not least an unscheduled and spontaeous performance of Louange á l'immortalité de Jésus from Quatour pour la fin du temps with Richard Markham cello and Pére Jean-Rodolphe Kars piano. An astonishing performance was made even more unearthly by Pére Kars insisting on no applause after the performance.
The scheduled programme began with the UK premiére of Prélude for piano composed in 1964 and built on orchestral type resonances and birdsong. This was followed by Morceau written in 1934 as a sight reading excersise when Messiaen was teaching at the Ecole Normale. Apart from the Preludes there is relatively few piano works written during the 30s so this is a welcome addition to the catalogue. Peter Hill concluded this group of short pieces with Le Tombeau de Paul Dukas. this was followed by the only non Messiaen work in the concert, Suite for onde Martenot and piano by Milhaud which gave us a chance to hear the real delicate and sensitive playing of Jacques Tchamkerten allaying any claim that electronic instruments are incapable of expression and individual character.
Another 'first' followed in the form of Piéce, for oboe and piano performed by Freya Bailes and Jonathan Gooing. In 1945 Messiaen was asked to write a piece for a competition at the Conservatoire and until recently all record of this was unknown when Nigel Simeone and Peter Hill found reference to it in a diary entry and Yvonne Loriod had a clear recollection of what became of his only music for oboe and piano: it was reworked note for note as the fifth movement of Harawi (L'amour de Piroutcha). Another newly discovered piece was performed by Andrew Shenton entitled Tristan et Yseult - Theme d'Amour for organ. This was part of a piece Messiaen was asked to write for a production of a play Lucien Fabre, which opened at the Théatre Edouard VII in Paris 1945. Messiaen used the theme later as the love theme in Harawi.
Jennifer Chant, soprano and Andrew Shenton, organ performed O sacrum convivium in this version for soprano and organ sanctioned by the composer. To round off the first half of this fascinating concert Peter Hill and Jacques Tchamkerten returned to perform Feuillets inédits (UK premiére) and Vocalise.
The second half gave way to Peter Hill and Matthew Schellhorn performing Visions de l'Amen. Peter Hill is well aquainted with this piece and this was reflected in his sure command of the intricate bird and carillon passages of piano one. Matthew Schellhorn although a force to be reckoned with sometimes obliterated the intracacies of piano one and ensemble suffered occassionally but there was great spirit in this performance which apart from a couple of 'rogue' chords in the closing bars from Schellhorn rounded off an evening of joy and glory.

The conference concluded with a round table discussion and as Peter Hill commented, the conference had opened up many new paths in Messiaen's work and in particular the way he used words and text from Trois Melodies to St François which had been admirably highlighted by many of the papers presented. Also I was glad to hear delegates bring up the humour in Messiaen's work which is by no means rare throughout his oeuvre.
I found this conference immensly informative and rewarding in the widest sense also mentally exhausing but one that I wouldn't have missed for the world.

Well done Chris and Sheffield!

Messiaen au Pays de la Meije

The 5th Messiaen Festival at La Grave took place between 19 & 27 July 2002 in one of the most picturesque and scenic regions of France, an area beloved of Messiaen. Music lover Paul Scamen sent the following comments after his visit to the festival.

'I've just come back from the Messiaen Festival in La Grave in the east of France. I don't know if you're interested in a layman's impressions - I have no musical background - I just got interested in listening to Messiaen after I heard a piece on the radio about 25 years ago.

I went up to the Hautes-Alpes from Nice twice - 28 hours all together by car for two concerts. But I'm very glad I made the effort!

On the Tuesday Michel Béroff played the "Vingt Regards" in a small village church so we were all only a few metres from the piano. It was the first time I had heard Béroff play in public since I heard his record of the same work 20 years ago. I was also very pleased to be invited, with all the other members of the audience, to refreshments at the nearby village hall after the concert, in the presence of the pianist!

Then, four days later, the grand finale: "Et Expecto" in the open air outside the same church of La Grave beneath the glacier of the Meije mountain (4,000 metres), as Messiaen himself had wished to see his work performed (It was moving to know that Yvonne Loriod was in the audience).

I was happy to feel surrounded by other Messiaen-lovers and feel a deep gratitude towards the people who organized such a heartwarming gathering'.
Thanks to Paul Scamen for sharing his experience of this festival.

CD Reviews

Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jésus Yvonne Loriod 1975 (Erato), Pierre-Laurent Aimard 1999 (Teldec) Steven Osborne 2001 (Hyperion)

After trawling through various catalogues worldwide it appears that Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jésus is Messiaen's most recorded piano work since Yvonne Loriod's first recordings on Pathé 78s and subsequent LPs in1956, my Vega boxed set of which, after wife and child, would probably be the first thing I would grab from a burning house!

With so many recordings past and present its been hard to single out individual offerings as most pianists have brought differing characteristics to this work over the years. Indeed its also been interesting to hear how Loriod's own interpretations have changed through time.
My first exposure to Vingt Regards was not Loriod but the Hungarian born Thomas Rajna who came to the Wigmore Hall, London to perform the cycle in its entirety I think as part of a tour to promote his newly released recording of the work on 3 LPs for the Saga Record label. Since then there have been offerings from the likes of John Ogden, Malcolm Troup, Michel Béroff, Hakon Austbo, Volker Banfield, Joanna MacGregor, Louise Bessette, Roger Muraro, Angela Hewitt and the great Peter Hill whose complete Messiaen Piano Music is to appear on Regis Records (its about time!).

The three contenders I have chosen represent real landmarks in the recording of Vingt Regards. I was always of the somewhat conceited opinion that a Loriod performance was the definitive - this was until I heard Aimard and Osborne when I realized that as history develops so a new higher level of interpretation develops. It is a fact of life that standards rise and boundaries are broken down, we see this in education constantly but I have to admit that it came as quite a shock to hear these performances and not be disappointed from the word go.
After hearing the first two bars of Regard du Pere played by Steven Osborne I thought at last someone (with the exception of Peter Hill) has captured what I think is the true tempo and spirit of this movement. So often it is far too fast as was the case of the then youthful Béroff, or its too muddy and unclear. This is reflected in the timings of this movement: Loriod 5.21, Aimard 6.10 but Osborne a winner at 8.10. I'm not saying that this cosmically slow pace always works, indeed in the last movement where Osborne takes a massive 15.34 to reveal the Church of Love against Aimards 11.59 can seem a bit ponderous - here Loriod gets it just right (as always).
Pierre-Laurent Aimard has made a feature of Regard de l'Esprit de joie as an encore in his recitals and his dazzling technical fireworks always brings the house down but generally I found some subtleties in his interpretation less convincing overall. Take for example the slow right hand chords in the 'Rappell de "la Vierge et l'enfant" section of Premiére communion de la Vierge - Aimard comes across as too bell like, almost 'clanky' whereas Loriod and especially Osborne has these chords merely glistening in the heavens.
The fiendishly difficult Par Lui tout á été fait has Steven Osborne playing like a man possessed shaving off a good minute and half from Aimard - real edge of the seat stuff!
All three seem to reach a happy medium in Regard de l'Esprit de joie with performances around eight and half minutes although Aimard's 'ritual oriental dance and hunt' are swifter.

Osborne's bird passages are particularly stunning with crystal clear articulation, speed and colour (I would dearly look forward to a Catalogue d'Oiseaux by this extraordinary pianist) akin to Messiaen's own interpretation of bird passages in his early recordings of Ile de feu 1 and Harawi.
One always comes back to the sheer stylish and deep understanding of Yvonne Loriod's playing - she really 'digs in' to all the accents and never misses an articulation so important in Messiaen's piano music where there is so much happening melodically not just between hands but between fingers (for example:' Les bras tendus vers l'amour' in Le baiser de l'enfant Jesus). This Erato set is increasingly hard to find but should still be available. Aimard's and Osborne's are readily available with Osborne's presented in a stylish jewel case and invaluable booklet with notes by Nigel Simeone quoting from Messiaen's own diary entries at the time of composing Vingt Regards.

Both the Teldec and the Hyperion recording suffer from the digital characteristic of a slight lack of piano 'depth' in the bass register. This is clearly heard in such movements as La parole toute-puissante and Noël where Messiaen asks for a reverberating tam-tam sound on the lowest three notes of the keyboard. Here they sound a little 'wooden' but the Loriod - Erato scores hands down as the ADD recording captures that growling depth impeccably.

If you only have one version of Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jésus it has to be Yvonne Loriod. If you can have two versions or you can't get hold of the Erato then the Steven Osborne - Hyperion is a must. He has certainly left his mark on this piece with this highly recommened presentation.
MB.

Olivier Messiaen Live: Improvisations inédites La Praye Disques

I stumbled on La Praye, a tiny web site and equally tiny independent label specializing in music for the organ, purely by chance. Based in Rully, France and Montreal, Quebec their small but highly significant catalogue revealed this 2 CD set of Messiaen improvising at the organ of La Trinité.
That these recordings came about at all is something of a small two pronged miracle, and is thanks to the ingenuity of Olivier Glandaz the organ builder who since 1977 has been responsible for the maintenance of the organ at La Trinité. It was his idea to make recordings of Messiaen's improvisations during some of the religious ceremonies and Sunday Masses at the church. The other prong of this small miracle is down to Maxime Patel the producer of the CD. Apparently Maxime Patel was approached by Jeanne Loriod in 2001 with an idea to mark the 10th anniversary of Messiaen's death with a release of a CD including Fête des Belles Eaux. Sadly this project was never realized due to the sudden death of Jeanne Loriod the same year. So Patel decided to honour the occasion with the release of these improvisations.

Olivier Glandaz recorded these improvisations between 1984 and 1987 using 'non professional' equipment and thanks to the remastering skills of Laurent Olivier we are presented with nearly two and a half hours of the maître at work. Armed only with his little well used book of Gregorian chant melodies, Messiaen weaves his magic over an often spellbound congregation who respond with spontaneous applause giving thanks for bringing into focus musically the lesson that had been read.
There are 29 improvisations in all displaying all aspects of Messiaen's organ technique and fondness for the characteristic combination registers of the Trinité organ in styles ranging from the sublime Priére du Christ montant vers son Pére (L'Ascension) and Priére avant la communion (Livre du Saint Sacrement) to fiery toccata moments a la Dieu Parmi Nous.
Organ music has always been notorious to record because of the inherent nature of location. The rumble of traffic, the slamming of the odd door has to be accepted on the best recordings and yes there is background noise and yes there is the odd clunking of furniture down below in the church but this never dims the experience of hearing this music in the spirit it was performed and for those of us who were never lucky enough to be part of the congregation at La Trinité these recordings are surely the next best thing. There is a DVD available (see 'audio/visual resources' page) which features Messiaen improvising, again an invaluable document but one which lacks the spontaneity induced by a 'live' audience or congregation and that's what makes these CDs so important both to the Messiaen scholar and the interested listener.

At 27 Euros this really is an invaluable addition to any serious CD collection. Congratulations to La Praye!

Olivier Messiaen: Improvisations inédites can be ordered directly from Laurent Olivier at La Praye Disques at www.la-praye.com

maldrummer1@netscape.net