hi all -

tonight i am going to see essa pekka salonen conduct "des canyons aux etioles," by olivier messiaen. l.a. phil new music group w/ pianist marino formenti, who i bleieve i have heard at the ojai miusic festival.

any messiaen fans out there in naimland?

A few months ago a friend lent me this 2 cd album...
I guess it's not to everyones taste but i thought it very enjoyable... not background, do the housework music though, it needs one to sit attentively in the sweet spot to really appreciate the finer points his composition.
I'd recommend this 2 cd EMI Classics album! : )

yes, "quartet for the end of time" is a pretty great piece. heard that live at the disney last year. go olivier!!

I've seen and heard his Turangalila Symphony a couple of times. Very enjoyable, and a bit different with the Ondes martinot (spelling?) featured.
Ken

Very much so.

Des Canyons aux Etoiles is one of my favourite pieces. I heard it live at the Edinburgh festival back in 2006. The audience was a little thin, but it was a powerful experience.

I think what I like most is it shows so many different facets of Messiaen's music - it's religious, there's birdsong (and in particularly from solo piano) and some wonderful orchestration. I find I prefer it to works like the La Transfiguration as the religion is less explicit (as it's purely instrumental) and thus more generally spiritual.

Aside from the vividness with which he captures the canyons, there is a quite exceptional movement for solo horn called interstellar call - the effects the soloist I heard got were unbelievable (and sadly not really replicated on the recording I have). It gives a sense of the size and emptiness of space in a way that Holst doesn't even come close to, for me at any rate.


I'm also very fond of the piano music, in particular the bird books, and there's a lovely and very cheap survey from Peter Hill. Similarly (and on the same label - Regis), Jennifer Bate has a very good set of the organ works.


The quartet for the end of time is rather special too and I went to an excellent performance at the end of last year.



The other rather interesting work is St Francois d'Assise, his rather lengthy opera, and something I'd very much like to see live.


regards, Tam

a truly great concert. second time i've seen the piece, this one was really something. there was a glowing review in the l.a. times as well.

Try some of his organ music. Very thought provoking and eerie stuff. Certainly an underated star.

David

I enjoy Messiaen, though I find that only a few key works seem to suffice. The Quartet for the End of Time is certainly a crucial work, as are the Turangalila and St Francois. The big work for me is Vingt Regards, especially under the fingers of Peter Serkin or Michel Beroff.


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Hard to decide what to recommend but in my view ...

piano : Visions de Amen
Vingt Regards sur le Infant Jesus

orchestra : Et Expecto Ressuectionum Mortiourum

For the piano I would recommend Peter Hill but ideally John Ogden [whose recordings seem to be deleted]...

James H.

quote:

Originally posted by James Hamilton:
l but ideally John Ogden [whose recordings seem to be deleted]...

They're available in Japan.


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Thanks Todd for the info .. maybe with the Messiaen centenary the Ogden recordings will be re-released in Europe.

i have "vingt regards" on naxos done by a fellow named austbo. he's made several recordings of messiaen. he's good, imo; not familiar w/ the artists mentioned.

the organ stuff is certainly interesting ...

quote:

Originally posted by fidelio:
the organ stuff is certainly interesting ...

Second that, like myself one other member of this forum local to me has at least two interpretations of his complete works for organ any other fellow aficionados?

Simon

For people new to messiaen ..

Yvonne Loriod was his wife so her piano interpretations are considerred certainly worth hearing. He wrote the two-piano stuff for himself and her .. [her sister -- RIP -- played the Ondes Martinon -- an early type of synthessiser -- used my Messiaen in some of his works].

Pierre-Laurent Aimard I belive studied with Messiaen and his piano versions are also recommended ...

James H.

There's an interesting looking link here:

Celebrating Messiaen

Look at the links on the right hand side of the page - there will be a webcast on 27 January, celebrating the work of Messiaen, with the highly regarded pianist Angela Hewitt. I assume it will be available for download afterwards. Might just give this a listen myself.

For a gorgeously played introduction to the piano works, try Angela Hewitt's Messiaen collection on Hyperion.

Heya Fidelio, I'm in Silver Lake and go to Disney all the time. Salonen has been quite an experience. He makes modern works so enjoyable.

I heard him do Canyon/Stars at Ojai Festival a few years back. It was a tough evening sitting on a hard bench for 90 minutes. Every 20 minutes or so there'd be this wild crescendo then back to twitterings etc. It's just not my thing and I do like 20th C music.

I've heard Qt for End of Time at least 3 times and have a recording. It's sounded different each time. The best for me was with John Adams conducting, I almost cried it was so moving. A day later at a friend's in Santa Barbara a couple had gone to Ojai and I exclaimed about it and she just hated it, "just too sad". Well, to each his own.....

hey wolf, my girlfriend lives on golden gate. anyway, salonen is the greatest. i'm going to see him as often as i can while he still has the baton. but dudamel sounds fun too. going to hear mahler's 6th on fri. (but it's neither conductor). i just hope essa pekka writes his opera and is happy. i go to the ojai festival most summers, know what you mean about some of those pieces. i sit on the lawn and sleep through the gnarly stuff, although those crescendos can be annoying. about ten years ago someone got me "surprise" tix to ojai, not realizing it's always the weird stuff. it was messaien, and she couldn't handle it; she apparently was expecting mozart or whatever. be seeing you, artie

we should meet, either before Ojai or during the weekend, have lunch together. I go with a fun friend. My first Ojai was 16 years ago, Adams was conducting it was fabulous being outside under the trees and so close. One of my favorite moments was when the Phil was doing something outrageous with Salonen's friends. The fast beginning then the slow movement, two local cats got into it, yowling and hissing. A minute earlier they just woulda been part of the piece.

I'm sorry Salonen is going too, but my friend John has heard interviews with the top brass and he thinks they're going to make him a lauriate (sp?) type position to come back a few times a year, and i"m sure living in LA we'll get to hear some great new works.

And hope Dudamel is good too. It'll be fun to hear him mature and I'm sure more latin music. I was in back of the orchestra seating when he had his first concert and he was so great to watch, enthusiastic and black curls bouncing away.

my email is in my profile (i think ...). i'd just heard that about eps - he's staying in l.a. (does anybody move back to finland??), and will guest conduct. i note that dudamel is conducting one of his pieces next month.

supposedly dudamel is quite a violinist. i agree that it will be fun. i've already heard some stories about him.

artie

ps. i think i'm attending the elliot carter night this saturday at redcat, on the offchance you'll be there.