Olivier Messiaen/Arnold Schoenberg split release

Olivier Messiaen/Arnold Schoenberg - split release

All music on LP performed by Domaine Musicale Orchestra, conducted by Pierre Boulez

Other performers on "Seven Haikai":

Yvonne Loriod - piano
Strassbourg Percussion Ensemble

SEVEN HAIKAI

This work was written in 1962, following a trip to Japan. Although no poems are included in it, the title HAIKAI denotes that the seven pieces are short, like the Japanese poems bearing that name. The dedication, on the other hand, is long, but bears citation:

"TO YVONNE LORIOD, TO PIERRE BOULEZ, TO MME. FUMI YAMAGUCHI, TO SEIJI OZAWA, TO YORITSUNE MATSUDAIRA, TO SANDAU BEKKU AND MITSUAKI HAYAMA, TO THE ORNITHOLOGIST HOSHINO, TO THE LANDSCAPE, TO THE MUSIC, AND TO ALL THE BIRDS OF JAPAN."

Here is a brief analysis of each of the seven pieces:

I - INTRODUCTION

Cencerros, bells, trumpet, trombone and metallic percussion introduce Indian rhythms dedicated to the three Shakti. The piano and woodwinds play a retrograded rhythmic canon. The xylophone and marimba play a Metabole of the Tala Simhavikrama (force of the lion) and of Tala Micra-Varna (mixture of colors). The violins then play a melodic phrase, of which we hear only the first strophe (the second strophe is heard in the seventh piece).

II - THE PARK OF NARA AND THE STONE LANTERNS

The Nara region in Japan. Four Buddhist temples in a park. Does and stags roam about freely. The sun's rays play among the Cryptomerias along the main path. 3,000 stone lanterns press together and out of view.

III - Yamanaka - CADENZA

The birds singing in this place were heard in the forest near Lake Yamanaka at the foot of Mount Fuji. They are almost the same birds heard in the sixth piece, but one must add Misoszai, a Japanese Troglodyte portrayed by the xylophone, and Aka-Hara, a red-sided thrush, portrayed by the English horn. Aoji, a Japanese masked bird and Oruri, a blue Japanese fly eater were observed at Subashiri. The three piano "cadenzas" portray successively:
(a) first cadenza: KIBITKA, a narcissistic fly eater;
(b) second cadenza: HOAKA, a grey-headed bird and Hibari, a Japanese meadow-sparrow;
(c) third cadenza: KURU TSUGUMI, a Japanese blackbird.

IV - GAGAKU

GAGAKU is the noble Japanese music of the VIIth century. It is still performed at the Imperial court. We hear only the two main timbres of this music: SHO (mouth organ), replaced by an ensemble of 8 violins, and HICHIRIKI (primitive oboe), replaced by trumpet.

V - MIYAJIMA AND THE TORII IN THE SEA

This is perhaps the most beautiful spot in Japan. It is a mountain island covered with dark green Japanese pines and maples that turn red in autumn. A Shinto Temple, white and red, with a great red portal opening onto the deep blue sea. To all these colors, the musical harmonies of woodwinds, brass, violins and bells (and also the resources of CROTALES, piano and triangle) add other combinations: grey and orange-gold, silvery red, lilac and violet-purple.

VI - THE BIRDS OF KARUIZAWA

The birds singing in this piece were heard in the vicinity of Karuizawa, in a mountain and Japanese pine setting. Some were heard in the woods, near a gorge and a small stream not far from the Asama volcano, where bright-red azaleas flourish. Some of the main birds are:
(a) UGUISO, a Japanese songbird that has two songs: the first is a long, swelling note, followed by a victorious, rapidly descending trill and continuing in a third, interrupted and repeated many times, slowing progressively. UGUISO is represented by the trumpet and woodwind ensemble. (b) HOTOTOGUISO, a small grey-headed cuckoo that sings an odd fanfare of five or six notes. HOTOTOGUISO is represented by trombone, bassoons and clarinet.
(c) KIBITAKI, a narcissistic fly eater whose song is of repeated strophes, sometimes quite numerous. Its plumage is yellow-orange and black, a great yellow brown, great white spots on the wings. KIBITAKI is played by four clarinets, as well as xylophone and marimba.
(d) ORURI, a blue Japanese fly eater. Its head and coat are blue, and the belly white, throat and breast black.
(e) AOJI, a Japanese masked bird, whose song consists of rapid, separated leaps.
(f) SAN KO CHO, another fly eater with head and throat of violet-black, white belly, a reddish-brown coat, and a pale-blue circle around each eye, with a very long tail. SAN KO CHO is played by xylophone and marimba.
(g) KURO TSUGUMI, the Japanese blackbird, whose varied song differs from that of the European blackbird.
(h) MEJIRO, a bird of tender green plumage with white circles about its eyes. In the piano cadenzas we hear BINZUI, Hodgson's songbird, and O-YOSHIKIRI, a reddish oriental bird. There are at least a dozen other Japanese birds heard in this work.

VII - CODA

Given by the CENCERROS, bells, trumpet, and metallic percussion, a suite of Indian rhythms, dedicated to the three SHAKTI. Piano and woodwinds again take up the retrograded rhythmic canon of the first piece. The sequence is reversed, however, and the violins play the conclusion, or second strophe, of the melodic phrase heard in the first piece. (Olivier Messiaen)

CHAMBER SYMPHONY OP. 9 (1906) for fifteen solo instruments

The CHAMBER SYMPHONY, composed in 1906, is years ahead in concept and content. Although the romantic heritage of Brahms, Mahler and Wagner is not to be denied, one may already discern the forces which were to emerge fully in the mature Schoenberg. The form itself reveals a compactness: the different parts of a symphony in one unit, a device favored by the Vienna school, particularly by Alban Berg. The symphony corresponds to the following scheme:

I - Exposition of two themes, with a repeat of the principal theme and transitional segments between each.
II - Scherzo and trio with repeat.
III - Development (in three parts)
IV - Slow movement
V - Repeat of the thematic material of the first part in a more elaborate form, modified and in the nature of a Finale.

THREE PIECES FOR ORCHESTRA (1910) for an ensemble of instrumental soloists

The THREE PIECES were only discovered in 1957 among some papers left by the composer. Dating from 1910, a year before Schoenberg wrote the Six Little Pieces for Piano, op. 19, they reflect the composer's preoccupation with extreme economy of means and maximum concentration of form. It also illustrates the principal of non-repetition, emphasizing variability, asymmetry, and plurality, shedding new light on this aspect of Schoenberg's thought. (Jean-Claude Eloy)

Tracklisting:

Side 1 (All tracks by Olivier Messiaen)

1. Seven Haikai: I. Introduction {1:50}

2. Seven Haikai: II. The Park of Nara and the Stone Lanterns {1:30}

3. Seven Haikai: III. Yamanaka-Cadenza {3:39}

4. Seven Haikai: IV. Gagaku {2:57}

5. Seven Haikai: V. Miyajima and the Torii in the Sea {1:24}

6. Seven Haikai: VI. The Birds of Karuizawa {5:33}

7. Seven Haikai: VII. Coda {1:53}

Side 2 (All tracks by Arnold Schoenberg)

1. Chamber Symphony, Op. 9 {17:08}

2. Three Pieces for Orchestra {1:55}

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