Meditations sur le mystere de la Sainte Trinite

Olivier Messiaen - Meditations sur le mystere de la Sainte Trinite

released on a 2-LP set in 1973 by Musical Heritage Society (same as 1972 release on Erato)

performed by Olivier Messiaen himself

Organ used on this recording is that of the Church of Sainte Trinite, Paris.

Composed in 1969, the mystical Meditations sur le mystere de la Sainte Trinite (Meditations on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity) is made up of 9 pieces or meditations that reflect on an attribute of the Trinity. The Meditations contain bird songs, plainsong, quotations from Thomas Aqunias's Summa Thelogica, deci-talas (Hindu rhythms). The liner notes include Messiaen's own musical and theological analysis on the music that helps in understanding the music. Also in the liner notes, Messiaen explains his attempt at creating a musical language called communicable language that is incorporated in the music.
Messiaen's version is the only one that I have listened to in its entirety. I'm not sure if it is the essential version although since it's performed by the man himself, it probably should be. The performance and the recording itself is great. I am welcome, of course, to any other suggestions.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1.  Meditation No. 1  {8:15}

2.  Meditation No. 2  {11:37}

Side 2

1.  Meditation No. 3  {2:19}

2.  Meditation No. 4  {6:30}

3.  Meditation No. 5  {11:18}

Side 3

1.  Meditation No. 6  {8:30}

2.  Meditation No. 7  {6:27}

Side 4

1.  Meditation No. 8  {10:39}

2.  Meditation No. 9  {9:38}

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Olivier Messiaen-TROIS PETITES LITURGIES DE LA PRESENCE DIVINE (Erato) 1964

It was Twenty years ago today that Olivier Messiaen shed his earthly body,aged 83.

The record cover notes are in French (enclosed). These are some notes from the wiki page for the piece itself. I have done little editing.
 
Trois petites liturgies was commissioned by Denise Tual for the Concerts de la Pléiade in Paris and composed during World War II, between November 15, 1943, and March 15, 1944. Messiaen originally conceived the piece as a work for two pianos, as he had achieved success in that format previously with Visions de l'amen. The sung words evoke the presence of God in himself and in all things, as indicated by the title. According to Messiaen, each movement describes a different facet of God's presence:

    The principal idea is that of the divine presence, with each section dedicated to a different kind of presence. The first section, 'Antienne de la conversation intérieure' ('Antiphon of the Interior Conversation') is dedicated to the God who is present within us; the second section, 'Sequence du verbe, cantique divin' ('Sequence of the Word, Divine Song') is dedicated to the God who is present in Himself; and the third section, 'Psalmodie de l’ubiquité par amour' (Psalmody of the Ubiquity of Love) is inscribed to the God who is present in all things. These inexpressible ideas are not expressed but remain of the order of a dazzling display of color.

The work was premiered during the Concerts de la Pléiade at the Ancien Conservatoire on April 21, 1945, by Ginette Martenot (ondes Martenot), Yvonne Loriod (piano), the Yvonne Gouverné Chorale, and the Orchestra of the Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, under the direction of Roger Désormière.

The premiere was a success. The audience present included such respected persons as Arthur Honegger, Georges Auric, Francis Poulenc, Henri Sauguet, Roland-Manuel, André Jolivet, Claude Delvincourt, Lazare Lévy, Daniel-Lesur, Irène Joachim, Maurice Gendron, Jean Wiener, Georges Braque, Paul Eluard, Pierre Reverdy, Pierre Boulez, Serge Nigg, and Pierre Henry.

The piece was well-received by the public, but the critics reacted more harshly. The work sparked a controversy which came to be known as "The Messiaen Affair". The two primary points of contention were "the quality and relevance of Messiaen's commentaries" and the use of "unusual sounds" for expressing religious themes.Claude Rostand responded particularly vehemently, describing the work as a "work of tinsel, false magnificence and pseudo-mysticism, this work with dirty nails and clammy hands, with bloated complexion and unhealthy flab, replete with noxious matter, looking about anxiously like an angel wearing lipstick."



Olivier Messiaen:Trois Petites Liturgies de la Presence Divine

Side One:

 a1-Antienne de la conversation intérieure (Antiphon of the Interior Conversation)

 a2-Séquence du verbe, cantique divin (Sequence of the Word, Divine Song)

Side Two:      

 b1-Psalmodie de l'ubiquité par amour (Psalmody of the Ubiquity of Love)


      






















Yvonne Loriod-Piano solo
Jeanne Loriod-Ondes Martenot solo
Chouers de la Maitrise   
Orchestre De Chambre de la RTF
Marcel Couraud-Direction

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Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum/Couleurs de la cite celeste

Olivier Messiaen - Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum/Couleurs de la cite celeste

released on LP

I borrowed this LP a few years ago and ripped it then. The cover was beat up so I had to "borrow" the cover from somewhere on the net. The back cover has a little bit of handwriting on it. I do not know what the dates refer to (maybe when the music was recorded), but it was nice that someone wrote how to pronounce Olivier Messiaen's name.

Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum ("And I await the Resurrection of the Dead")

On the back cover, the entirety of side 1 is referred to as the beginning and the first track on side 2 is referred to as the conclusion.

Conducted by Pierre Boulez.
Performed by Groupe Instrumental a Percussion de Strasbourg and Orchestre du Domaine Musical.

This work was commissioned by André Malraux. It was composed and orchestrated in 1964. Its instrumentation intends it for vast spaces: churches, cathedrals, and even performances in the open air and on mountain heights....
It is perhaps useful to recall that, at the time he was writing his score, the composer gladly surrounded himself with strong and simple pictures - of the stepped pyramids of Mexico, the temples and statues of Ancient Egypt, Romanesque and Gothic churches; that he re-read the texts of St. Thomas Aquinas on "The Resurrection" and "The World of the Resuscitated"; that he worked in the high Alps, facing those powerful landscapes that are his true homeland.
May 7, 1965, at eleven o'clock in the morning: the date of the first, private, performance at the Sainte-Chapelle. This was the ideal setting for the work, as much for the marriage of the colors of the instrumental timbres and sonorous intricacies with the resplendence of blues, reds, gold and purples, as for the alternating resonances due to the encircling of the stained-glass windows. A second performance took place under the direction of Serge Baudo in the Cathédral de Notre Dame de Chartres before a large throng on Sunday, June 20, 1965, at the end of High Mass. This was given in the presence of Monseigneur Michon (the Bishop of Chartres) and of Général Charles de Gaulle. The third performance was given in Paris, at a concert of the Domaine Musical, under the direction of Pierre Boulez, with the players who take part in the present recording. The orchestra comprises three ensembles: woodwind, brass, and metallic percussion instruments. (from the liner notes)

Woodwind: 2 piccolos, 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 1 cor anglais, 1 E-flat clarinet, 3 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, 1 contrabassoon

Brass: 1 trumpet in D, 3 trumpets, 6 horns in F, 3 trombones, 1 bass trombone, 1 tuba, 1 bass saxhorn in B flat

Metallic Percussion: 3 sets of tuned cowbells, tubular bells, 6 gongs, 3 tam-tams

Couleurs de la cité céleste

Conducted by Pierre Boulez. Performers: Yvonne Loriod - piano ; Guy Deplus - first clarinet ; André Fournier - second clarinet ; Gaston Derytere - third clarinet ; Georges Van Gucat - xylophone ; Claude Ricou - xylorimba ; Jean Batigne - marimba ; Pierre Thibaud - trumpet in D ; René Allain - first trombone ; Jean-Paul Finkbeiner -tubular bells

These "inner colors" spring from five quotations from the Apocalypse:
1. "And there was a rainbow round about the throne." (Revelations IV: 3)
2. "And the seven angels had seven trumpets." (Revelations VIII: 6)
3. "And to the star was given the key to the bottomless pit." (Revelations IX: 1)
4. "And the light of the Holy City was like a jasper stone, clear as crystal." (Revelations XXI: 11) 5. "And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones: jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprasus, jacinth, amethyst." (Revelations XXI: 19, 20)

The form of the piece depends entirely on colors. The themes, melodic or rhythmic, the complexes of sounds and timbres evolve like colors. In their perpetually renewed variations can be found (by analogy) colors that are warm and cold, complementary colors that influence their neighbors, shading down to white, or toned down by black. These transformations can be compared to the superimposition of plays enacted on several stages, the simultaneous unfolding of several different stories.

Plainsong Alleluias, Greek and Hindu rhythms, permutations of note values, the birdsong of different countries: all these accumulated materials are placed at the service of color and of the combinations of sounds that assume and call out for it.

The sound-colors, in their turn, are a symbol of the Celestial City and of Him who dwells there. Above all time, above all place, in a light without light, in a night without night.... That which the Apocalypse, still more terrifying in its humility than in its visions of glory, describes only in a blaze of colors.... To the song of two New Zealand birds (the Tui-Bird and the Bell-Bird) is opposed "the Abyss," with its pedal-notes for the trombones and the resonance of tam-tams. To the cries of the Brazilian Araponga is opposed "the colored ecstasy" of pedal points: sard red - red flecked with blue - orange, gold, milky-white - emerald green, amethyst violet - purple violet and blue violet... The work ending no differently from the way it began, but turning on itself like a rosewindow of flamboyant and invisible colors.

Couleurs de la cité céleste was composed in 1963. First performed on October 17, 1964, at the Donaueschingen Festival, under the direction of Pierre Boulez, the work was repeated on December 11, 1964, in Brussels (at the Reconnaissance des Musiques Modernes Festival), then in Paris on December 16, 1964, at a concert of the Domaine Musical, again under the direction of Pierre Boulez. In all these performances, Yvonne Loriod played the solo piano part. (from the liner notes by Olivier Messiaen)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum: I. Des profondeurs de l'abîme, je crie vers toi, Seigneur: Seigneur, écoute ma voix! ("Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord: Lord, hear my voice.") (Psalm 130: 1, 2) {3:39}

2. Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum: II. Le Christ, ressuscite des morts, ne meurt plus; la mort n'a plus sur lui d'empire ("Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.") (St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans VI: 9) {5:21}

3. Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum: III. L'Heure vient où les morts entendront la voix du Fils de Dieu ("The hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.") (St. John V: 25) {4:50}

4. Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum: IV. Ils ressusciteront, glorieux, avec un nom nouveau dans le concert joyeux des étoiles et les acclamations des fils du ciel ("They shall be raised in glory, with a new name, when the morning stars sing together, and all the sons of God shout for joy.") (St. Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians XV: 43; The Revelations of St. John II: 17; Job XXXVIII: 7) {8:41}

Side 2

1. Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum: V. Et j'entendis la voix d'une foule immense... ("And I heard the voice of a great multitude.") (The Revelation of St John XIX: 6) {6:37}

2. Coleurs de la cite celeste {16:44}

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L'Ascension

Olivier Messiaen - L'Ascension

released on LP

Charles Krigbaum - organ (Newberry Memorial Organ, Woolsey Hall, Yale University)

Among twentieth century compositions for organ the works of Olivier Messiaen must surely stand as authentic masterpieces. On first encounter they may seem curiously eclectic in their dazzling reflections of traditional and exotic ingredients: Dukas, Dupre, Debussy, Hindu rhythms, bird calls, Roman Catholicism, pantheism, mysticism, reverberent cathedrals, Cavaille-Coll and the French Romantic Organ - to name a few. However, out of these unusual and disparate elements Messiaen has fused an individual and elegant style that is sensuous, colorful, contemporary, and surprisingly coherent. He has done this with creative brilliance and unsurpassed richness of imagination.
The works themselves fall conveniently into three periods: early, middle, and late. The early period, essentially experimental in nature, includes
Le Banquet Celeste
Diptyque
Apparition de l'Eglise Eternelle
L'Ascension (four pieces)
The middle period, in which specific compositional techniques are systematically employed (cf. Technique de mon Langage Musical, Paris 1944), includes
La Nativite du Seigneur (nine pieces)
Les Corps Glorieux (seven pieces)
The late period, in which is evidenced a more extensive use of complex and exotic elements, includes
Messe de la Pentecote (five pieces)
Livre d'Orgue (seven pieces)
Verset
Meditation sur le Mystere de la Sainte Trinite

Le Banquet Celeste - This famous communion piece (1926) is an original evocation of ineffable mystery and reverence. The original version in 3/4 time was marked extremement lent. In a second version, the composer rescored the piece, doubling the note values and indicating "Tres lent, extatique".

Apparition de l'Eglise eternelle - An apocalyptic vision of the eternal church, utilizing parallelism, open fifths, and rhythmic ostinato figures. Stark, essentially static, and improvisatory in nature, it achieves a powerful effect through insistent repetition, hypnotic in nature, and through an extraordinary crescendo from pp to fff climaxing on a high-position, full C major chord with doubled pedal, followed by a gradual diminuendo to a pp ending on a low-position, open fifth C chord.

L'Ascension contains four symphonic meditations, each inspired by a passage from scripture or the service.
I Majeste du Christ demandant sa gloire a son Pere (Majesty of Christ praying that His Father should glorify Him) - a slow and majestic piece exploiting the prepared reeds on the Great and Positive divisions.
II Alleluias sereins d'une ame qui desire le ciel (Serene Alleluias from a soul longing for Heaven) - an impressionistic and tender expression of celestial serenity and happiness.
III Transports de joie d'une ame devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne (Outburst of joy from a soul before the Glory of Christ which is its own glory) - a tumultuous outpouring of Christian joy.
IV Priere du Christ montant vers son Pere (Prayer from Christ ascending towards His Father) - a moving and solemn expression of divinity. (from the liner notes)

Tracklisting:

Side One

1. Apparition de l'Eglise Eternelle {9:00}

2. Le Banquet Celeste {7:16}

Side Two

1. L'Ascension: I. Majeste du Christ demandant sa gloire a son Pere {5:51}

2. L'Ascension: II. Alleluias sereins d'une ame qui desire le ciel {6:33}

3. L'Ascension: III. Transports de joie d'une ame devant la gloire du Christ qui est la sienne {4:54}

4. L'Ascension: IV. Priere du Christ montant vers son Pere {5:44}

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Petites Liturgies

Olivier Messiaen - Petites Liturgies

LP released in 1974

Performers:

Yvonne Loriod - piano
Jeanne Loriod - Onde Martenot
Choeurs de la maitrise
Chamber Orchestra of Radiodiffusion Francaise, Marcel Couraud - conductor

Messiaen conceived the THREE SHORT LITURGIES as a religious concert work; he specifically wanted a composition that would perform a liturgical act in places which were not originally intended for worship. THE POEM IS BATHED IN QUOTES FROM THE HOLY SCRIPTURES: THE EVANGELISTS, EPISTLES, SONG OF SONGS, THE PSALMS AND THE APOCALYPSE, AND THE MOST BEAUTIFUL TEXTS FROM THE IMITATION OF CHRIST, ST. JOHN, ST. PAUL AND ST. THOMAS. He chose three forms of chant which have a life independent of the cathedral - in monastic and private chapel devotions and in liturgical dramas; an antiphon, a sequence and a psalm-tone. The poetic prose of the text is highly charged with mystical imagery and often moves forward in a litany-like pace with parallel phrases. The first part, the antiphon, follows the three-part form of the antiphon, psalm and antiphon repeat. The meditative antiphon is expressed in short phrases in the pure melody of the chorus supported by low, vibrant strings. Between each phrase a commentary from the piano (bird calls) lightens the texture. For the mid-section the chorus turns to a declamatory style with a vocalization on the last syllable. The instrumental forces - piano, solo violin and Onde Martenot - likewise increase the intensity of sound and the range of emotion. The return ofthe pensive antiphon is not exact as this time the celesta is added to piano, often playing in canon. After a cadenza-like flourish (with the gong) on "Mon Amour" the section ends with brightly harmonized major chords on the words, "Mon Dieu." The second section, the sequence, uses a text heavy with rhyme, assonance and rhythm. The form is a stanza with variations which alternates refrain and the main song. The choir uses dance-like meters of 3/8 and 3/16. The general sense is one of exaltation. In the passage with the orchestral variations, the Onde Martenot may be heard, fortissimo, above the choir. The third section is based on a long and complex poem. A psalmtone, it returns to the three part form of the first section. The mid portion returns to the music of the antiphon and it is here that the Onde Martenot can be heard with its METALLIC TIMBRE, that Messiaen so admires. The opening of the poem emphasizes God's omnipresence and the close, in a series of apposites, stresses God's dual nature: near-far; light-dark; simple-complex. Each section closes with the refrain, SEAL THYSELF UPON MY HEART.

Three ideas are part of Messiaen's thought: love of man, love of nature, and faith, divine love. Though some find conflict between any of these ideas, Messiaen finds none. So, too, with many ofthe other apparently contradictory elements of his expression. He respects tradition but sees nothing in it that inhibits innovation. Like the composer-poets of 14th-c. France, he mixes notions of profane and sacred love. There are also times when he seems to have the perfect expression for his ideas; for him the Onde Martenot is an instrument remarkably suited to his melodic ideal: WHICH CAN PRODUCE LOUD TERRIFYING EFFECTS AND CONTRARY-WISE, HALOS OF SWEET UNREALITY . . . GIVES COMPLEX SONORITIES, OF A GREAT DELICACY, AN INFINITE DELICACY . . . (Jean Hughes)

Tracklisting:

Side One

1. Antienne de la Conversation Interieure {10:13}
[Antiphon of Internal Conversation]

2. Sequence du Verbe, Cantique Divin {6:30}
[Sequence of the Word, Divine Canticle]

Side Two

1. Psalmodie de l'Ubiquité par Amour {19:34}
[Psalm Tone of Omnipresence Through Love]

(1) or (1) [links coming back soon, maybe (1/24/2012)]

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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Music for Flute and Piano

various artists compilation - Music for Flute and Piano

The unaccompanied flute presents a special challenge to the composers represented on this disk because in writing for it their proven means of assuring variety are not available. Extreme contrast in timbre, density, and dynamics has been normal in the work of younger Europeans ever since the "Klangfarbenmelodie" of Webern; their fascination with "beauty of sound for its own sake" has led to an increasing use of noises and special sounds, produced by percussion, electronic means, or conventional instruments. Heterogeneous groups have replaced the string quartet and solo works are usually assigned to instruments capable of a large range of unconventional sound, such as the percussion battery or (preparable) piano. Music for solo flute is an exception to the trend: three octave-fulls of twelve tones, a range of timbre more restricted than that of many other instruments, one or two associated noises (the rush of breath without pitch or the tapping of hole-covers against rims) are all there are to work with. Even a texture of wide staccato leaps will have a ribbon-like continuity on the flute because of its homogeneous tone-color and comparatively narrow dynamic range. The composer will be working in miniature, articulating subtle shades of attack and tone-color at the disposal of his flutist: angle and pressure of breath, varieties in tonguing, the choice of fundamentals with which to overblow tones in the upper registers.In trying to do more with the instrument he will be pitting himself against Theobald Boehm, whose formidable arrangement of rods and levers had subjected the venerable flute to the requirements of 19th Century music. Flexibility and individuality among pitches had been sacrificed to perfect intonation and agility. But there sometimes appear composers and players imaginative enough to make instruments the servants of styles for which their builders did not intend them (such as in the unaccompanied violin music of Bach or the bassoon phrases in "Sacre"). In the pieces of Berio and Maderna, to some extent, and particularly in the one by Evangelisti, Gazzelloni is able to break through the chromatic grid of precisely bored holes and their perfectly tuned partials to give us glissandos, airy organums, the glint of distant overtones flickering in the midst of notes spoken "falsely." Such sounds give the hearer a fresh sense of the mystery of the vibrating air column and he becomes conscious of the mechanics of venting and overblowing which had formerly been private concerns of the player. (David Behrman, from the liner notes)

Severino Gazzelloni - flute
Aloys Kontarsky - piano

Tracks A1, A3 and B2 are for solo flute.
Tracks A2, B1, and B3 are for flute and piano.

Tracklisting:

Side A

1. Franco Evangelisti - Proporzioni {4:40}

2. Niccolo Castiglioni - Gymel {4:32}

3. Luciano Berio - Sequenza {6:32}

Side B

1. Olivier Messiaen - Merles Noir {7:01}

2. Yoritsune Madsudaira - Somaksah {5:56}

3. Bruno Maderna - Honeyrêves {6:15}

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Turangalîla Symphony/November Steps

Olivier Messiaen/Toru Takemitsu - Turangalîla Symphony/November Steps

Performers:

Toronto Symphony conducted by Seiji Ozawa

Turangalîla Symphony:
Yvonne Loriod - piano; Jeanne Loriod - ondes martenot

November Steps:
Kinshi Tsuruta - biwa; Katsuya Yokoyama - shakuhachi




Turangalîla Symphony

The Turangalîla Symphony was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I composed and orchestrated it between July 17, 1946, and November 29, 1948. The world premiere took place on December 2, 1949, in Boston, at a concert of the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Leonard Bernstein. The piano solo was played by Yvonne Loriod, who has played it at every performance [over 40] of the work, whatever the country, the city, the conductor.
Turangalîla - pronounced with accent and prolonged sound on the last two syllables - is a Sanskrit word. Like all words belonging to ancient Oriental languages, it is very rich in meaning. Lîla literally means play, but play in the sense of divine action on the cosmos, the play of creation, of destruction and reconstruction, the play of life and death. Lîla is also Love. Turanga is Time, the time which runs like a galloping horse, time which slips like sand through the hourglass. Turanga is movement and rhythm. Turangalîla then signifies, at one and the same time, a love song, a hymn to joy, time, movement, rhythm, life and death.
Turangalîla Symphony is a song of love; it is a hymn to joy - not the bourgeois and tranquilly euphoric joy of some honest man of the 17th century, but the joy such as could be conceived only by someone who has beheld it in the midst of sorrow; that is to say, a superhuman joy which transcends everything, overflowing, blinding, boundless. Love is presented under the same aspect - a fatal, irresistible love, which transcends everything outside itself, a love such as is symbolized by the love potion of Tristan and Isolde.
...
The instrumentation of Turangalîla is monumental as well as extremely varied:
Woodwind -- In threes: 1 piccolo and 2 flutes; 2 oboes and English horn; 2 clarinets and bass clarinet; 3 bassoons. They do considerable playing - solos, counterpoint, bird songs, independent harmonic group, detached simultaneously in the high and low registers.
Brass -- Many trumpets: 1 small trumpet in D, 3 trumpets, 1 cornet, 8 horns, 3 trombones and tuba. The high register of the trumpet in D adds something brilliant to the orchestration and one more notch to the fortissimo. Numerous themes are entrusted to trumpets and trombones. The "statue" theme is for trombones, the first theme of the Finale for horns. The brasses are not restricted to a few powerful themes or quietly sustained passages; they often play at the same speed as the woodwinds.
Strings -- These are of an imposing number, to maintain equilibrium with the other groups: 16 first violins, 16 second violins, 14 violas, 12 cellos and 10 double basses. These figures represent a minimum. As in the majority of my works, apart from the broad lyric phrases and ensemble counterpoint, the strings are sometimes treated as groups of soloists. An example is the ninth movement, where 13 solo strings play 13 individual parts independently of the other voices of the orchestra.
Keyboard instruments -- Glockenspiel, celesta, vibraphone. These three, along with the piano and metallic percussion, form within the large orchestra a small orchestra, the sonority and role of which recall the gamelan of Bali.
Percussion -- Uppermost, the high-pitched triangle. Then the wood timbres: 3 temple blocks, 1 wood block. Metallic timbres from the high-pitched to the low: small Turkish cymbal, cymbals (1 suspended, 2 struck), Chinese cymbal, tam-tam. In the medium range: Basque drum and maracas. Skin timbres: snare drum, Provencal tambourine and, farthest down, the bass drum. further, 8 tubular bells. The percussion is governed by its role as "seasoner"; it plays counterpoints of duration and of true rhythmic themes - for example, the wood-block theme at the beginning of the fourth movement.
Soloists - Piano and Ondes Martenot -- The piano part is of such importance and its execution demands such extraordinary virtuosity that one might say the Turangalîla Symphony is almost a concerto for piano and orchestra. Long and brilliant cadenzas in the different movements draw together the elements of development and form part of the overall design. The cadenza which closes the fifth movement even surpasses in vehemence the shattering tutti which precedes it. The piano participates in the gamelan; it also plays some bird songs. All through the sixth part - Garden of Love's Sleep - it embroiders a counterpoint of bird songs over the "theme of love." One could not leave out these bird songs without destroying the piece itself. The piano enriches and completes the harmony with ostinato chords. It is sometimes treated percussively, notably in providing rhythmic canons. It clothes, varies and bejewels the orchestration with diverse touches - combined arpeggios, double notes in alternating hands, a melange of the extreme upper and lower registers, blending by pedal action, cascades of chords, tone clusters and the myriad effects indispensable to the life of both the small and large tuttis.
The Ondes Martenot also plays a large part. Everyone is aware of it in those moments of paroxysm when it dominates the fortissimo with its expressive and high-pitched voice. But it is also used in the serious and in the sweetly lyric passages, for velvety glissandi, for tone color and for echo themes. In the sixth movement the "theme of love" uses two special speakers of the Ondes. Finally, I have made extensive use of its metallic quality: for each sound there is a corresponding metallic resonance from within the speaker, giving it a halo of harmonics. Strange, mysterious, unreal in their sweetness, cruel, lacerating, terrifying in their strength, the metallic timbres are without doubt the most beautiful of the instrument. (Olivier Messiaen)


November Steps

Notes by Toru Takemitsu:

1. The composer should not concern himself with blending traditional Japanese instruments with the Western symphony orchestra. On the contrary, by counterposing the biwa and the shakuhachi to the orchestra, he should vivify the foreignness of the sound which is unique to these instruments.

2. Establishing a number of distinct auditory focuses within a musical composition is an objective facet of the business of composing. The composer also attempts to hear a single voice in the midst of numberless sounds.

3. The sounds of Western music dispose themselves along a horizontal. The sounds of the shakuhachi occur vertically, the way a tree grows.

4. Perhaps you have heard: The sound which a shakuhachi master hopes to achieve in performance, the consummate shakuhachi sound, is the sound the wind makes when it blows through a decaying bamboo grove.

5. First of all you must listen totally, open your ears wide to what you hear. Before long you will understand the aspirations of the sounds themselves.

6. It has been demonstrated that dolphins communicate not with their gibbering voices but with the varied intervals of silence between the sounds they emit - a provocative discovery.

7. Between Tokyo and New York there is a time difference: the orchestra is grouped as if in several time zones. With the entire "spectrum" of time in mind.

8. At the end of a performance it should not seem that a musical composition has come to an end. After all, which is more fun, a trip that has been planned meticulously, or one taken on the spur of the moment?

9. Most modern composers erect walls of sound, each with a mortar of his own ingenious making. But who inhabits all those rooms?

10. Eleven "steps" with no particular melodic unity. Like the music of the No Theater, the rhythm endlessly oscillates.

11. November Steps was commissioned by the New York Philharmonic for its 125th Anniversary and is dedicated to that orchestra. It was first performed at Philharmonic Hall in November 1967.

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Olivier Messiaen - Turangalîla Symphony: I. Introduction {6:17}

2. Olivier Messiaen - Turangalîla Symphony: II. Chant d'amour 1 {8:07}

3. Olivier Messiaen - Turangalîla Symphony: III. Turangalîla 1 {5:02}

Side 2

1. Olivier Messiaen - Turangalîla Symphony: IV. Chant d'amour 2 {11:09}

2. Olivier Messiaen - Turangalîla Symphony: V. Joie du sang des étoiles {6:16}

3. Olivier Messiaen - Turangalîla Symphony: VI. Jardin du sommeil d'amour {11:35}

Side 3

1. Olivier Messiaen - Turangalîla Symphony: VII. Turangalîla 2 {3:57}

2. Olivier Messiaen - Turangalîla Symphony: VIII. Développement de l'amour {11:17}

3. Olivier Messiaen - Turangalîla Symphony: IX. Turangalîla 3 {4:33}

4. Olivier Messiaen - Turangalîla Symphony: X. Finale {7:00}

Side 4

1. Toru Takemitsu - November Steps {20:19}

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Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jésus

Olivier Messiaen - Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jésus

Performer:

Håkon Austbø - piano

Recorded in St. Martin's Church, East Woodhay, England

from 11th to 13th August, 1993 (CD1) and

from 16th to 18th August, 1993 (CD2)

Tomorrow is Christmas, which is not only the day to open presents and hope that they are what is desired but the day has been declared the birth of the religious figure, Jesus Christ. With that in mind, this album is posted.

Background from liner notes:

The Vingt Regards were written in 1944 and dedicated to the pianist Yvonne Loriod, who became Messiaen's second wife in 1962, after the death of his first wife, the violinist Claire Delbos, three years earlier. She continued as a leading exponent of his music. The work is a meditation on the Infant Christ, conceived in musical language of some complexity. The theme of God, which appears first in the opening bars of Regard du Pere, Contemplation by God the Father, is used again in sections of the work that refer directly to the Deity, the Contemplation of the Son, of the Spirit of Joy, God the Creator, the kiss of the Infant Jesus, the communion of the Virgin and the final Chruch of Love, with a theme of the Star and of the Cross identical in that they open and close the earthly life of Christ, his birth foretold by a Star and His life ended on the Cross. A further theme of chords is used in various ways in a texture that uses a variety of technical devices with the utmost originality. Messiaen claimed here the influence not only of bird-song, directly quoted in a number of sections, but also of bells, spirals, stalactites, galaxies, photons and the writings of Don Columba Marmion, St. Thomas, St. John of the Cross, Saint Therese of Lisieux, the Gospels and the Missal.

Background of Messiaen:

The French composer Olivier Messiaen is among the most influential figures in the music of the present century [the 20th], at first alarming and shocking audiences but later winning an unassailable position, repsected universally for his achievement through a language that is intensely personal, emotional and informed by a deep Catholic piety. Messiaen had his musical training at the Paris Conservatoire, where his teachers included the organist Marcel Dupre, Maurice Emmanuel and Paul Dukas. He was appointed organist at La Trinite in 1931 and continued to play there until his death. A number of important organ compositions were written in this early period of his career. He was taken prisoner in 1940 and in a prison camp in Silesia wrote his Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of the World), returning, on his release in 1943, to the Conservatoire, where he taught harmony, but exercised even greater influence in the following years through his teaching at the Conservatoire, where he held classes in analysis, and various centres abroad. As a composer his attention was now turned to composition for the piano, inspired by his pupil Yvonne Loriod. He became professor of composition at the Conservatoire in 1966 and a member of the Institut in the following year.

Messiaen's musical language, one all his own, is derived from a number of sources. His interest in bird-song is directly evident in his Oiseaux exotiques and Catalogue d'oiseaux, but is also found in the Vingt Regards. Describing himself as a "rythmicien", he had a profound interest in Greek verse rhythms, Hindu rhythms and the rhythms of major Western composers, from Claude Le Jeune to Stravinsky and Debussy. His harmony is derived from a combination of sources, from serialism and atonality, tonality and modal writing, while he takes an equally idiosyncratic approach to orchestral colour and organ registration.

Tracklisting:

CD1

1. I. Regard du Pere {8:09}

2. II. Regard de l'étoile {3:09}

3. III. L'échange {3:24}

4. IV. Regard de la Vierge {5:21}

5. V. Regard de Fils sur de Fils {8:15}

6. VI. Par lui tout a ete fait {10:49}

7. VII. Regard de la Croix {4:21}

8. VIII. Regard des hauteurs {2:22}

9. IX. Regard de temps {2:45}

10. X. Regard de l'Esprit de joie {8:49}

CD2

1. XI. Première communion de la Vierge {7:38}

2. XII. La parole toute-puissante {2:31}

3. XIII. Noël {4:22}

4. XIV. Regard des Agnes {5:08}

5. XV. Le baiser de l'enfant Jésus {14:06}

6. XVI. Regard des prophètes, des bergers et des mages {3:09}

7. XVII. Regard du silence {5:36}

8. XVIII. Regard de l'onction terrible {7:03}

9. XIX. Je dors, mais mon coeur veille {11:00}

10. XX. Regard de l'Eglise d'amour {14:35}

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I would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas.