Classical Music

The masterpiece 'beyond Time' that is the Quatuor pour la fin du Temps first saw the light of day in Barrack 27 of the World War II prisoner-of-war camp Stalag VIII-A in Gorlitz, Silesia, performed by it's composer Olivier Messiaen on piano along with fellow prisoners Jean Le Boulaire on violin, Henri Akoka on clarinet and etienne Pasquier on cello. The unusual ensemble forces were dictated by what musicians were available in that environment of deprivation, and the prisoners' coping mechanisms in response to it played a part: Akoka's clarinet and the singing of birds during dawn watches with Pasquier inspired the 3rd movement, Ab�me des oiseaux for solo clarinet. As Messiaen himself explained before the concert, it is the first six verses of the Book of Revelation Chapter 10 that inform the piece as a whole. Starvation in the camp had provoked in him vivid, colourful dreams of the Angel's Rainbow, and the End of Time represented eternity in the face of the mortality confronting the internees. The sensory deprivation he experienced while imprisoned caused (or exacerbated) his synaesthesia, such that his hearing of harmonies and his vision of colours became blended in his mind. The work's difficulty is well known; in Gorlitz, from musicians already unbalanced by Messiaen's unconventional rhythms, the composer demanded extreme and unusual instrumental effects: dynamic extremes, unheard-of force and maximum precision. Clarinettist Akoka complained about overly high notes and long phrases; violinist Le Boulaire about wide, inhumanly slow string melodies. But Messiaen's serenity at the piano instilled confidence, making the impossible possible and raising everything to a higher level. On a formal level, the eight movements of the Quatuor, linked by symbolic correspondences, reflect the biblical perfection of the number seven: the six days of Creation followed by the day of Rest, which is prolonged into Eternity becoming an eighth of indefectible light and unalterable peace. 'I composed this quartet to escape from snow, from war, from imprisonment and from myself,' Messiaen said. But the religious silence that enveloped the premiere demonstrated the Quatuor's ability to raise everyone in it's first audience along with him, above the barbarity, hunger and cold. Today, hearing this music that is 'alien to earthly beauty and pervaded by the idea of God', we perceive it's essence 'beyond Time', imbued with faith and religiosity. Other information: - Recorded February 2018, February 2019 and December 2023 in Perugia - Booklet in English contains liner notes by Donatella Meneghini and biographical information on the artists - Italian liner notes available at brilliantclassics. Com - Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) composed his Quatuor pour le fin du temps" (Quartet for the End of Time) 1940-41. The work was written during Messiaen's internment at Stalag VIII-A, a German prisoner-of-war camp, where he was held during World War II. Despite the harsh conditions, Messiaen composed this eight-movement piece for a unique ensemble: clarinet, violin, cello, and piano, which were the instruments available in the camp. - Inspired by the biblical Book of Revelation, particularly the angel's proclamation of the end of time, the Quatuor explores themes of eternity, divine grace, and apocalyptic vision. Messiaen, a devout Catholic, saw time as transcended by divine love, and the piece reflects his fascination with spiritual and mystical concepts. - The music is known for it's otherworldly beauty, complex rhythms, and innovative use of modes of limited transposition, which create a timeless, suspended feeling. The movements range from intense, fiery expressions of divine might to serene, meditative reflections on eternity. Premiered within the camp before an audience of prisoners and guards, Quatuor pour le fin du temps remains one of the most important and profound chamber works of the 20th century. - Played by Davide Bandieri, Francois Sochard, Joel Marosi and Maria-Liisa Marosi. - Davide Bandieri has already successfully released numerous recordings for Brilliant Classics, including the Complete Chamber Music Works for Clarinet by Von Weber (BC 95531) and, together with Joel Marosi and Maria-Liisa Marosi, Clarinet Trios by Fruhling and Zemlinsky (BC 95394).

The third volume Ciro Longobardi's Messiaen, after the universal critical success of Volumes 1 & 2, focusing on the composer's best-loved piano cycle. With his Piano Classics collection of the Preludes, Quatre etudes de rythme, La fauvette des jardins and other shorter works, Ciro Longobardi announced himself as a Messiaen pianist of remarkable imagination and accomplishment. The critics duly took note: 'Longobardi showcases tremendous technical skill and an exceptional attentiveness. This album is a lush, intricate success-meaningful for Messiaen enthusiasts and enjoyable for those new to his work. I highly recommend it.' (Fanfare). The Catalogue d'oiseaux continued to attract superlatives: 'Hs performance makes you listen, through it's diverse use of dynamics and the expert use of silences. His playing is concise and bright and is best listened to with the accompanying booklet, in which his notes on the music expertly set the scene.' (MusicWeb International). Now the Italian pianist turns to the Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus in which Messiaen most successfully synthesised a Lisztian tradition of virtuosity and tone-painting on the piano with his own spiritual and musical preoccupations: Catholic devotion, birdsong and Indian rhythmic syntax among them. Messiaen had lately completed what became a 'Tristan' trilogy of works including the Turangalila Symphony when, in 1948, he was commissioned by French radio to write pieces to accompany a broadcast of Christmas-themed poetry. The commission quickly outgrew it's original purpose, and Messiaen instead created a thematically unified cycle of pieces taking in contemplations of monumental reverence, jazz-inflected improvisations, fabulously intricate toccatas and more. At the heart of Vingt Regards lies the ineffable tenderness of the kiss bestowed on the sleeping infant by his mother in the most famous piece of the cycle, Le baiser de l'enfant Jesus. As a generous pairing, Ciro Longobardi also includes the 1985 cycle of piano miniatures, Petites Esquisses d'Oiseaux, which distil his lifelong love of birdsong into six exquisite portraits. These, like the Vingt Regards, are dedicated to his wife, the pianist Yvonne Loriod, who inspired his piano writing throughout his mature career, bringing a cyclical unity of it's own to the album.

MESSIAEN: TURANGALILA, UN SOUR

The pieces in this recording belong to Messiaen's first compositional period, from the 1940s to the early 1950s. The music of O. Messiaen had a major influence on the Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu (Tokyo, 1930 ibid., 1996). Raised in militaristic Japan during the Second World War (at just 14 years old, in anticipation of an American invasion, he was drafted into the Japanese army), Takemitsu initially had a sort of rejection of the culture and philosophy of his own country and instead showed great interest in the various musical trends of the Western avant-gardes, especially French. The pieces in this recording cover a compositional span of about fifty years.

Decker Plays Decker, Vol. 4

I suppose the music lover within takes precedence over the sound freak, but not by much. Delighted as I was at my editor's decision to revive the old "Classical Hall of Fame" slot, I was hard put to decide what to write about first, until it occurred to me, as a fair and sensible thing, to praise those discs I play for pleasure between reviewing stints—the pauses that refresh, as it were.

Agreed, Turangalila's a flawed work—overlong, overblown, overacute, and, like so much of Messiaen's music, self-indulgent as only someone who fancies himself in touch with the Eternal can make it. But what a grand, fantastic-sounding thing it is! Salonen has taken Turangalila's measure most convincingly, and the Philharmonic plays it as well, it seems to me, as an orchestra can. Bud Graham's engineering wants special mention for its detail and clout, and if you've a playback system capable of delivering bodacious SPLs without imploding or crackling the glaze on your front teeth and bric-a-brac, you're dead wrong to ignore this glorious imperfection.

-- Mike Silverton, FANFARE [9/1991]
reviewing the original release, CBS 42271

PIERRE BOULEZ EDITION - MESSIA

This is the recording that introduced most of us "over 40s" to Messiaen's masterpiece, and its domestic appearance on CD is long overdue. Seiji Ozawa was young, his Toronto orchestra willing, and he had the two Loriod sisters at their best wailing away at the piano and Ondes Martenot. Indeed, the balance between orchestra and soloists in this performance remains exemplary, the playing of the band astonishingly fine, and the recorded sound outstandingly clear, if a little lacking in dynamic range and depth by modern standards. The orgiastic fifth and 10th movements still pack quite a punch, and in a very real sense, while many more modern versions have come and gone this one still holds its own with the best of them. You simply can't go wrong with this classic account of one of the seminal scores of the first half of the 20th century. I can only suggest that you reward RCA for its inspired choice of repertoire by voting with your wallet. --David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com

MESSIAEN: Eclairs sur l'Au-dela (Illuminations of the Beyond

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) composed La Nativite du Seigneur (The Birth of the Lord) in the summer of 1935 in Grenoble near the French Alps. Messiaen wrote that in addition to theology, the movements were inspired by the mountains as well as stained glass windows in medieval cathedrals. The work received its first complete public performance at Eglise de la Saint-Trinite in Paris on February 27 1936 and the performance was shared by three distinguished organists- Daniel-Lesur, Jean Langlais, and Jean-Jacques Grunenwald. La Nativite du Seigneur consists of nine movements, or meditations, each of which is preceeded by a quotation from the Bible that corresponds to the theological content. Paired with this work on this release is Messiaen’s Offrande au Saint-sacrement (Offering to the Blessed Sacrament) which was discovered posthumously in 1997 by Messiaen’s wife, pianist Yvonne Loriod. This short work was probably composed during the 1930s.

Both pianists have the harmonic sense which causes Messiaen's chords to glow like the stained-glass which he numbers as one of the influences on his music.

Peter Serkin's devotion to Messiaen's music is rather like his father, Rudolf's, about forty years ago, to Max Reger. (Inclusion of the Variations and Fugue on BACH at his first Wigmore recital won him an audience which could be counted on the fingers of two hands.) This shows the other side to the young pianist who has recently recorded a substantial number of Mozart piano concertos. His Japanese partner sounds an equally committed Messiaenist. The result is a really stunning account of the cycle. A burning intensity informs it throughout. Both pianists have the harmonic sense which causes Messiaen's chords to glow like the stained-glass which he numbers as one of the influences on his music. Very, very faint echoes and pre-echoes do not really mar an unusually full, bright and rich recorded piano tone, with Messiaen's birds chirruping away in the heights and his sonorous bells and their resonances enveloping the listener as they should.

-- Gramophone [11/1974]

This two-disc set is part of the 25-disc box set Un siècle de musique fracaise, which explores French music from the mid-19th to the mid-20th century. These discs profile French composer Olivier Messiaen, and include his famous Turangalila Symphonie, and Quatuor pour la fin du temps.

Renowned pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard’s recording of Olivier Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux created a sensation when first released on PENTATONE in 2018, and now returns to the market in an attractively priced stereo reissue./p>

Aimard had intimate ties to the composer himself and his wife, Yvonne Loriod, for whom Messiaen wrote the Catalogue, a grand hymn to nature from a man who never ceased to marvel at the stupefying beauty of landscapes or the magic of birdsong. With his Catalogue, Messiaen tried – in his own words – “to render exactly the typical birdsong of a region, surrounded by its neighbours from the same habitat, as well as the form of song at different hours of the day and night,” suggesting an almost scientific approach to his subjects. The idea of ‘reproduction’ may have been central to Messiaen’s conception of the Catalogue d’Oiseaux, but in the finished work we hear a great composer at work, a master of innovative structures who finds an astonishing range of piano sonorities. Thanks to Aimard’s ability to evoke this colourful opus, his interpretation has turned into an absolute reference recording.>/p>

This first release within Aimard’s exclusive partnership with PENTATONE received many accolades, including a Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik. Since then, recordings of Beethoven (2021), Bartók (2023, with San Francisco Symphony and Esa-Pekka Salonen), and Schubert (2024) have appeared on PENTATONE, as well as piano four hands albums with Tamara Stefanovich (Visions in 2022 and Nicolaou: Etudes & Frames in 2023).

Vision de l'Amen