Classical Music

Messiaen's most famous work, Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time), was composed while a captive in a German prisoner of war at Stalag VIII A, located near the town of G�rlitz-Moys in Silesia, Germany. Messiaen met there three fellow prisoners who were also accomplished musicians: Etienne Pasquier, a world-class cellist who had already secured an international reputation as a member of the Pasquier Trio; Jean Le Boulaire, a violinist who had studied at the Paris Conservatory; and Henri Akoka, a clarinetist who was a member of the Paris-based Orchestre National de la Radio. Together, this unusual ensemble formed the basis for one of the most extraordinary works of the 20th century. Rooted in his deeply Christian faith, the Quatuor is inspired by the 10th chapter of the Book of Revelation. It was also Messiaen's first composition to include bird song, in addition to his developing use of color imagery, and his continuing exploration of many interesting and novel ways of rhythmic organization to create a feeling of timelessness. Two of the most highly esteemed classical musicians in Denmark, violinist Christina �strand and pianist Per Salo (AKA Duo �strand/Salo) are joined by two colleagues from The Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Johnny Teyssier, clarinet, and Henrik Dam Thomsen, cello for a performance as pure as crystal and as immense as space.

10th CD of the Movimentos Edition Recordings on the organ in Sainte Trinite Church in Paris on which Olivier Messiaen played Daniel Beilschmidt is the organist of Leipzig University the ethereal sounds and world-encompassing chordal chains of Messiaen could not be realized better than on Messiaen's own organ at the Sainte Trinite Church in Paris. And the grandiose Leipzig University organist Daniel Beilschmidt literally pulls out all the stops on the new GENUIN Movimentos CD, the tenth of this highly praised series.

The music of Messiaen seductive. It delights the senses and challenges the mind, emoting both peaceful and violent emotions. It dissolves time into a floating state and creates a multidimensional space of subtle sounds and harmonic colours. The music of Messiaen encompasses great contrasts, from luscious harmonies to harsh cacophonic effects. Simple melodies stand side by side with complex music in many layers. His music possesses delicate nuances and provocative clashes, integrating tones that rise to extreme heights and fall to bottomless depths. Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) innovated Western European music through his inventions of new scales, rhythms and harmonies, as well as experiments aimed at assigning precise characteristic features to each single tone. As a professor at the Paris Conservatoire, he was of paramount importance to several generations of 20th Century composers. On this release, his music is performed beautifully by the young Northern Light Ensemble from Denmark.

Celebrating the centenary of the composer’s birth, this 2008 Linn release of Messiaen’s chamber works is a comprehensive collection with highly informative booklet notes by Messiaen expert Nigel Simeone. + ‘Messiaen: Chamber Works’ marries the chamber works of one of the finest 20th c. composers with the renowned interpretive skills of contemporary music specialists the Hebrides Ensemble. + Fantaisie, for violin and piano, was thought lost until it was re-discovered by Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen and published in 2007. + ‘...vivid, beautifully judged performances...’ (The Guardian)

Longtime collaborators Tony Arnold and Jacob Greenberg release a poignant recording of Olivier Messiaen's evocative song cycle Harawi: Song of Love and Death. Inspired by songs from the Quechua culture of the Andean region of South America, these songs are deeply evocative and colorful, engaging themes of love, tragedy and death.

Intended as his final major work for organ, Messiaen’s “Meditations on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity” is the culmination of his lifetime work as composer for the organ. Begun as a set of improvisations celebrating the renovation of the organ at Trinité (and the church’s 100th anniversary), “Meditations” employs new musical languages to explore the mysteries of Christian faith. Born in Avignon to Pierre Messiaen, a Shakespeare scholar, and the poet Cecile Sauvage, Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) exhibited a rare musical talent from an early age. He was admitted to the Paris Conservatory at age eleven, where he won five First Prizes- notably in classes with Marcel Dupre, Maurice Emmanuel, and Paul Dukas. In 1930, he was appointed Organiste Titulaire of Sainte Trinite Church in Paris, a position he held until the early 1970s. At the outbreak of WWII, he became a French army hospital attendance, and in 1941 was taken prisoner and held in a POW camp in Silesia (where he composed Quartet for the End of Time). Upon his repatriation in 1942, he was appointed professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatory. During his lifetime, Messiaen was famed as an organist and pianist and frequently performed his own difficult compositions in concerts around the world. Colin Andrews is an internationally famous concert artist, with extensive experience in the music of Messiaen. One of only four organists to have recorded Messiaen’s complete organ works, Andrews was recently named “Membre d’Honneur” of the Association Grand Orgue Trinite Messiaen, based at Messiaen’s church in Paris.

The “Livre du Saint Sacrement” is a summation of Messiaen’s musical and theological persona, a statement of faith and a profound summary of his entire organ “oeuvres.” In this work he employs the significant compositional techniques of his life’s work as an organ composer: modes of limited transposition as the basis for his harmonies, Hindu rhythms, Greek rhythms, plainsong, birdsong, “communicable language,” and serialism. As always these compositional elements are used to explore the mysteries of Christian faith, in this, his most massive work. Born in Avignon to Pierre Messiaen, a Shakespeare scholar, and the poet Cecile Sauvage, Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) exhibited a rare musical talent from an early age. He was admitted to the Paris Conservatory at age eleven, where he won five First Prizes- notably in classes with Marcel Dupre, Maurice Emmanuel, and Paul Dukas. In 1930, he was appointed Organiste Titulaire of Sainte Trinite Church in Paris, a position he held until the early 1970s. At the outbreak of WWII, he became a French army hospital attendance, and in 1941 was taken prisoner and held in a POW camp in Silesia (where he composed Quartet for the End of Time). Upon his repatriation in 1942, he was appointed professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatory. During his lifetime, Messiaen was famed as an organist and pianist and frequently performed his own difficult compositions in concerts around the world. Colin Andrews is an internationally famous concert artist, with extensive experience in the music of Messiaen. One of only four organists to have recorded Messiaen’s complete organ works, Andrews was recently named “Membre d’Honneur” of the Association Grand Orgue Trinite Messiaen, based at Messiaen’s church in Paris.

The French composer Olivier Messiaen was one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He prepared the way for surrealism in the 1950s and opened up musical language to non-European influences extending far beyond Debussy. Messiaen even used birdsong in order to create music of 'fairy-like splendor.' Susanne Kessel combines piano compositions of Messiaen with American composer Leon Milo's Soundscapes on this CD. As in a kind of audio-book, Messiaen's piano works and real sounds from his life are combined in Leon Milo's Soundscapes to form impressive sound collages. They allow a rapprochement with the Messiaen phenomenon that is as sensual as it is true-to-life, without in any way detracting from his mystery.

Harawi is a cycle of twelve songs scored for soprano and piano composed in 1945. Harawi (known to Spanish speakers as yarav�) designates a song about a fated love that ends in the death of both lovers. Messiaen remarked that "it is the story of Tristan and Isolde." The surrealistic text of Harawi is Messiaen's own. Using the musical structures Messiaen had created for Harawi, he built massive phrases in these songs, expanding space and time, creating extreme tenderness, vastness, clarity and abysses. In Harawi both lovers are not only human, but beings, which transform again and again. Destruction, pain, death, creation, joy, dance and love are not final - they are all everchanging particles of our interwoven cosmic existence. Already chosen as ONE OF THE BEST RELEASES OF 2019 (from a pre-release review copy) by Lynn Ren� Bayley of Art Music Lounge: "This stunning album... features the still-young and somewhat outr� German soprano Sarah Maria Sun... From the first notes of La ville qui dormait to the dying piano sound in Dans le noir, this is a performance that will absolutely rivet you... This clearly goes straight to the top of performances of this unusual and somewhat difficult song cycle..." Sarah Maria Sun is one of the foremost singers in the contemporary music scene with a repertoire of more than 900 compositions from the 20th & 21st centuries, including more than 320 world premieres. She was nominated for singer of the year by Opernwelt in 2017 for her role as Elsa in Sciarrino's monodrama Lohengrin and as Gwen in 4.48 Psychosis by Philip Venables. From 2007-2014, she was first soprano of the Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, a chamber ensemble of 7 singers that has been one of the world's leading pioneers of contemporary music for 30 years.

Classical Music

Genuin presents the 12th release in their Artist Consort series dedicated to the music of Olivier Messian.

La Nativit� du Seigneur, neuf m�ditations pour orgue (The Nativity of the Lord, nine meditations for organ or The Birth of the Saviour) is a testament to Olivier Messiaen's Roman Catholic faith, being divided into nine "meditations" inspired by the birth of Jesus. As the composer notes in his preface, he sought "the emotion and sincerity first". The work was written by the composer at the age of 26 years during the summer of 1935 while he was in residence at Grenoble near the French Alps. Messiaen wrote that in addition to theology, the movements were inspired by the mountains, as well as the stained glass windows in medieval cathedrals. The work's premiere on 27 February 1936 on the organ of La Trinit�, Paris, where Messiaen was titular organist; had the work split among three players: Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur (1-3), Jean Langlais (4-6), and Jean-Jacques Grunenwald (7-9). The American organist Mark Steinbach (Brown University, Providence) travelled through France in the summer of 2022 to find the most suitable organ for the recording of this cycle: he found it in Lyon. The Cavaill�-Coll instrument there is similar in size and character to the Cavaill�-Coll organ Messiaen had at his disposal in the 1930s in the Eglise de la Trinit� in Paris. This allows the music to be presented with the greatest possible authenticity. It is also, in our opinion, the first recording of Messiaen's organ works in surround sound.

Classical Music

The Seattle Symphony releases live performances of Olivier Messiaen's Des canyons aux �toiles... ("From the Canyons to the Stars..."), which takes inspiration from the rock spires, birdsong and night sky of Utah's national parks. With Judith Fong Conductor Emeritus Ludovic Morlot on the podium and guest Steven Osborne on piano, the Symphony presents Messiaen's starry-eyed journey through nature and the divine, recorded before a live audience in the stunning acoustics of Benaroya Hall alongside video projections of inspiring national parks and monuments.