Customer Reviews

Messiaen par lui-même

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One of the peculiarities of the twentieth century is the presence of recordings. If Mendelssohn had wished to hear Bach perform, it was too late; the secrets that Bach held playing his music were forever lost to him. Not many recognized Messiaen during his lifetime as the genius performer and composer that he was, and so now that the chance to hear him in person has passed, those interested must turn to recordings. How fortunate we are to have the recordings, though! It is good that we have records of titans like Bartok, Ives and Messiaen in our vaults! This is a must for any musician and a worthwhile listen for any `layman.' Messiaen was one of the most influential teachers of music in the Twentieth century and has left us some of the most important ovure from the epoch. Listening to a modernist perform his modern works, there is none of the coldness that comes from performers playing the music without understanding it, none of the feeling of listening to a trained bird. Messiaen plays expressing complex and powerful emotions; faith, awe, terror, mystery, majesty. The drawback is, of course, the poor recording that blunts the powerful timbres of the organ. But comparing Messiaen's performance with any that I have heard, I would take this recording before any of the other recordings of Messiaen's music. It is very powerful. Listen especially to the `Pentacost Mass.'One of the best recordings I own. One of the few profound performances recorded.

This was my first Messiaen record. I walked into a record store and they were playing it. "What on earth is that?" I said. They showed me the record and I bought it. It is very intense. Olivier Messiaen plays his own works on organ. (The French title means "Messiaen by himself".) The bad news is that it's mono and a lot of these recordings are from the 50s. That never bothered me with this record. The mono is the only reason I did not give it 5 stars; it's a 5 star mono recording. The good news is that it's 4 CDs for what you'd normally pay for 2. You shouldn't get the impression, though, that this will introduce you to Messiaen's orchestral or piano works, which are pretty different from this.

When I approached this set I too was worried about the mono recording and the quality of the sound, but then I realized it's Messiaen himself playing his works. The Deutche-Grammaphone box set looks wonderful but to hear the compser play his music as he intended is worth more than stereo.

The music itself is some of the best 20th century classical/experimental. Messiaen's organ works are special. He used a church organ in the way his contemporaries were using tape machines, sine generators, filters and early modular synthesizers. The result is highly luminous and cerebral. The music drifts in and out structure and dissonance. One of the great characteristics about these works is that they all flow from one sound source(the organ), which gives off a feeling of sonic autonomy as if the music were a completely self-perpetuating entity, always existing. Who knew an organ could facilitate so many tones and resonances? "Soixante-quatre durées" is the pinnacle of his experimental endevours.

A must for organists who play Messiaen's works. How fortunate that we have a recording of Messiaen playing his own organ compositions. Although the performances aren't perfect they are extremely helpful, especially regarding tempii .. when he notes "extremement lent", he means it !

The recording lacks some of the modern-day brilliance, stereo separation, over-processed dubbing and blah blah blah - but come on, this is the master himself playing!

If you are a fan of Messaien's organ music, then you MUST begin your collection with this. Brilliant, beautiful, heartfelt performances from a composer who was mystically entwined with the God he wrote music for.

I love - absolutely love - Messaien's music. It is, to me, some of the most mystical music ever composed, wrapping God's presence around me like a robe of finest silk, reducing the universe to a singularity, just me, the music, and God.

I've heard many a great and incredible organist play Messaien's music, but nothing beats hearing the music brought to life by the man who first brought it to life.

Exceptional.

This is a monumental masterful monolithic monstrosity of a set of cd's (pardon the alliteration). Messiaen was truly an organist at heart, and his organ works are truly organ works. He never wrote as some did, with no knowledge of the instrument. He had been organist at Saint-Trinité for twenty-plus years before this recording, and he has inspired me to learn some of these pieces myself. There is so much to say about these amazing discs, but I will limit myself to saying that no matter what people say about mono recordings or unadvanced compositions, from Le banquet céleste to the Livre pour orgue, Messiaen's genius shines through. My personal favorite is the opener, Le banquet céleste. It touches a certain place in your soul left for whatever deity you worship. Buy this recording, because it is such a bargain for a master of his art in the 20th century.

I stumbled across a short biography of Messiaen in a literary journal. A devout Catholic, Messiaen was purportedly commited to preservation of medieval sacred music -- which led me to pick up this album -- and yet all I find is that composed some of the most minimalistic modern 'music' that I've ever heard. According to musical theorists, there is a beauty in the mathematical algorithms that he exercises on his keyboard, but in no way does that beauty extend into a melodic piece. This is not sacred gregorianesque music, this is not heavenly plainsong, this is not glorious baroque. If Messiaen truly did intend this to be sacred music, all I can say is that he and I genuflect in different ways.