Olivier Messiaen: Des Canyons aux Etoiles; Oiseaux Exotiques; Couleurs de la Cité Celeste

Olivier Messiaen (Composer), London Sinfonietta (Orchestra), Paul Crossley (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Paul Crossley
• Orchestra: London Sinfonietta
• Composer: Olivier Messiaen
• Audio CD (June 23, 1989)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: CBS Records Masterworks
• ASIN: B0000026OW
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #223,350 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Music of brilliant colour and contemplative beauty, September 16, 2003

By 

DMG (Swindon UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Olivier Messiaen: Des Canyons aux Etoiles; Oiseaux Exotiques; Couleurs de la Cité Celeste (Audio CD)

Valuable compilation, with Messiaen's late(well, later) masterpiece, the longest piece for piano and orchestra in the orchestral repertoire the main work, and the shorter, but no less excellent OISEAUX EXOTIQUES and COULEURS DE LA CITE CELESTE. CANYONS is one of the composers most unusual scores (and that's saying a lot!) with its part for wind machine, its piano part of rushes of birdsong, and the weird effects on the cellos in movement no.5 jst some of the highlights. OISEAUX is one of Messiaen's most succesful 'birdsong pieces', in which he invented an almost entirely new musical language, alternating blocks of transcribed birdsong. COULEURS is all glittering colours, with the virtuosic tinklings of piano, xylophones and percussion contrasted or should that be complemented with rich brass chords and the sound of 3 clarinets.

The performance comes out as just a little too clinical and polished, bringing out the percussive twang to the music better than the richly contemplative moments, but it is still very good.

PS-This excellent release has recently been re-issued as part of Sony's Essential Classics series at a bargain price. The presentation is completely adequarte, with Paul Crossley's marvellous notes, and at £9.99 for 2 CDs, it's a must buy.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars beauty ¤ lies not in scale passages, August 5, 2000

By 

M. Ziolkowski (Atlanta/Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Olivier Messiaen: Des Canyons aux Etoiles; Oiseaux Exotiques; Couleurs de la Cité Celeste (Audio CD)

Des Canyons is a beautiful & transcendently absorbing score, one which is emerging as the archetype in Messiaen's canon -- his best & best-loved. Leave the notoriously difficult score on the shelf and listen. This, its only available recording until recently, is wonderfully recorded and lovingly executed. May not appeal to all sensibilities, but I can't help believing that anyone with affinity for the beauties of nature will feel rewarded tuning their ears towards Messiaen's landscapes.

9 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars XYLOPHONE PART!?!?!?!, August 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Olivier Messiaen: Des Canyons aux Etoiles; Oiseaux Exotiques; Couleurs de la Cité Celeste (Audio CD)

If you are buying this cd set to study Exotic Birds, save your money!! The xylophone player is off for a good 15 measures in the middle section. This makes it very difficult to listen to with a score!