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Thursday, January 08, 2009
Voici le rossignol
Much to my embarrassment I let the centenary of Messiaen’s birth go by without comment last month. Here he is talking about birds, with interspersed piano renderings of birdsong. I also see Deutsche Grammophon have brought out a jaw-droppingly alluring 32 CD set of recordings, without which any home is incomplete, and with which, etc. What an astonishing artist Messiaen was, to the point where I feel incapable of saying anything more on the subject, which seems (non dignus sum) like a good cue to stop.
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3 comments:
Thanks for that, fascinating. Last year a Waterford music student (Ben Hanlon) contacted me to ask if he could use an old post-apocalyptic sonnet of mine for his Messiaen-inspired choral piece. I really liked the result (though the recording was terrible). I am sorry to say that I have none of Messiaen's work. Any suggestions?
I would suggest the Quartet for the End of Time as a starting point, since if that doesn't hook you nothing will, especially the almost unbearable slow ascent into the ether of eternity on which it ends.
And thereafter the madcap ondes martinot of the Turangalila Symphony (Lila from Futurama is named after this symphony!), the Catalogues d'oiseaux, the Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jesus...
The list is almost endless.
Thanks Puthwuth, yes, Ben mentioned Quartet for the End of Time, as this was what he derived his own piece from.
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