The first time that any of the organ music of one of the 20th centuries most important composers, Olivier Messiaen, has been available on an SACD hybrid.
Although Olivier Messiaen holds the position as the most performed organ composer of the twentieth century, there are still several early works like “Prélude”, and “Offrande au Saint Sacrement” included here on this debut by Norwegian Inger-Lise Ulsrud that are seldom recorded. Some of these pieces were not published until after the composer’s death at the beginning of the 21st century. For this reason, apart from his early masterpiece “Lascension” and “Le Banquet Celeste”, works like the “Diptyque” and “Apparition de l’Église éternelle” are relatively unknown. This is the first disc of Messiaen’s organ music to be released as an SACD hybrid. The featured organ is that of the church of St. Nikolai in Halmstad, Sweden. Inger-Lise Ulsrud graduated from the Norwegian Academy of Music and continued her improvisation studies under Professor Anders Bondeman in Stockholm. Since 1993 Inger-Lise Ulsrud has been teaching improvisation and organ literature at the Norwegian Academy of Music, and is now Associate Professor for organ.
Christmas 2009
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“Apparition is especially effective in the marvellous SACD sound, and Inger-Lise Ulsrud draws searing textures from the organ at St Nikolai in Halmstad, Sweden.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
