Messiaen: L'Ascension (organ version)

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.

The final volume in Delphian's survey of Messiaen's complete organ music takes in his earliest published works, in which - in the composer's own words - the 'abundance of technical means allows the heart to overflow freely'.The British Harrison in St George's Chapel,Windsor Castle speaks with a French accent in this music, and Timothy Byram-Wigfield's combination of virtuosic majesty and compelling loving faith has already captured the imagination of reviewers of Volume I.The booklet includes a 3000-word essay by acclaimed Messiaen biographer Nigel Simeone.

"… gives full weight to the music's uncompromising intensity" Gramophone

"convincing and delightful" Choir & Organ, Sep/Oct

Performed on the Great Klais Organ of Liebfrauenmünster Ingolstadt

The powerful imagery of the Ascension has inspired generations of composers, from Peter Phillips and William Byrd to Gerald Finzi, Charles Villiers Stanford and Olivier Messiaen. The first part of this recording is in the form of an Anglican service of Choral Evensong; this is followed by Messiaen’s organ work L’Ascension, performed by Matthew Owens.

The choral works on the disc all have particular associations with the Cathedral, and some receive their premiere recording here. From James MacMillan’s meditative Tremunt videntes angeli to the rich fabric of Richard

Allain’s Exon Service, the Choir of St Mary’s weaves a complexly beautiful sonic tapestry in the cathedral’s generous acoustic.

2002 is the tenth anniversary of Messiaen's death. This 6 CD box set of the complete works was recorded on the organ of the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris by Olivier Latry. Latry has been the titular organist of the cathedral of Notre Dame since 1985.

Messiaen himself could think of no better interpreter of his organ music than Olivier Latry. Yvonne Messiaen, the composer's widow, quotes what her husband said about Oliver Latry: "Olivier Messiaen talked about Olivier Latry as "the new Marcel Dupré". Interpreter, improviser, teacher; his qualities are manifold. His virtuosity, the immensity of his repertoire, his knowledge of all styles. It is difficult to choose what to admire most! Olivier Latry is a master with hands of light, who can restore all the love, the joy and the colours Olivier Messiaen lay into his music."