This page lists all recordings of Livre du Saint-Sacrement (Book of the Holy Sacrament), by Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (1908-92) on CD. Generally, more recent CDs are listed first, but with priority given to items that are in stock. |
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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Messiaen: Livre du Saint-Sacrement
Michael Bonaventure (Rieger Organ of St Giles' Cathedral Edinburgh) The seeds for Messiaen's final organ work were sown during an
inspirational trip to Israel in 1984. Over the course of the next
twelve months, Messiaen found improvisation leading him back to
composition after the exhausting labours that had produced his
mighty opera Saint François d'Assise.The Livre du Saint Sacrement
became Messiaen's grand farewell to his own instrument, and
Michael Bonaventure performs it from memory here on the Rieger organ at St Giles' Cathedral, the true
acoustic of which preserves the clarity of Messiaen's lines. “The Livre du Saint Sacrement (1986) was Messiaen’s final great cycle for the organ, 18 movements lasting about two hours. The music is elemental, devout, ritualistic, eclectic. Sometimes it seems simple, a tune and shimmering accompaniment, even a single line (as in the third movement, Le Dieu caché). And sometimes it rejoices in a cacophonic chaos of counterpoint (as in movement 13, Les Deux murailles d’eau). It is always direct, however, and utterly sincere. Michael Bonaventure cajoles from the mighty Rieger organ of St Giles’ Cathedral a formidable range of authentically Gallic-sounding colours in his commanding, thrilling and brilliantly executed performance.” Sunday Times, 29th June 2008 **** “In Michael Bonaventure's performance on the Rieger organ of St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, the work plays for almost two hours. On disc it should be sampled in smaller quantities to appreciate the power of the best of the organ writing. Bonaventure certainly allows the music all the space it needs, but there's also a rhythmic energy to his playing that never allows it to hang fire for too long.” The Guardian, 27th June 2008 *** | 
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| |  | The Organ Works of Olier Messiaen Volumes 5 & 6Organ of Arhus Cathedral, Denmark
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| |  | Messiaen - The Complete Organ Music, Volume 6
Hans-Ola Ericsson (organ) | | | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. |
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| |  | Messiaen - Organ Works (Complete)
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." Since 1985 (when he was only 23), Mr. Latry has been one of the three titulaires at France's grandest cathedral, Notre Dame in Paris, whose organ is at heart another Cavaillé-Coll instrument. What makes his new boxed set special is the sound of that instrument. At Messiaen's many ecstatic climaxes or eerie epiphanies, the musical colors emanating from this organ truly seem to be breathing the air of other planets. It's a more amazing sound even than that of Messiaen's own instrument. Yet as another organ built at almost exactly the same time and rooted in Cavaille-Coll, it retains an authenticity that other organs inevitably lack. The New York Times, December 2003 | DG - 4714802 (CD - 6 discs) £66.99 (£57.01 ex. VAT) |
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| |  | Messiaen - The Organ Works
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| |  | Messiaen: Organ Works (Complete)
Willem Tanke (Organ, St. Bavo Basilica, Haarlem) | | | Usually despatched in 8 - 10 working days. |
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| |  | Messiaen Edition Volume 1Piano Works, Organ Works & Songs
The long life and passionate, exotic music of Olivier Messiaen are big news in this, the centenary year of his birth. Festivals worldwide are celebrating one of the last century’s greatest composers and his heady blend of a musical language that moves from the rich romanticism of the French organ tradition to the diamond precision of a modernism which hugely influenced the leaders of the postwar avant-garde such as Boulez and Stockhausen. His love of God and nature is everywhere evident in the vast cycles of works such as La Nativité du Seigneur and Vingt Régards sur l’Enfant Jésus, but so is a delight in instrumental virtuosity: he was himself a superb organist and pianist. All of these recordings were critically acclaimed when they first appeared; they have been reissued with extensive notes and full texts for the songs. ‘Throughout‚ Hill limns Messiaen’s heady‚ quasi pantheistic amalgam of rapture and stillness‚ evocation and exultation with illuminating exuberance…Hill is supported by a recording of satisfyingly huge range…In Benjamin Frith, Hill has a duo partner as responsive to Messiaen’s demands for subtlety of colour and delicacy of texture as he is himself.’ Gramophone |
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