Messiaen: Cinq rechants

Music in the early 20th century did pass from one medium to another, from late Romanticism into an unknown future. Refractions allows the listener to sample this transition through the choral music of four very different composers.

Frank Martin and Olivier Messiaen have few musical features in common, but their faith overrides the fundamental differences between them and makes them two of the most important Christian composers of the 20th century. Martin's Mass for unaccompanied double choir is the profoundly ecumenical profession of faith of a fervent Christian. As to the 'Cinq Rechants' Messiaen's last a cappella work, its composer rightly thought it ‘one of [his] best works'. This title was released for the first time in 2004.

Dating from 1953, Le Cantique des Cantiques is among Daniel-Lesur's finest pieces - and is perhaps the only one of his majorcompositions to be performed outside France with any frequency.Written for 12-part unaccompanied voices, it was one of the remarkable group of works commissioned by the brilliant

choral conductor Marcel Couraud. In the late 1940s and ‘50s, Couraud commissions included two other classics of the 20th-century choral repertoire: Messiaen's Cinq Rechants inspired by the Tristan legend of love-death, and Jolivet's Epithalame, written as a celebration of his own 20th wedding anniversary. Daniel-Lesur's piece shares with these the common theme of love-songs, something which Couraud stipulated in his commissions from these three veterans of 'La Jeune France', founded in 1936 in a spirit of musical cohesion, quality and friendship by four French composers: Olivier Messiaen,André Jolivet , Daniel-Lesur and Yves Baudrier. 2008 is the centenary of the births of Olivier Messiaen and Daniel-Lesur.Vocal ensemble Sequenza 9.3, who were awarded a Diapason d'or in 2006, commemorate the composers through this recording.

Olivier Messiaen was born on 10th December 1908 in Avignon. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire from 1919 to 1930 where his teachers included Paul Dukas and the great organist and improviser Marcel Dupré. He developed a very distinctive style in the music and with his deep Catholic faith and love of birds he created a highly original palette in sound which he employed in works for orchestra, small combination of or merely solo instruments or choir. EMI is celebrating his centenary with a collection of 14CDs. Messiaen himself appears as the organist in four CDs of his solo organ music, recorded in from the earliest work up to and including to his then latest work Livre d’Orgue. These four CDs have been newly remastered at Abbey Road Studios.

His wife, Yvonne Loriod, plays the piano in the CD of the Quatuor pour la fin du Temps and his sister-in-law, Jeanne Loriod, plays the ondes-martenot in the Turangalila Symphony with Michel Beroff and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by André Previn. Although most works have been issued on CD before some are rare – e.g. 2 CDs of Melodies – and two are making their first appearance in this medium: Quatre etudes de rythme and Cantéyodjâya played by Beroff and Ogdon respectively. This is a fine set to introduce yourself to one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century.

It was meant to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the great French composer’s birth in December 2008. Released in September 2008, it was sold out before the anniversary date – all 4,000 boxes of the Messiaen Complete Edition.

There are benchmark performances by Pierre Boulez, Myung-Whun Chung, Olivier Latry and Roger Muraro, among many others. It’s the only set that can offer Messiaen’s magnum opus, the opera Saint François d’Assise. New recordings were made for the Edition; two works were recorded for the first time.

Limited Edition.

The only Messiaen box to offer the complete works. Highlights include:

Complete Orchestral Works: Boulez and Chung (including new [2008] recording of Trois petites liturgies and Couleurs de la Cité céleste).

Complete Piano Works: Roger Muraro.

Complete Organ Works: Olivier Latry.

Saint François: José van Dam / Dawn Upshaw / Kent Nagano.

Rarities include La Mort du Nombres, Choeur des déportés, Fêtes des belles eaux for Ondes Martenot, 4 Inédits pour piano et ondes Martenot, Chant dans le style de Mozart ….

Lavish 400-page CD booklet in French and English.