Messiaen: La Nativité du Seigneur (The Lord's Nativity)

La Nativité du Seigneur

Verset pour la fête de la Dédicace

Offrande au Saint Sacrement

Livre du Saint-Sacrement

Monodie

previously unreleased recording

previously unreleased recording

Prélude pour orgue

previously unreleased recording

Hans-Ola Ericsson (playing the Grönlund Organ of Luleå Cathedral, Sweden and the 2006 Gerald Woehl Organ of the Katharinenkirche, Oppenheim, Germany)

Incorporating the fruits of the composer’s untiring research into the various aspects of tonality, bird-song, ancient Indian and Greek rhythms, and his life-long preoccupation with the philosophy and liturgy of the Catholic Church, the organ music by Olivier Messiaen forms a pillar in the music of the 20th century. Over some 50 years, Messiaen created a body of works for the great Cavaillé-Coll organ in the Church of La Trinité in Paris, where he was active throughout most of his life. All of these have been gathered in this boxed-set of Hans-Ola Ericsson’s highly acclaimed recordings, many originally released as single discs between 1989 and 1992.

BIS - BISCD1770-72

(CD - 7 discs)

$54.99

Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days.

Messiaen: Organ Works (Complete)

La Nativité du Seigneur

Livre du Saint-Sacrement

Willem Tanke (Organ, St. Bavo Basilica, Haarlem)

Brilliant Classics - 8639

(CD - 8 discs)

$25.99

Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days.

Olivier Messiaen - 1908–1992 (100th Anniversary Box Set)

Les Offrandes oubliées (1930)

Turangalila Symphony

Jeanne Loriod (ondes martenot) & Michel Béroff (piano)

London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn

Orchestre de Paris & Ensemble de Percussion de l’Orchestre de Paris, Serge Baudo

Chronochromie for large orchestra

BBC Symphony Orchestra, Antal Dorati

Éclairs sur l'au-delà…

Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle

Quatuor pour la fin du temps

Yvonne Loriod (piano), Christoph Poppen (violin), Manuel Fischer-Dieskau (cello) & Wolfgang Meyer (clarinet)

Theme and Variations for Violin and Piano

Christoph Poppen (violin) & Yvonne Loriod (piano)

Le Merle noir for flute and piano

Emmanuel Pahud (flute)

Preludes (8)

Michel Béroff (piano)

Vingt Regards sur l'enfant Jésus

Michel Béroff (piano)

Visions de l'Amen for 2 pianos

Alexandre Rabinovitch & Martha Argerich (pianos)

Quatre Études de rythme

Michel Béroff (piano)

Cantéyodjayâ

John Ogdon (piano)

Olivier Messiaen (organ)

Olivier Messiaen (organ)

Olivier Messiaen (organ)

Priere apres la Communion

Olivier Messiaen (organ)

La Nativité du Seigneur

Olivier Messiaen (organ) & Naji Hakim (organ)

Naji Hakim (organ)

Olivier Messiaen (organ)

Olivier Messiaen (organ)

Poèmes pour Mi, books 1 & 2 (complete)

Olivier Messiaen (organ)

La Mort Du Nombre

Ann Murray (soprano), Philip Langridge (tenor), Andrew Watkinson (violin) & Roger Vignoles (piano)

Trois Mélodies

Michèle Command (soprano) & Marie-Madeleine Petit (piano)

Michèle Command (soprano) & Marie-Madeleine Petit (piano)

Chants de Terre et de Ciel

Michèle Command (soprano) & Marie-Madeleine Petit (piano)

Harawi (Chants d'amour et de Mort)

Michèle Command (soprano) & Marie-Madeleine Petit (piano)

3 Petites liturgies de la Presence Divine

Rolf Hind (piano) & Cynthia Millar (ondes Martenot)

London Sinfonietta & London Sinfonietta Chorus, Terry Edwards

Cinq rechants

Rolf Hind (piano) & Cynthia Millar (ondes Martenot)

London Sinfonietta, London Sinfonietta Chorus & London Sinfonietta Voices, Terry Edwards

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.

“…this handsome set from EMI is well worth considering. With works spanning his output, a range of genres and some wonderful performances…” BBC Music Magazine, November 2008 *****

“The 14-CD EMI set is one of the those incredibly useful, disarmingly cheap, EMI completist pull-togethers, this one boasting classic Messiaen moments like Previn's 1977 Turangalîla-Symphonie, Dorati's penetrating 1964 Chronochromie, Rattle's Eclairs sur l'Au-delà, Martha Argerich's and Alexandre Rabinovitch's Visions de l'Amen and Messiaen's own performances of his organ works.” Gramophone Magazine, May 2009

EMI - 2174662

(CD - 14 discs)

$50.99

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Messiaen Edition Volume 1

Piano Works, Organ Works & Songs

Willem Tanke (organ)

Willem Tanke (organ)

Willem Tanke (organ)

Willem Tanke (organ)

La Nativité du Seigneur

Willem Tanke (organ)

Willem Tanke (organ)

Willem Tanke (organ)

Willem Tanke (organ)

Vingt Regards sur l'enfant Jésus

Willem Tanke (organ)

Livre du Saint-Sacrement

Willem Tanke (organ)

Peter Hill (piano)

Catalogue d'oiseaux Books 1-7 (Complete)

Peter Hill (piano)

Preludes (8)

Peter Hill (piano)

Quatre Études de rythme

Peter Hill (piano)

Cantéyodjayâ

Peter Hill (piano)

Pièce pour le tombeau de Paul Dukas

Peter Hill (piano)

Fantaisie burlesque

Peter Hill (piano)

Rondeau

Peter Hill (piano)

Petites Esquisses d'Oiseaux

Peter Hill (piano)

Visions de l'Amen for 2 pianos

Peter Hill (piano) & Benjamin Frith (piano)

Trois Mélodies

Ingrid Kappelle (soprano) & Håkon Austbø (piano)

Poèmes pour Mi, books 1 & 2 (complete)

Ingrid Kappelle (soprano) & Håkon Austbø (piano)

Chants de Terre et de Ciel

Ingrid Kappelle (soprano) & Håkon Austbø (piano)

Harawi (Chants d'amour et de Mort)

Ingrid Kappelle (soprano) & Håkon Austbø (piano)

La Fauvette des jardins

Peter Hill (piano)

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.

“No reservations…about Peter Hill's masterly set of the piano music, longheld in esteem by Messiaen-lovers,. Technical control, characterisation, colour, 'clarté': it's all here. Few if any pianists play the first and last movements of Vingt regards so slowly. Few approached his sense of a majestic mystery.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2008 *****

“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 Magazine

Brilliant Classics - 8949

(CD - 17 discs)

$52.99

Usually despatched in 4 - 5 working days.

Messiaen Edition

An 18-CD set offering a comprehensive overview of Messiaen’s work in recordings made between 1963 and 2000.

Petites Esquisses d'Oiseaux

Yvonne Loriod (piano)

Preludes (8)

Yvonne Loriod (piano)

Quatre Études de rythme

Yvonne Loriod (piano)

La Nativité du Seigneur

Marie-Claire Alain (organ)

Marie-Claire Alain (organ)

Poèmes pour Mi, books 1 & 2 (complete)

Marie-Claire Alain (organ)

Maria Oràn (soprano), Yvonne Loriod (piano)

Chants de Terre et de Ciel

Maria Oràn (soprano), Yvonne Loriod (piano)

Quatuor pour la fin du temps

Huguette Fernandez (violin), Guy Deplus (clarinet), Jacques Nielz (cello), Marie-Madeleine Petit (piano)

Cinq rechants

Solistes des chœurs de l’ORTF, Marcel Couraud

Visions de l'Amen for 2 pianos

Katia and Marièlle Labèque, pianos

Les Offrandes oubliées (1930)

Orchestre philharmonique de l’ORTF, Marcel Couraud

Hymne au Saint-Sacrement

Orchestre philharmonique de l’ORTF, Marcel Couraud

Vingt Regards sur l'enfant Jésus

Yvonne Loriod (piano)

Harawi (Chants d'amour et de Mort)

Rachel Yakar (soprano), Yvonne Loriod (piano)

Turangalila Symphony

Revised Messiaen Edition

Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano), Dominique Kim (ondes Martenot)

Berliner Philharmoniker, Kent Nagano

Catalogue d'oiseaux Books 1-7 (Complete)

Yvonne Loriod (piano)

La Fauvette des jardins

Yvonne Loriod (piano)

Le Réveil des oiseaux

Yvonne Loriod (piano)

Orchestre National de France, Kent Nagano

Couleurs de la cité céleste

Yvonne Loriod (piano)

Groupe Instrumental à Percussion de Strasbourg, Orchestre du Domaine Musical, Pierre Boulez

Et Expecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum

Yvonne Loriod (piano)

Groupe Instrumental à Percussion de Strasbourg, Orchestre du Domaine Musical, Pierre Boulez

L'Ascension (Quatre meditations pour l'orchestre)

Orchestre philharmonique de l’ORTF, Marius Constant

3 Petites liturgies de la Presence Divine

Yvonne Loriod (piano), Jeanne Loriod (onde Martenot)

Maîtrise et Orchestre de Chambre de la RTF, Marcel Couraud