THE ARTISTS:
Pierre-Laurent Aimard . John Alldis Choir . Martha Argerich . Daniel Barenboïm . Noelle Barker . Pierre Boulez / The Cleveland Orchestra . Catherine Cantin . Riccardo Chailly / Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra . Myung-Whun Chung / Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio-France . Myung-Whun Chung / Orchestre de l'Opéra Bastille . Catherine Cournot . José van Dam . Sir Andrew Davis / BBC Chorus and Orchestra . Guy Deplus . Georges Guest / Saint John’s College . Jay Gottlieb . Heinz Holliger . Daniel Hope . Joela Jones . Jean-Paul Kreder / Ensemble Le Madrigal . Gidon Kremer . Hervé Lamy . Christian Lardé . Olivier Latry . Jeanne Loriod . Sextuor d'ondes Jeanne Loriod . Sylvia McNair . Maîtrise de Radio-France . Nathalie Manfrino . Olivier Messiaen . Chris Merritt . Yvonne Loriod . Roger Muraro . Kent Nagano / Hallé Orchestra . Yumi Nara . Françoise Pollet . Karl Anton Rickenbacher / Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin . Quatuor Rosemonde . Mstislav Rostropovich . Robert Sherlaw Johnson . Albert Tétard . Jean-Yves Thibaudet . Dawn Upshaw . Marie Vermeulin . Luben Yordanoff…
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.
