Messiaen: Prélude pour piano

“This CD features the first release of performances of short works by Messiaen, all of them rarities, except for Le merle noir. Messiaen wrote La morte du nombre for soprano, tenor, violin, and piano in 1929 while he was a student at the Paris Conservatory. It's a serene, gorgeous, sensuous piece that deserves to be more widely known. Offrande au Saint Sacrament, for organ, is undated, but probably written soon after La morte du nombre in a similar mood of quiet radiance. It's typical of the style of the composer's organ works of the early '30s -- harmonically and melodically rich, emotionally warm, and rhythmically irregular. Quatre Inédits for Ondes Martenot and piano sound like absolutely nothing else in the world…it's revelatory to hear it highlighted as it is here - the sounds of which it's capable and which the composer adroitly exploits are stunning. The album closes with Chant des Déportés, for chorus and orchestra, written in celebration of the liberation of prisoners from concentration camps in 1945. It's distinctly Messiaen, but at the same time rousingly patriotic - the choral parts are unison and relatively simple, probably intended for community choruses rather than professionals - and the effect is genuinely gripping. Any fan of the composer will want to hear these obscure but attractive pieces.”

Stephen Eddins, All Music Guide

The Messiaen celebrations come to an overwhelming climax with this superb 32-CD set of his complete works. The only complete edition - Released on Deutsche Grammophon - Limited edition.

400-page booklet in English and French, including complete sung texts and libretto

OVERVIEW: The solo piano works with Roger Muraro (7 CDs); the organ works with Olivier Latry (6 CDs); Orchestral and Choral works with Myung Whun Chung and Pierre Boulez, with Pierre-Laurent, Yvonne Loriod as soloists (ca. 10 CDs); the opera Saint Francois directed by Kent Nagano (4 CDs); Chamber Works with Daniel Barenboim,. Gidon Kremer and Martha Argerich, Daniel Hope (new recording); vocal works with Noelle Barker

The whole is rounded off with a performance of the two-piano Visions de l'Amen by Yvonne Loriod and Messiaen himself (recorded in Paris in 1962)

Specially recorded for this edition: Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine, Coulers de la Cité Céleste and the rare Hymne (1932) with Myung Whun Chung; the recently discoverd Fantaisie for violin and Piano with Daniel Hope. Don't miss: Fetes des belles for six Ondes Martenot on CD 27!