Messiaen: Un Sourire (1989) (A smile)

Love and faith, mortality and eternity are the abiding themes of these three important and beautifully shimmering works by one of the 20th century’s most innovative composers.

Les offrandes oubliées, Messiaen’s first published orchestral work, is a symphonic meditation on Christ’s loving sacrifice to redeem the sin of humanity.

Poèmes pour Mi sets nine mystical texts which were written as highly personal love songs to his first wife, Claire Delbos, while Un sourire pays homage to what he saw as Mozart’s ever-smiling attitude to life’s many hardships.

“One of the most electrifying singers of our time” BBC Radio Three on Anne Schwanewilms, May 2009

To celebrate the 100th birthday of Olivier Messiaen, Hannsler Classics present this sumptuous 8-CD-Box set. It is the first time that Messiaen’s complex orchestral scores have been performed by a single orchestra and conductor. This results in a uniform interpretation, which is characterized by the superb performances of anorchestra renown for its sensitive and insightful interpretations of the newest scores and a conductor who has been devoted to the cause of Messiaen’s music.

Spanning six decades, Messiaen’s orchestral and vocal-orchestral music embody one of the monuments of 20th-century music. Under Pierre Boulez and Myung-Whun Chung, here is the only available complete recording, on 10 CDs, of all these masterpieces, including classics like the Turangalila Symphony and From the Canyon to the Stars, as well as rarities like The Forgotten Offerings and the brief Chorus of the Departed. With new liner notes by Messiaen expert Nigel Simeone and full sung texts and translations

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.