Messiaen: Visions de l'Amen for 2 pianos

Messiaen: Visions de l'Amen for 2 pianos

This was one of the first recordings of Messiaen’s cycle of pieces for two pianos and the late English pianist John Ogdon was an acclaimed interpreter of Messiaen.

Recorded - Decca Studio No.3, West Hampstead, London, 29-31 December 1970

Messiaen & Beethoven - Works for Piano Duo

Messiaen: Visions de l'Amen for 2 pianos

From Mozart To Messiaen

Messiaen - The Montaigne Recordings

This 6 CD set is being released to mark the centenary of the birth of the great 20th century French composer Olivier Messiaen. The music on these discs was originally recorded between 1988 and 1991 and released on the label “Montaigne”. The selection of works included feature major works that cover the most significant period in Messiaen’s life as a composer. The earliest of these is the “Visions de L’Amen” for two pianos which was written in 1943, whilst the most recent, “Un Vitrail et des Oiseaux” for piano and small orchestra comes from the year 1986. Throughout his life Messiaen maintained a strong devotion to Catholicism, and many of his works like “Visions de L’Amen”, “ La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur, Jesus Christ”, a large scale piece for choir and orchestra that was written in the late 1960’s, and the 1963 composition for piano and ensemble “Couleurs de la Cité Celeste” are representations of his unwavering faith in Christianity. Messiaen was also an avid birdwatcher and recorded and catalogued their songs which he transcribed and used to marvellous effect in several of his compositions, including the aptly named “Oiseaux Exotique” of 1956, which alongside the later “Un Vitrail et des Oiseaux” is similarly written for piano and chamber ensemble. The “Sept Ha?ka?” was written in 1962 and is subtitled “japanese sketches for piano and small orchestra”. It is the composer’s musical response to the landscape and birds of Japan, as well as the order and ceremony that defines that country’s culture. The final work in this set is the massive “Des Canyons aux Etoiles”, for solo piano, horn, xylorimba, glockenspiel and orchestra. Written in 1974, it is a monumental cycle of meditations on the majesty of God in all his creation, and was inspired by a visit that the composer made to the great canyons of Utah in the U.S.A. Artists featured in the recordings include renowned Messiaen interpreters, Pierre Boulez, Yvonne Loriod, the Schoenberg Ensemble, and Reinbert de Leeuw.

Messiaen - The Piano Works

Messiaen Edition Volume 1

Piano Works, Organ Works & Songs

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.

Messiaen Edition

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

includes a disc of Olivier Messiaen interviewed by Claude Samuel (in French), 1988