Chamber music Theme et variations (1932) (Theme and variations)

II, il,II'II'S Theme and variations comes from quite adifferent country, The piece was written in 1932 for '111" I11'11 lOS, the violinist whom he married that year, The theme is in phrases of 7+7+14 bars and uses "" 11111

reminiscent of certain passages of La Nativite du Seigneur, one of his most ambitious organ works, Abit further on, in the course of the development, Messiaen also introduces piano writing close to that of the brass in a large orchestra, before aclimax of great tension and the return of the initial motifs, Finally, the work comes to an end with an extremely virtuoso coda,

Universal Music Classics France (Translation: John Tyler Tuftle)

Fete des belles eaux (1937) (Celebration of the Beautiful Waters)

It was in 1937, Besides the magnificent Exhibition which drew inquisitive visitors from allover the world to Paris, The City of Paris had organized Feasts of sound, water and light, which took place on the rivol Seine, after night had fallen, vast audio-visual spectacles, when rockets fell from the sky and lIul splashings of foutains mingled with the harmonies of symphonic scores, For the musical embellishlmllrl of these evenings, the City of Paris commissioned twenty works from twenty composers, I was among the twenty, Some of my colleagues chose the orchestra, others chose the choral mecilllill others chamber music formations, I had the idea of a sextet of andes Martenot. The sounds havinu lolul amplified by loud-speakers placed on all the buildings along the river Seine, the andes lent them:;olvl' wonderfuily to this open-air music, Specialized architects brought me vast carefuily timed cllawll1\1 representing the different moments of the festivities that had been assigned to me, Thus the IOIiIi dlld the music of the work were absolutely dependent on these established divisions and timings, 1110 11111111 here is mysterious, the deep water has afunereal character, the rockets are joyful, playful, uncolI:;!i, 11111 'II the fireworks take on the same cheerful mood, On the other hand, the splashings of the water ;1\0,111111 and violent, or thoughtful and contemplative, It is the latter feeling which dominates, and ill 11111 III moments of the ''Fete des belles eaux", that is when, on two occasions, the water rises to gloallllllllill WI' IlOar a long slow phrase (almost a prayer) which makes the water the symbol of Grace .11111 I Ii 'I 1111 aller these words from the Gospel according to Saint John: "The water that I shall give willi"" 11111 sourco of water gushing forth for ever and ever",

1'1'1

Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (1940) (Quartet for the End of Time)

MIII";lann wrote his Quartet during months when the apocalypse might reasonably have seel1lorJ 1llIllIlIuIlIl, if indeed it were not already happening: in the summer of 1940, as a member of the French 111111'\, lie was imprisoned at Garlitz in Silesia, where he composed this piece for himself to play with three 1IIIIIIw Ill1nates, The premiere took place al the prison camp in January 1941: "Never", Messiaen later III' Ilh'd, "Ilave I been heard with as much attention and understanding", IIIIWI!Vlil, the circumstances of the composition may have had more apractical than aspiritual influence, 1IIIIy r111:laled the instrumentation, for Messiaen's piano along with violin (Jean Le Soulaire), clarinet (Henri l'tll' I) .11111 ceilo (Etienne Pasquier): an unusual combination for a composer who has produced almost

"']111111'1 i:llamber music, They may also have encouraged Messiaen to include examples here of all his I'KIIIII"III!:: and processes, But the conception of an instrumental work as a sequence of meditations is 1,,1 ,!.III 1111 :1 from the preceding organ cycles, notably Les corps glorieux (1939); and the concern with time I!""llllllllllll: - with the presence of the eternal in the transitory - is fundamental to Messiaen's theology, lIid hi I"" lIlusic,

I 1I1!~0I

lid

III e "

Ilroi Ill, 'dll.llions have as their object a passage from the Apocalypse which Messiaen, in his preface to dllridges as: "I saw a mighty angel, descending from heaven, clothed in a cloud, having a

'III Ilis head, His face was as the sun, his feet as columns of fire, He placed his right foot on the Hid III', IIlII foot on the earth, and, supporting himself on the sea and on the earth, he raised his hand

III', IVOII and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, saying: There will be no more Time; but on I"!J ,,11110 II limpet of the seventh angel, the mystery of God will be completed," liil,11I II I 01 lime, which is the ending of progression, is figured in the music by various means: by II'illi lI'pl!lilive forms, circling through the same events; by the "modes of limited transpositions", II III' ,III !;lle diatonic chords from their normal functions; by processes al potentially enormous

'1llIlIqic do cristal"); and by extreme slow tempos (the two "Louanges"), AI the same time, the III", texl is answered by a vividness of timbre and harmonic colour, and by the force that tl1r. ""'III!; cun I'xert in rhythmic unison, There is the further theological importance of the number III' ;IS Messiaen explains, seven is the perfect number, but here seven "extends into eternity

1110 night of indefectible light, of unalterable peace,"

J9'l

I. "Liturgie de cristal". The piano keeps repeating a"talea" of seventeen rhythmic values, already used by Messiaen in other works, and here draped with a sequence of twenty- nine chords. Simultaneously the cello has a five-note motif repeated through 0 fifteen-value rhythmic pattern: the whole mechanism of repetitions would take nearly two hours to get back to its starting state. Messiaen's small portion of this "crystal liturgy" is celebrated by birdsong solos from the violin and clarinet. II. "Vocalise, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du temps". The angelic song, sustained by violin and cello in double octaves with "rainbow water drops" in the piano, is encased in music evoking the heavenly being's might. III. "Ablme des oiseaux. The abyss is afrequent symbol in Messiaen of negation, of the human experience of time as oppressive and promising only death; while birdsong, still more commonly, is his central image of spiritual joy, of participation in eternity. Here the solo clarinet brings the two images together: the abyss in great crescendos, in arpeggios straddling the instrument's range and in slow melody, the birdsong ill lively flights. IV. "Intermede". Ascherzo, omitting Messiaen's own instrument: the composer rests to listen, V. "Louange it l'Eternite de Jesus". Jesus as Word is praised by the cello, with piano accompanimenl, Irl modally becalmed Emajor. The marking is "Infinitely slow, ecstatic". VI. "Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes". Messiaen describes this as "music of stone", 01 11111 "irresistible movement of steel, of huge blocks of purple fury, of abandonment frozen"; he also rll:IW', attention to how the four instruments together suggest trumpets and, later, gongs. The place is bn!jtid 1111 a powerfully rhythmic theme, worked to a climax in which it is distended in time and register. VII. "Fouillis d'arcs-en-ciel, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du temps". There are references to tho f:llllllid movement, whose melodic and dynamic characters are first alternated and then combinerl. 1\'111111 Messiaen's preface demands quotation: "In my dreams I hear and see classified chords anclnlllillillr, known colours and forms; then, alter this transitional stage, I pass into the unreal and submil in III ',1,1 to a wheeling, a gyrating interpenetration of superhuman colours. These swords of fire, thasil IIii III 11111 orange lava flows, these sudden stars: here is the jumble, here the rainbowsl " VIII. "Louange it I'lmmortalite de Jesus". Apendant to the fifth movement, in the same stilled I 'lioll'll ", Inarked "Extremely slow and tender, ecstatic". The violin, accompanied by the piano, sinn, tllIll"oIl'.1 Jesus as Resurrected Man, as victor over time.

i'lIlJll ttlH

PII,

le Merle noir (1951) (The Blackbird)

WIIIII!II in 1951 for the competitive exanimation for flute at the National Higher Conservatory of Music ill l'lIl1:" tllis piece is acelebration of the fantasy, virtuosity and the talent of the Blackbird. AII"I " cadence for flute solo, a dreamy theme, played first by the piano, is then taken up again with tile Iii III (1llis same melodic outline is found in the Cinq RechantS). A-,1'1111111 virtuoso passage for the flute is followed by the dreamy theme dialogued in canon form by the IWIIIII!:lllIments with irrational rhythms. 111I11111"le bursts out in a delirious gaiety with a very fast tempo: the flute ornaments is rapid 16th notes '111111'''1:0 notes and anacrusis, while the piano lets its joy ring out like loud crystal bells, all of the notes n",'lIlIlIlillg in the pedal, like the clinking together of precious stones.

Yvonne Lortod

Chant dans Ie style de Mozart (1986) (Song in the style of Mozart) I~ l'III"Y ,I sllOrt intermission .. rVjlll1 ~IIIlWS that Olivier Messiaen particularly admired and loved Mozart: in his courses he analysed ,I III 11/lIIIiIS, his Symphonies and Concertos. (It is thanks to him that Yvonne Loriod performed the ,il' ,1'/ Ie of his Concertos in seven concerts because he had asked her to come and play thom all

11I1i'lIls). II III "ccopted acommission of Marek Janowski and Radio-France, for the anniversary of the Bi

III tllO death of Mozart, and thus, Le Sourire for orchestra was created the 5th of December , 11t 1111 r;ll~lelet in Paris.

29/

In 1986, the Conservatory had asked Messiaen to write a piece for an examination competition. He chose Mozart.,. and brought along this little marvel of style and poetry, very moving in its likeness! Yvonne Loriod, as well as other former students of the master, could not resist the charm of this page, ,

Yvonne Loriod

Piece pour piano et quatuor it cordes (1991) (Piece for piano and string quartet)

This work was written in 1991 for the 90th anniversary of Alfred Schlee, who devoted his whole life tn the pUblishing house that he created in Vienna (Austria): "Universal Edition", It was he who publishcd Oiseaux exotiques (piano and orchestra), and Canteyodjaya (piano) by Olivier Messiaen. This work is only five minutes long, but k is very difficult. It is built up around a "Garden-Warbler" (volY voluble, 16'" note = 200!) who flits from one instrument to another (to flit from one branch 01 a treo III another is very easy for a warbler, but sharing such a rapid melody between 5 instruments is a diZLylllii exercise!). This irresistible gaiety is underlined in the beginning and at the end by very powerful harmonll'i, rich in tonality,

Yvonno 111111"1

Quatre inedits pour piano et ondes Martenot (Four unpublished pieces for piano and ondes Martenot)

No date is indicated on these short pieces, which are little masterpieces of harmonies half-Debussy, 111111 11111 IKIII-Messiaen, The only indications: W 1 "Learning to read music", W 2, 3, 4 "Sight-ronelllill" WllO could resisttilC idea 01 arranging them lor the Onde Martenot and piano, since S0l110 nllllllllllill "I,

J'lll

:a'I'm destined lor the "Jeu au Ruban" of the Onde? 1111: first and fourth pieces are played in their entirety. 1111' second piece is in a triple measure, Alter a descent in the 2'" mode, the music comes to a standstill /111;( dominant in the lower register. The upper register is missing. Where is the bird song? I found (in the IIl1ldlOOks of Olivier Messiaen where he noted his bird songs) a Blackbird, noted the 29'" of April 1987, wllll:1i seems to me permits us to terminate this piece on a brilliant note. N" \ s a sort of nostalgic, falling melody, with its questioning quintolet which is heard 5 times (the final 111110 in the upper register of the Onde with a slow tempo), This short phrase, 2 measures long, is cut by 1I',IIHlcling harmonic chords in the 2'" mode with a drop on the augmented fourth. Following these I aI'licling chords, it seemed to me interesting to interpolate the song of a Garden Warbler interpreted

1I1',IIy Iiy the piano (noted down in Sologne on July 7'", 1988) and then in dialogue with a Blackheaded W,lIhlilr) noted down in Sologne on July 9'",1988) played on the Onde. These two birds, noted down in 11111 IIIIC place in a two days interval must have heard each other and responded to one another. There 1,11111. question of aconversation between two "feathered" artists that is very plausible, bringing a bit of 11I1';IiIiIO into this short melancholic melody of the quintolet.

Yvonne Loriod

299