Messiaen - Meditations sur le Mystere de la Sainte Trinite
£12.30
In stock - available for despatch within 1 working day
Despatch Information
This despatch estimate is based on information from both our own stock and the UK supplier's stock.
If ordering multiple items, we will aim to send everything together so the longest despatch estimate will apply to the complete order.
If you would rather receive certain items more quickly, please place them on a separate order.
If any unexpected delays occur, we will keep you informed of progress via email and not allow other items on the order to be held up.
If you would prefer to receive everything together regardless of any delay, please let us know via email.
Pre-orders will be despatched as close as possible to the release date.
Label: Naxos
Cat No: 8573979
Format: CD
Number of Discs: 1
Genre: Instrumental
Release Date: 9th August 2019
Contents
Artists
Tom Winpenny (organ)About
Olivier Messiaen’s Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité grew out of improvisations that he performed at the inauguration of the rebuilt organ of La Trinité in 1967. It became his largest cycle to date and marks Messiaen’s first use of ‘communicable language’, in which each letter of the alphabet is assigned a unique pitch and note-value, thereby translating text into music. Haunting harmonies, awe-inspiring monumental grandeur and the deepest profundity of expression are contrasted by the innocence of birdsong with the recurrent call of the yellowhammer, a tranquil voice from nature amid kaleidoscopic Biblical themes.
Johannes Klais organ of the Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavík
Johannes Klais organ of the Hallgrímskirkja, Reykjavík
Sound/Video
Paused
-
1Méditations Sur Le Mystère De La Sainte Trinité – I. Le Père Inengendré (The Father Unbegotten)
-
2Méditations Sur Le Mystère De La Sainte Trinité – II. La Sainteté De Jésus-Christ (The Holiness Of Jesus Christ)
-
3Méditations Sur Le Mystère De La Sainte Trinité – III. La Relation Réelle En Dieu Est Réellement Indentique À l’Essence (The Genuine Relation In God Is Truly Identical To His Essence)
-
4Méditations Sur Le Mystère De La Sainte Trinité – IV. Le Suis, Je Suis! (I Am, I Am!)
-
5Méditations Sur Le Mystère De La Sainte Trinité – IV. Le Suis, Je Suis! (I Am, I Am!)
-
6Méditations Sur Le Mystère De La Sainte Trinité – VI. Le Fils, Verbe Et Lumière (The Son, Word & Light)
-
7Méditations Sur Le Mystère De La Sainte Trinité – VII. Le Père Et Le Fils Aiment, Par Le Saint-Esprit, Eux-Mêmes Et Nous (The Father & The Son Love Themselves & Us Through The Holy Spirit)
-
8Méditations Sur Le Mystère De La Sainte Trinité – VIII. Dieu Est Simple (God Is Unique)
-
9Méditations Sur Le Mystère De La Sainte Trinité – IX. Je Suis Celui Qui Suis (I Am That I Am)
Europadisc Review
With their unique amalgam of plainchant, birdsong, musically encoded ‘communicable language’, religious symbolism, concentrated counterpoint, intense dissonances and radiant triadic harmonies, the Méditations sur Le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité are indeed one of the most mysterious and fascinating as well as ambitious of all Messiaen’s organ works. They are also the latest in Tom Winpenny’s excellent ongoing survey of the composer’s organ music on the Naxos label, this time at Reykjavík’s magnificent Hallgrímskirkja, on a splendid four-manual instrument by Johannes Klais Orgelbau of Bonn. Winpenny's previous releases have consistently impressed with their single-minded clarity, and this newest disc is just as fine.
Like the earlier Nativité du Seigneur, the Méditations are cast in nine (3 x 3) movements. They originated in a series of improvisations Messiaen gave in November 1967, alternating with spoken homilies on the mysteries of the Trinity at his ‘home’ church of La Trinité in Paris, whose organ had just been rebuilt. The Méditations reached their definitive written form in 1969, and were premiered by Messiaen himself in March 1972 at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Thus although they were conceived, like all Messiaen’s organ works, with the organ of La Trinité very much in mind (its dispositions are detailed at the back of the published score), they made the transition to the international stage from the outset of their public life. The Klais organ heard on this Naxos disc is more ‘Germanic’, less nasal and reedy in the French manner, than most instruments heard in this repertoire, throwing new light on the music while still bringing a remarkable abundance of colour to Messiaen’s dazzling soundworld.
Messiaen manages to draw the listener in to this work from the outset, with its stark opening octaves, the austere two-part counterpoint of its central section ‘spelling out’ the first of a series of texts from St Thomas Aquinas, and a striking sequence of chords suggesting the ‘turning of the stars’, before the grandiose closing bars spell out the word ‘ingendré’ (‘unbegotten’). The second meditation depicts ‘the holiness of Jesus Christ’, plainsong and rich chords alternating with vividly coloured birdsong, the tranquil final section brought to a close by the repeated-note call of the yellowhammer that had served as a ‘cue’ for the preacher of the original 1967 homilies.
Momentum is again built steadily through the sixth to eighth movements. The sixth meditation focuses particularly on the radiance of God as Light; the call of the bulbul (Messiaen’s ‘oiseau de Persépolis’) lends distinctive colour to the seventh (alongside another Aquinas text); and plainsong again opens the eighth, whose increasingly luxuriant but gently spoken harmonisations are associated with the famous psalm text ‘O that I had wings like a dove’, Winpenny again finding an ideally limpid registration for Messiaen’s soft hues.
The final meditation is dramatic and large-scale, reflecting its subject: ‘I am that I am’, as God declared to Moses at the burning bush of Exodus 3. Various strands from the cycle are drawn together in another display of compositional and sonic brilliance, before the whole work again dissolves into tranquil birdsong. Helped by a detailed recording that perhaps lacks the sense of space in Messiaen’s own account but compensates for this with its sense of focus, Winpenny is an unerring guide through this remarkable meditative journey (his own booklet notes are extremely helpful, too). In short, this is an essential disc for all lovers of Messiaen’s music, and a real treat for organ aficionados in documenting the marvelous Reykjavík instrument. Another great addition to Winpenny’s unfolding Messiaen series!
Like the earlier Nativité du Seigneur, the Méditations are cast in nine (3 x 3) movements. They originated in a series of improvisations Messiaen gave in November 1967, alternating with spoken homilies on the mysteries of the Trinity at his ‘home’ church of La Trinité in Paris, whose organ had just been rebuilt. The Méditations reached their definitive written form in 1969, and were premiered by Messiaen himself in March 1972 at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. Thus although they were conceived, like all Messiaen’s organ works, with the organ of La Trinité very much in mind (its dispositions are detailed at the back of the published score), they made the transition to the international stage from the outset of their public life. The Klais organ heard on this Naxos disc is more ‘Germanic’, less nasal and reedy in the French manner, than most instruments heard in this repertoire, throwing new light on the music while still bringing a remarkable abundance of colour to Messiaen’s dazzling soundworld.
Messiaen manages to draw the listener in to this work from the outset, with its stark opening octaves, the austere two-part counterpoint of its central section ‘spelling out’ the first of a series of texts from St Thomas Aquinas, and a striking sequence of chords suggesting the ‘turning of the stars’, before the grandiose closing bars spell out the word ‘ingendré’ (‘unbegotten’). The second meditation depicts ‘the holiness of Jesus Christ’, plainsong and rich chords alternating with vividly coloured birdsong, the tranquil final section brought to a close by the repeated-note call of the yellowhammer that had served as a ‘cue’ for the preacher of the original 1967 homilies.
The short third movement is a sustained application of Messiaen’s ‘communicable language’, using pitches and note lengths to spell out another Aquinas text; its mysterious, otherworldly feel benefits from Winpenny’s cool-headed approach and the clear voicing of the instrument. Similarly impressive is the fourth meditation, depicting God’s appearance to Moses on Mount Sinai, growling brass chords alternating with bird calls and trilling. The heart of the work is the vast fifth meditation, reflecting on the immensity, eternity and immutability of God (respectively, solo trombone stop, powerful fortissimo chords, and gentle, unequivocally tonal progressions), and the breath of the Holy Spirit (toccata-like octaves). When, halfway through the movement, the latter develops into a full-blown chordal toccata, there’s a dogged determination to the playing that stands in stark contrast to Messiaen’s own more fleetingly improvisatory 1972 recording, but Winpenny’s approach pays dividends in making the music’s rhythmic groupings much more readily graspable. The close is magical: soft, tonal string harmonies proclaim God’s unconditional love, and again the yellowhammer brings the movement to a conclusion.
The final meditation is dramatic and large-scale, reflecting its subject: ‘I am that I am’, as God declared to Moses at the burning bush of Exodus 3. Various strands from the cycle are drawn together in another display of compositional and sonic brilliance, before the whole work again dissolves into tranquil birdsong. Helped by a detailed recording that perhaps lacks the sense of space in Messiaen’s own account but compensates for this with its sense of focus, Winpenny is an unerring guide through this remarkable meditative journey (his own booklet notes are extremely helpful, too). In short, this is an essential disc for all lovers of Messiaen’s music, and a real treat for organ aficionados in documenting the marvelous Reykjavík instrument. Another great addition to Winpenny’s unfolding Messiaen series!
Error on this page? Let us know here
Need more information on this product? Click here