I think Chung is my favorite conductor, and this orchestra my favorite orchestra, for performing Messiaen's orchestral works. They always bring such lushness, color, and beauty to what could otherwise be too cerebral and difficult music to enjoy in simplicity. I love their version of Messiaen's "Illuminations of the Beyond", too.
I took my mum to hear a concerts of Messiaen's music some hears ago. This was the last worked played. We had hated it before hearing this. But after...oh boy! He still my favourite composer for always and forever! -3 -3 -3
En dépit de sa diversité stylistique, Messiaen était avant tout un compositeur d'esthétique expressionniste, toujours proche du drame, de la profondeur, de l'angoisse et la vision profonde et tourmentée de la vie qui semble émaner de la métaphysique de l'homme comme de sa même nature profonde
@@daboukir j'ai eu l'occasion de le voir & l'entendre avec un journaliste de mes amis et puis vous assurer que c'était un personnage à qui l'on pouvait tout confier mais il a souffert des réflexions amères et déplacés de certains paroissiens "de bénitier" lors de ses improvisations à l'église de la Trinité et lorsqu'il fut enfin reconnu de ses pairs et d'une large frange du public, il en était vraiment malade.. Mais ceci fait désormais partie de l'histoire..... :-)
*reposting the movement markers (updated and working): 00:12 I -"Des profondeurs de l'abîme, je crie vers toi, Seigneur: Seigneur, écoute ma voix!"; 05:33 II - "Le Christ, ressuscité des morts, ne meurt plus; la mort n'a plus sur lui d'empire."; 12:20 III - "L'heure vient où les morts entendront la voix du Fils de Dieu..."; 18:26 IV - "Ils ressusciteront, glorieux, avec un nom nouveau -- dans le concert joyeux des étoiles et les acclamations des fils du ciel."; 25:55 V - "Et j'entendis la voix d'une foule immense...". Thank you for sharing! For those who can't read French: 00:12 I - Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord; Lord, hear my voice; 05:33 II - Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.; 12:20 III - The hour is coming when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.; 18:26 IV - They shall be raised in glory, with a new name, when the morning stars sing together, and all the sons of God shout for joy; 25:55 V - And I hear the voice of a great multitude. DESCRIPTION by Rovi Staff The piece unfolds from five large, block-like sections, each relating to quotations from the Catholic Scriptures. 1) The first begins with a monophonic prayer theme emerging from the lowest depths of the orchestra. 2) The second section revolves around three motives: a six note, "lightning flash" -- the first four notes of which are related by retrograde to the prayer theme -- which is transformed into vertical chords, questions and answers heard in the woodwind duets, and a chorale led by the trumpets. 3) The third section is also a three part structure. Here Messiaen used two bird songs, including the Amazonian uirapuru -- traditionally heard at the moment of death -- to symbolize Christ's inner voice waking the dead from their sleep; signaling an impending resurrection. The virtuosic singing of the calandra lark symbolizes celestial joy and the gift of agility. The bird songs are heard in the full ensemble of woodwinds, the ringing of the tubular bells, and then as massive orchestral chords. 4) In the fourth section, the crashing of tam tams, heard in recurring cells of three strokes, represents the moment of resurrection as bells ring, trumpets chant, and the lark sounds from the woodwinds. 5) In the final section, prayer melodies from the first section and a long sequence of colorful chords form the closing chorale. Source: www.allmusic.com/composition/et-exspecto-resurrectionem-mortuorum-for-34-winds-3-percussion-i-47-mc0002658500
Mon esprit dérive si facilement sur ces belles, lugubres et ténébreuses mélodies éparses, parfois calmes, puis insistantes, chaudes et proches, si intimes, puis fuyant sur de rusées modulations; de majeur en mineur, se retournant paresseusement comme des feuilles dans un ruisseau !
00:12 I -"Des profondeurs de l'abîme, je crie vers toi, Seigneur: Seigneur, écoute ma voix!"; 05:33 II - "Le Christ, ressuscité des morts, ne meurt plus; la mort n'a plus sur lui d'empire."; 12:20 III - "L'heure vient où les morts entendront la voix du Fils de Dieu..."; 18:26 IV - "Ils ressusciteront, glorieux, avec un nom nouveau -- dans le concert joyeux des étoiles et les acclamations des fils du ciel."; 25:55 V - "Et j'entendis la voix d'une foule immense...". Thank you for sharing!
Les cors qui rappellent le cri de l'abîme, les trompettes qui vont signifier la solennité de la résurrection du Christ et l'ensemble pour les morts qui du fond des gouffres abyssaux chantent le "De profundis" psalmique...Une tout simplement divines orchestration, merci Olivier!
C'est beau comme la rencontre mortifère d'une cuillère à dessert imbibée de chocolat et d'une bouteille plastifiée sans bouchon de protection, sur le rebord d'une lande dévastée et couverte d’ivraies à la suite d'une succession d'intempéries engendrées par une dépression venant du nord de l'Europe!
I have not previously enjoyed the LITTLE of Mesiaen I have heard so began this with some trepidation despite the recommendation of a friend whose opinions I value. At the beginning I could think of nothing better than the "noises" of Prospero's isle but by the last ten minutes or so I had entered the sound world he created. Being able to see as well as hear really helps and I look forward to second and third hearings at least.
I was there on the night, he was clouting it so hard to get the full effect he knocked it off and had to switch to a different one to finish! The crescendo parts of the piece were quite visceral. Amazing piece of work and probably best heard live to feel the full effect.
@@TheScribemoleI'm trying to recall another prom at around the same date with a host of gongs being hammered (literally) that was so loud that when an even larger gong rolled across the stage in the middle of the performance, you couldnt hear it. I wish I could remember the piece. My young son slept through it. I thought it might have been messiaen - but I recall about half a dozen tam tams being beaten to death with mallets and what must have been most of the UKs Timps being part of the percussion section.
@@richardperry9764 I'm not entirely sure but Berlioz's requiem has an extremely large percussion section, and the score calls for 12 or 16 timpani drums, 10 pairs of cymbals, 4 tam-tams and 2 bass drums. It might not have been that, but that's an example of the extensive uses of percussion!
Je suis fasciné par la personnalité de l'individu. Au siècle précédent, il n'a jamais douté dans un monde où tout portait à croire qu'il s'effondrerait sur lui-même! Tout son travail est comme la première lumière du crépuscule. C'était de son vivant le reproche qu'on lui faisait. Sa musique, sous des aspects sombres et diaboliques, a été entièrement composée à la gloire du Christ, et il en a beaucoup souffert ;-(
This was the piece that originally got me into Messiaen after Vingt Regards (which I discovered while browsing piano scores at the University of Nevada library in grad school back in the late Cretaceous period). I remember working on a certain piece of experimental iron-making gear in a large, cavernous building, with this piece blaring from my ghetto-blaster (luckily I mostly worked alone). It's one of my least favourite Messiaen pieces now. I hardly ever listen to it, although I really like the pieces which were written at around the same time -- Sept Haikai, Couleurs de la Cite Celeste, and especially La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ -- I find the very rich harmonic and rhythmic palettes of these other pieces much more appealing than the austerity of Et exspecto. I'm glad Messiaen didn't make a habit of this kind of music. Too bad about that little bao gong flying off the frame just near the end, but the percussionist didn't miss a beat.
Awesome. I heard Boulez conduct this twice with the New York Philhamronic in the 70s. I thought Boulez' was the best. This matches it (except the tam tam crescendo is much more awesome live!)
I was in the audience for this close to where the back of the Cello's would normally be. I vividly remember one of the gongs being dislodged from its hanger. You couldn't hear it. To get the full effect of this you need to turn the volume up until your ears bleed.
This piece is quite noticeable by the set of instruments that it brings together, thr way how they are handled to create the sonoriy thazt the composer is looking for, and by the general impression that it leaves in each of us.
What's awful is he had to go down a large interval of pitch to the lower gong. He really needed that smallest one until the end. It sounds rather odd if you know the piece, to suddenly have him go down in pitch for no reason, because it fell off the frame. He must have been mortified. I bet Chung never even noticed. But what a GREAT SAVE for him to just make that switch without missing a beat!!!
It's a shame that Messiaen has become less popular in recent years. Also I've never heard any of his organ music in large venues like the Royal Albert Hall.
It's the video itself - there's a slight delay and it might have been due to the time when it was broadcast. Not much you can do about the delay unfortunately, so sorry about that
Watching again, I think Chung was looking right at the percussionist when it happened. Lol. He was probably very impressed with how the guy never missed a single one of those all-important strikes. It's a good thing the tempo wasn't too fast like some of the other performances.
Sadly, far too cultivated. Check the documentary, also here, in which Messiaen himself advises Serge Baudo for the great performance at Chartres arranged by Malraux during the sixties. The performance needs eclat from the start, not polite build-ups like this one has. Messiaen was uninterested in sophistication, elegance, or well-tailored playing -- he was writing about the Apocalypse. And I must add that the interruptions for advertising are unforgivable.
oh they are living people would you prefer a dead audience? or would you prefer to listen to atudio music just with headphones ? this is a good alternative. if one needs something else (acoustic, space, a full social experience) has to expect people, coughs and so on. to cough isn't a deliberate disturb (as talking ...) but a function of the body. I've learnt to be tolerant: I'm/have a body, too...
@@luc3064 I am able to think and to articulate a point of view in a language different form my own. What about you and your point of view? I'm waiting for something serious.
@8620marc in english please, I don't understand french - I feel the mood of your answer but am uncertain about its proper meaning.anyway it smells like arrogance
The seating position is indicated in the score, and it is atypical in that it has the clarinets in the same row as the flutes. Also, Messiaen wanted the wind players to be in straight lines, instead of in a semi-circle. That’s why the conductor is standing so far away.