seltzer@ucbvax.ARPA (Linda Seltzer) (04/15/85)
Olivier Messiaen is a twentieth century French composer whose works I find very moving. I recommend the following: Et Expectato Resurrectionem Mortuorem Chronochromie Visions de l'Amen (for 2 pianos - listen to the recording by Peter Serkin and Yuji Takahashi) L'Ascencion (for organ) Le Nativite de Seigneur (for organ) Messiaen is a Cholic mystic who developed his own system of harmony and melody, as described in his book, Le Technique de Mon Langage Musical (also translated into English). He uses rhythms derived from the talas of Indian music. His most famous work is: Quatour de la Fin du Temps, a quartet which was written and performed while he was in a Nazi prison camp. Of all Western composers I find his work to be the most beautiful and the most spiritual. L. Seltzer ucbvax!ucbdali!seltzer
edhall@randvax.UUCP (Ed Hall) (04/20/85)
I have to agree with Linda Seltzer about Olivier Messiaen--and I'm neither Catholic nor particularly Christian. His music *is* inspiring and refreshing! I especially recommend ``Visions De L'Amen'', since it is both very accessable and presents a mature development of many of the highly original musical techniques Messiaen developed prior to WW-II: chromatic modes, non-reversable rhythms, birdsong, bell sounds, theme melodies, and so forth. Far from making him stuffy and musically conservative, Messiaen's Catholicism seems to have freed him to use whatever means of expression his imagination invented. Some of his later works can be unaccessable for most people; he was probably the first composer to use serial methods for all aspects of a piece (i.e. duration, loudness, and timbre as well as pitch), and even his non-serial works can get thick-textured. However, like many modern composers, after the 1950's his style began to ``open up'' again. Along with ``Et Expectato Resurrectionem Mortuorem'', I also recommend ``La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ'', a large-scale work for chorus and orchestra. WARNING: Messiaen is not for everyone. Igor Stravinsky said that Messiaen's music belonged on ``the slag heap of art'', while Elliott Carter said that he was ``vastly overrated, boring, and vulgar.'' His music can sound incredibly naive, like a C-major chord amongst chromatic dissonance. It takes an open mind, the ability to suppress musical preconceptions. ``Sophisticates'' beware! -Ed Hall randvax!decvax