Search - Messiaen, Bowers-Broadbent :: Meditations Sur Le Mystere De La Sainte Trinite

Pretty Darn Good recording...

Royal | TN | 02/10/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"of a pretty darn good piece. Honestly, I felt the Holy Spirit. And if you can feel the spirit while listening to the recording, you will at least feel the sound waves blowing your hair off in the more powerful sections of the piece. This is truly a powerful, complex, interesting work. As in all Messiaen, there are moments of sweet repose along with huge sounds of cascading colour. In pieces which announce the reality of God as the "I AM", you know for sure that He IS. I will go as far as to say that I have never heard anything more powerfully loud in Messiaen than as I heard in this piece.But alas, I could only give the recording a 4. They recorded, it seems, this piece on a German organ, which is less that sacrosanct. The bird songs were not quick enough (could be the organist or the composer.) The "fading away horn" sections didn't sound like they were fading away at all. And I dont know how this communicable language idea works musically. It doesn't really seem to to me. But this is still a great piece. Probably the most Modern that has ever proceeded from the pen of messiaen. He does show that for certain God exists. But through the song of the Yellowhammer (a bird, ) he explains the fact we are separated from him by the fall. Not the usuall Hymn's of Joy coming from his pen. In fact, in each of the Joyful sections, this birdcall is used to sort of smash it. The theme of this piece is all the attributes of God, including the fact that through Original sin, he is separated from us. A very different work of Messaien and highly reccomended for all fans of the composer."