Search - Messiaen :: Rarissimes

Valuable reissues of early Messiaen recordings, aimed at the

Discophage | France | 11/15/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Rarissimes" indeed: extremely rare, if not "Introuvables" (the title of EMI France's other collection of reissues of old and rare recordings), impossible to find. Amazon's labelling is less than informative and so unspecific that it might lead you, if you are a bit cognizant of Messiaen's discography, to think that these recordings are other than what they actually are, and, more objectionable, the production info given in the booklet is sometimes confusing. In a collection like this one devoted to reissues of historical recordings and aimed at collectors, it should really be more detailed and accurate. So what we get is:



1. NOT the later and stereo Erato recording of Trois Petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine by Marcel Couraud with the Maîtrise and Orchestre de Chambre de l'ORTF from 1964 (Messiaen: Trois Petites Liturgies De La Presence Divine, etc. / Couraud, Loriod, et al), but an earlier Couraud-conducted version, already with the two Loriod sisters but here the Ensemble Vocal Marcel Couraud and Orchestre de Chambre André Girard. It was recorded in November 1954, "in the presence of the composer" (said the original LP, a 10"/25 cm Ducretet-Thomson 270.C-075). Not the premiere recording - that was made by Roger Désormière in 1945 for Pathé and has been reissued on a now hard-to-find Dante Lys CD (La Voyante / Cto Pour Piano Et Orchestre) - but the second.



2. Les Offrandes oubliées by Orchestre de l'Association des Concerts Pierné conducted by Roger Desormière, recorded in Paris, December 8 1942 and first published on 78rmps by l'Association Française d'Action Artistique.



3. Two excerpts from Vingt Regards (No. 5 Regards de l'esprit de joie and No. 15 Le baiser de l'enfant Jésus) and three from the early Preludes (No. 1 La Colombe, No. 3 Le nombre léger and No. 5 Les sons impalpables du rêve) recorded by Yvonne Loriod in 1946 and 1947 for Pathé (PDT 170/113 and PDT 132). The disc's production notes are confusing here about the dates and haven't been carefully proofread.



4. NOT the Vega recordings of Visions de l'Amen made by Loriod and Messiaen in 1962 (reissued on CD by Adès Olivier Messiaen:Visions De L'Amen/Cantéyodjayâ and Accord Messiaen-Visions de l'Amen Pour 2 Pianos-Yvonne Lo), but the actual premiere recording, presumably made in 1949 and first published on 78rpms on the small French label Contrepoint C0-6. The disc's production notes do not give a recording date here, I wonder why. To the best of my knowledge these were never reissued on LP. Contrary to what is indicated on the set's back cover (boasting all premiere CD releases), there has been an earlier CD reissue on the semi-private label FMR CD 120-L0403.



5. The recording of Quatre Etudes de Rhythme made on May 31, 1951 by the composer himself under the patronage of UNESCO and (as startling as it may seem given the vintage) published on 78rpms, Columbia LFX-998-9. As far as I am aware they were never reissued on LP, but they were reissued on the same FMR disc mentioned above. Rarissimes presents them in the wrong order: though published separately, Messiaen specified that he wanted them played in the following order: Ile de feu 1, Mode de valeurs et d'intensités, Neumes rythmiques, Ile de feu 2.



The sonics show their age and 78rmp origins. In the piano pieces (especially Visions and Etudes) they are distant and the constant background noise of the original surfaces can be heard. Even when played by the composer and/or his wife, these are not either the last interpretive word on the pieces, far from it. It is illuminating to compare this recording of Visions de l'Amen to the one made by the same Loriod and Messiaen thirteen years later. It is not just the radical sonic improvement brought by stereo (no small consideration in music based so much on color, resonance, space). The first, slow moving, cosmic "Amen of Creation" is very significant: 3:57 in 1951, 4:30 in 1962. One senses that in the later recording the interpreters have the music in their stride, and can now let it fully breathe and unfold (the time limitation of a 78rmp side probably also brought the unconscious pressure to press). The fast ones have more snap as well as clarity. And even Messiaen and Loriod in 1962 may not be the last word. This cycle (as well as Vingt Regards) has inspired many pianists, starting with the Labèque sisters (Erato, Olivier Messiaen: Visions de l'Amen/Les Offrandes Oubliees/Hymne) and Peter Serkin-Yuji Takahashi in the 1970s (Messiaen: Visions de l'Amen). The same comments apply generally to the other piano pieces. While the third Prelude may be played here by Loriod with more dreamy poetry than on her 1968 Erato remake (Oliver Messiaen : Petites Esquisses D'Oiseaux / Huit Preludes / Quatre Etudes), "Regard de l'esprit de joie", the 10th from Vingt Regards has an extra muscularity and jazzy bounce with her in 1973 (Olivier Messiaen: Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus). But I do like the more flowing lilt adopted in "Le baiser de l'enfant Jésus" (Regard 15) in 1946 (compare its 8:25 to Loriod's 10:38 in 1956, Premiers Enregistrements 1956-1962 and 10:16 in '73). As for the Etudes de rythme, Loriod in '68 plays with more muscle and clarity, but Messiaen in 1951, if not as tidy, is still at times irresistibly wild, and is testimony is simply invaluable.



On the other hand Couraud's Liturgies is nearly as good as, and in fact strikingly similar to his later recording, although the soprano voices have marginally less purity. But again, though the remastering here is quite good, offering vivid and present sound, very percussive at times, with a touch of pre-echo, the sound is no match for the 1964 stereo of the remake, which remains THE reference recording of "Liturgies" - the subsequent ones by Nagano and Chung notwithstanding.



So this is not a set for the casual Messiaen listener. Even if he should want composer-performed or supervised versions, he should go to the Vega/Adès recording of Visions, and to Loriod's Vingt Regards and Couraud's Liturgies on Erato. But, containing as it does some of the earliest Messiaen recordings, this is of course an indispensable building block of any serious Messiaen collection.



As I write this item has NOT been discontinued by EMI-France and you can find it pretty cheap (even postage included) on the French sister company.

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