Stephen_Murray's Full Review: Messiaen: Complete Organ Music Vol 5 / Hans-Ola Er...
The fifth disc (of six) of Swedish organist Hans-Ola Ericsson's Complete Organ Music of Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) has extensive liner notes on the theology of "Meditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité," but oddly they do not mention the date of composition (1969). Messiaen mixed what he claimed were "transcriptions" of bird songs to keyboards for decades, worked in bits of Gregorian chant, and adapted ancient Greek and Hindu rhythms as early as the 1930s, so it is not at all easy to identify when a Messiaen organ piece was written. (It also doesn't help that "le mystère de la Sainte Trinité" is also a movement (the final one) of "Les Corps glorieux" (from 1939). And Messiaen was organist at the Paris church Sainte-Trinité from 1931 into the 1990s.)
In contrast, it is easy to recognize "That must be Messiaen" with the juxtaposition of mysterious meditative segments with brutal loud dissonances (whether all the organ stops are literally out or not, the sound can be assaultive). A might engine is Messiaen's organ, though it can also be extraordinarily lyrical and even radiant. The fervent mystical Catholic composer was little interested in sin and punishment, so I'm not entirely sure what some of the heavy and frightening sounds are supposed to be.
Liner-not writer Anders Ekenberg dutifully passes on some of Messiaen's analysis of his musical language (there is even an illustration of the (row of) notes that are the "name of God" for Messiaen. Just as bird songs in transcription are elaborated, the "name of God" theme is seventeen notes long (though about half the duration is C-sharp). Also, it is markedly syncopated. There is also a figure with the Messiaen alphabet. A through G are conventional except that "B" is b-flat. Why is "Y" F-sharp? Why are "K, P, Q, T, U" and "Z" in the bass clef (E-natural)?
Messiaen's language of sound (which is also color coded, BTW) is not non-verbal (the notes for the verbs 'ser" and "avoir" are also shown).
In "Meditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité" Messiaen spells out Biblical texts, including the burning bush's "I am who I am" (Exodus 3:14) and passages from St. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae> I had to laugh at Ekenberg's understatement "These are perhaps not easily accessible for the listener" (perhaps?!)
The "program" is inaudible to me and I'd bet even to those whose minds register what note they are hearing and can remember Messiaen's mapping of notes to letters.
Of course, much modernist music (Berg springs to mind) has textual meanings for those looking at the score. And Messiaen music often has chords, not a string of notes.
I prefer to let the sound wash over me. Sometimes I can drift with it (especially in the eighth meditation). Sometimes it jolts me. The opening of the piece is urgent and sounds not just mysterious to me but slightly sinister. (Why can't I impose my own associations to the sounds I hear?) The opening of the second movement gives me creeps as I can remember some Scriabin doing once when I was stoned (years ago).
According to Messiaen, the fourth meditation is entirely based on texts from Exodus. On my own, I would not have heard this in a thousand listenings. Even having Messiaen's guidance, the music does not evoke Exodus to me (a book I have read!). It seems to me to have tentative figuration and no overall movement.
I couldn't even tell you which aspect of the Trinity was being evoked at any particular juncture. Instead of trying to decode Messiaen's language and theology, I prefer to let the music wash over me and astound me. I do have favorites among the nine meditations (of course, the number of movements has to be divisible by three!): the soft seventh and eighth ones. (The strident opening of the ninth wakes up anyone who has drifted off into too deep a reverie! The ending of the whole piece lacks the drama of the opening of either the piece or of its last movement: indeed, it is barely audible.)
The piece is not among those of which I have recordings of Messiaen himself playing, but Hans-Ola Ericsson communed in person with Messiaen and recorded the piece on the sonorous Grönlund organ of the Lulea Cathedral in Sweden.
Tracks and Timings
Meditation no I 9:05
Meditation no II 11:53
Meditation no III 2:20
Meditation no IV 6:25
Meditation no V 11:24
Meditation no VI 8:59
Meditation no VII 6:49
Meditation no VIII 11:17
Meditation no IX 10:09
Total: 1.18:21
I have also grappled with Messiaen's orchestral epic (for the US bicentennial no less!) Des canyons aux étoiles. I highly recommend the documentary on Messiaen, The Crystal Liturgy. In addition to being another attempt to write about Messiaen during his centennial year, this is manifestly a French find.
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