Messiaen and the Piano

04/02/08, Royal Academy of Music, London

The sound is silvery, pearly, rapid, and full of enthusiasm, passion with warm-hearted nature.

Inside Duke Hall, Royal Academy of Music, London, young talented pianists once again brought the masterpieces to our music lovers. Their delicate and profound performance evokes the beautiful memory of Olivier Messiaen, the greatest twentieth-century French composer, in his centenary year.

Bird Sound

The 1st half of the recital is fully contributed by Messiaen’s astonishing way of composing and conveying his music – the bird sound.

In 1948, the newspaper France-Soir published an interview in which Messiaen was asked to describe the greatest influences on his work. He said, the bird.

Bird sound, through this fresh materials, through the non-distance touch of different birds species, through his openness towards music, he creates and conceives the real atmosphere of our nature, including most of the natural sound, La Bouscarle & La courlis cendre. The prominent piano work performed by Japanese pianist Yurie Miura:

In south-west of France, a foggy morning bemists the attractive and charming countryside, suddenly, wren’s silvery and rapid sound breaks the quietness and softness of the whole environment, gradually people can hear the golden oriole, like a very large flute, almost a horn; then the crow, raucous, powerful, sneering and sarcastic…However, all of the musical elements unexpected stopped in one second…Yurie’s fingers, remained in the air…

Such a rhythmic piece conveys Messaen’s new concept of timing, birds’ sound appearing differently, the stop between various musical elements (river sound, wind sound etc) all indicate his new way of organising and conceiving time, which opened the door for another generation of composers.

Two Pianos

After interval, Visioins de I’Amen for two pianos, performed by a UK-based Chinese pianist Bingbing Li, and an Italian pianist Mariangela Vacatello.

The richness of this work is concentrating on the harmonious cooperation, and sharp confrontation between two pianos, the musicianship of individual pianist brings her own understanding of Messane into the vast meaningful piece, where the first piano plays the complex and powerful music texture, over the chorale provided by the second piano.

Interestingly, Bingbing Li’s delicate and sensitive musicianship (second piano), combined with Mariangela Vacatello’s straightforward and “free soul” performing style (first piano), conveys incisively and vividly Messiaen’s deep emotion of this work – suffering, pain, conflicts, together with cheerfulness, and cherished wishes.

The work was composed for Yvonne Loriod, Messiaen’s future wife, one of his most outstanding piano students. In that period, Messiaen had just returned from the war camp from Germany, 1943. His first wife, the violinist Claire Delbos, hospitalised due to mental illness, and it was these circumstances that heavily influenced Messiaen’s Vision de I’Amen .

It was a lovely evening, filled with composer’s life-long experience, and performers’ imagination. For our audience, besides enjoying beautiful piano music, most probably are the nostalgias towards this greatest French composer -- Olivier Messiaen.