This CD features the first release of performances of short works by Messiaen, all of them rarities, except for Le merle noir. Messiaen wrote La morte du nombre for soprano, tenor, violin, and piano in 1929 while he was a student at the Paris Conservatory. It's possible to trace its lineage back through Debussy's Le Martyre de St. Sébastien to Tristan, but in its melodic, harmonic, and gestural language, it is still very clearly a work of Messiaen's and couldn't possibly be attributed to anyone else. It's a serene, gorgeous ...
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This CD features the first release of performances of short works by Messiaen, all of them rarities, except for Le merle noir. Messiaen wrote La morte du nombre for soprano, tenor, violin, and piano in 1929 while he was a student at the Paris Conservatory. It's possible to trace its lineage back through Debussy's Le Martyre de St. Sébastien to Tristan, but in its melodic, harmonic, and gestural language, it is still very clearly a work of Messiaen's and couldn't possibly be attributed to anyone else. It's a serene, gorgeous, sensuous piece that deserves to be more widely known. Offrande au Saint Sacrament, for organ, is undated, but probably written soon after La morte du nombre in a similar mood of quiet radiance. It's typical of the style of the composer's organ works of the early '30s -- harmonically and melodically rich, emotionally warm, and rhythmically irregular. Quatre Inédits for Ondes Martenot and piano sound like absolutely nothing else in the world. Messiaen regularly used the early...
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