Messiaen: Des Canyons aux Etoiles; Oiseaux Exotiques; Couleurs de la Cité Celeste

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
"From the canyons to the stars" is Olivier Messiaen's musical vision of the sights and sounds (birdcalls in particular) of the American West. If you've ever been to Zion National Park or Bryce Canyon, then this musical travelogue will certainly stimulate your memory. Messiaen's musical language in all of these works is unique. You won't find conventional melody or harmony, but it is colorful and consistent, and he's just as likely to use lovely, consonant harmonies as nasty dissonant ones. Once you understand that the purpose of his music is almost purely descriptive, your own imagination takes over and it becomes fascinating and enjoyable--which is a good description of these fine performances. --David Hurwitz

Messiaen: Des Canyons aux Etoiles; Oiseaux Exotiques; Couleurs de la Cité Celeste, Music, Olivier Messiaen, Michael Thompson, London Sinfonietta, Paul Crossley, Chamber, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Concerto, Multiple String Instruments with Keyboard/Continuo, Piano Concerto

Olivier Messiaen: Des Canyons aux Etoiles; Oiseaux Exotiques; Couleurs de la Cité Celeste
Average customer rating:

Music of brilliant colour and contemplative beauty

beauty ¤ lies not in scale passages

Perhaps I Just Don't Get It

XYLOPHONE PART!?!?!?!

Olivier Messiaen: Des Canyons aux Etoiles; Oiseaux Exotiques; Couleurs de la Cité Celeste

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000026OW
Release Date: 1989-06-23

Tracks:

From The Canyons To The Stars: Part I: I. The Desert
From The Canyons To The Stars: Part I: II. The Orioles
From The Canyons To The Stars: Part I: III. What Is Written In The Stars
From The Canyons To The Stars: Part I: IV. The White-Browed Robin
From The Canyons To The Stars: Part I: V. Cedar Breaks And The Gift Of Awe
From The Canyons To The Stars: Part II: VI. Interstellar Call
From The Canyons To The Stars: Part II: VII. Bryce Canyon And The Red-Orange Rocks
From The Canyons To The Stars: Part III: VIII. The Resurrected And The Song Of The Star Aldebaran
From The Canyons To The Stars: Part III: The Mockingbird

Tracks:

From The Canyons To The Stars: Part III: X. The Wood-Thrush
From The Canyons To The Stars: Part III: XI. Omao, Leiothrix, Elepaio, Shama
From The Canyons To The Stars: Part III: XII. Zion Park And The Celestial City
Exotic Birds For Piano Solo And Small Orchestra
Colors Of The Celestial City

Amazon.com

"From the canyons to the stars" is Olivier Messiaen's musical vision of the sights and sounds (birdcalls in particular) of the American West. If you've ever been to Zion National Park or Bryce Canyon, then this musical travelogue will certainly stimulate your memory. Messiaen's musical language in all of these works is unique. You won't find conventional melody or harmony, but it is colorful and consistent, and he's just as likely to use lovely, consonant harmonies as nasty dissonant ones. Once you understand that the purpose of his music is almost purely descriptive, your own imagination takes over and it becomes fascinating and enjoyable--which is a good description of these fine performances. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Music of brilliant colour and contemplative beauty.......2003-09-17

Valuable compilation, with Messiaen's late(well, later) masterpiece, the longest piece for piano and orchestra in the orchestral repertoire the main work, and the shorter, but no less excellent OISEAUX EXOTIQUES and COULEURS DE LA CITE CELESTE. CANYONS is one of the composers most unusual scores (and that's saying a lot!) with its part for wind machine, its piano part of rushes of birdsong, and the weird effects on the cellos in movement no.5 jst some of the highlights. OISEAUX is one of Messiaen's most succesful 'birdsong pieces', in which he invented an almost entirely new musical language, alternating blocks of transcribed birdsong. COULEURS is all glittering colours, with the virtuosic tinklings of piano, xylophones and percussion contrasted or should that be complemented with rich brass chords and the sound of 3 clarinets.

The performance comes out as just a little too clinical and polished, bringing out the percussive twang to the music better than the richly contemplative moments, but it is still very good.

PS-This excellent release has recently been re-issued as part of Sony's Essential Classics series at a bargain price. The presentation is completely adequarte, with Paul Crossley's marvellous notes, and at £9.99 for 2 CDs, it's a must buy.

beauty ¤ lies not in scale passages.......2000-08-06

Des Canyons is a beautiful & transcendently absorbing score, one which is emerging as the archetype in Messiaen's canon -- his best & best-loved. Leave the notoriously difficult score on the shelf and listen. This, its only available recording until recently, is wonderfully recorded and lovingly executed. May not appeal to all sensibilities, but I can't help believing that anyone with affinity for the beauties of nature will feel rewarded tuning their ears towards Messiaen's landscapes.

Perhaps I Just Don't Get It.......2000-03-19

I'm a recent convert to classical music, and when a glowing article about for Olivier Messiaen appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, I decided to give it a whirl. I feel I'm out the money I paid. The notes seem randomly thrown together, and the "exotic birds" sound like no kind of bird I've heard. The clamor of notes is disconcerting and unharmonious, and the audio effects (some kind of wind machine used to simulate canyon breezes comes to mind) seem contrived and only more distracting. Nor am I alone in this position: my girlfriend Sarah, a classical flutist and pianist, agrees that the "music" is unmusical and the supposed birds aren't there to be heard. Perhaps she and I just don't get it. And perhaps it's just not there to be gotten.

XYLOPHONE PART!?!?!?!.......1999-08-21

If you are buying this cd set to study Exotic Birds, save your money!! The xylophone player is off for a good 15 measures in the middle section. This makes it very difficult to listen to with a score!

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