The Vingt regards are no longer the rarity they were up to about 1970, and pianists are no longer daunted by their masses of notes. Teenagers, albeit rather special ones, have played them from memory, and there have been at least four recordings on LP. However, there is no separate version of the Vingt regards in the current CD catalogue and Malcolm Troup's performances are delivered cleanly (still no mean achievement in itself) and with passion, whilst the Continuum recording is realistic and full blooded. If you want to hear these wonderful ''Contemplations'', so Lisztian in their pianism and aesthetic (see Harmonies poetiques et religeuses), and if you cannot wait for Beroff or Ogdon to be re-released, or Loriod to be separated from Erato's 17-CD set ( EC 71580, 4/89), or prospective recordings by Donohoe or Hill to mat rialize you will derive much pleasure from this issue.
Why the ifs? I suppose my recent encounter with the Loriod recordings is partly to blame, but I have two serious reservations, perhaps interconnected, about Malcolm Troup's playing. One is to do with rhythm and tempo. There is a fair amount of rubato which seems to me misplaced and a falr number of rhythms are simply wrong. I don't mean metronomic values, in respect of which massive discrepancies apparently have the composer's sanction. I mean pieces like No. 14, the ''Regard es Anges'', where the impetus slackens for no good reason in the rhythmic canon sections and where the last page is in a fairly exact 2/4 where it should be 2/8 plus 3/16. Additive rhythms such as these are crucial to the Messiaen idiom and a certain rhythmic stability, even rigidity, is the very backbone of his musical constructions. Perversely, when a specific rubato is asked for, as at the climax of ''Regard de l'esprit de joie'', Tr up plays it straight.
The other reservation is to do with tone. The instrument has a rather plush top register. In some repertoire this would be a boon. Here it creates problems, particularly because Troup has a tendency to neglect top-note balance. The result is that many chords lack shine they have the quality of amplified flutes where incisive reeds are called for—and passages like the final apotheosis of the Theme de dieu in ''Regard de l'eglise d'amour'' are robbed of their essential quality of elevation.
I said that these reservations are possibly interconnected. That is because Troup's obvious desire to make the music live, which I applaud wholeheartedly has I believe, led him to the wrong kind of flexibility—rhythmic rather than colouristic. And I feel that his circumspection in the most virtuosic movements, such as Nos. 6 and 10, and in what should be the roller coaster effect of some of Messiaen's ''agrandisements asymetriques'' is simply a reflection of technical limitations.
Accordingly it is only as a stopgap that I can really recommend this issue. The clarity of the recording is a bonus, showing up plenty of rough edges on Erato's for Loriod by comparison; it also picks up the unwelcome extraneous noises of page-turning, soft-pedal-creaking, and heavy breathing not justified by the excitement of the piano playing.'