Messiaen Vision de L'Amen
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Olivier Messiaen
Label: EMI
Magazine Review Date: 12/1990
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 48
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: 754050-2
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Visions de l'Amen |
Olivier Messiaen, Composer
Alexandre Rabinovitch, Piano Martha Argerich, Piano Olivier Messiaen, Composer |
Author:
I wrote of the Lonskov/Llambias Visions de l'Amen (Kontrapunkt/Harmonia Mundi) that it was ''very much better than a stopgap''. But a stopgap is what it has proved to be, since Argerich and Rabinovitch are a class above them in pianistic terms. They bring to this exalted seven-movement cycle all the meticulous care and devotional inwardness it demands, plus a degree of virtuosic freedom which helps lift the listener towards its visionary heights. I have a small reservation about the recording and a couple of quibbles over interpretative detail, but otherwise this is an outstandingly fine issue.
Does it seem doubtful that an Argentinian with a reputation for hot-headedness and a Russian better known as a composer should be able to find their way into the contemplative world of French Catholic mysticism? Well, it's true that there is a Lisztian bravura to the playing and a Stravinskian rhythmic sharpness—but those are precisely the sources of Messiaen's piano style anyway (even more so than the French impressionists I would say). And as the first performer in the Soviet Union of Messiaen'sVingt regards sur l'enfant Jesus, Rabinovitch certainly has impressive credentials (since 1974 he has made his home in France anyway).
The main thing is that the music should take the breath away. And this is just what Argerich and Rabinovitch achieve, whether by exquisite colouring of chords and lines, or by acutely responsive pedalling, or by sheer brilliance of articulation. The long solos for piano 2 are right inside the Messiaen idiom—the beginning of the second piece, ''Amen des etoiles'', shows exactly what he means by solide et decide, and the middle section of the following ''Amen de l'agonie de Jesus'' is the epitome ofdouloureux, en pleurant. The notoriously problematic unison passages, as in No. 5, ''Amen des anges'', are just as convincingly handled. Rather than aiming for absolute synchronization and tonal matching Argerich and Rabinovitch allow one or the other instrument to lead, where appropriate with soloistic rhythmic freedom; the result is far more exciting and hardly less accurate than a more mechanically precise approach.
The quibbles I mentioned are with the pacing of the accumulation in the first piece, ''Amen de la creation'', whose overall crescendo happens prematurely, in part because piano 1 disregards the explicit instruction to underplay the marked accents; and with the long central movement, ''Amen du desir'', where the voicing of the melody in piano 2 should surely be in the 'alto' (the right-hand thumb) throughout the first four bars (the first 52 seconds of the piece and again from 4'38'')—the confusion of the line at 5'04'', where the ear is momentarily drawn to piano 1, could thus have been avoided. A tiny split on the last chord should surely have been repaired.
More than these things I would have liked a slightly closer recording, to enable passages like the cosmic celebration of the final ''Amen de la consommation'' to be more cataclysmic. But the sound is good enough, and if you have been looking for a recorded version of this work that does full justice to its visionary content, this is surely it.'
Does it seem doubtful that an Argentinian with a reputation for hot-headedness and a Russian better known as a composer should be able to find their way into the contemplative world of French Catholic mysticism? Well, it's true that there is a Lisztian bravura to the playing and a Stravinskian rhythmic sharpness—but those are precisely the sources of Messiaen's piano style anyway (even more so than the French impressionists I would say). And as the first performer in the Soviet Union of Messiaen's
The main thing is that the music should take the breath away. And this is just what Argerich and Rabinovitch achieve, whether by exquisite colouring of chords and lines, or by acutely responsive pedalling, or by sheer brilliance of articulation. The long solos for piano 2 are right inside the Messiaen idiom—the beginning of the second piece, ''Amen des etoiles'', shows exactly what he means by solide et decide, and the middle section of the following ''Amen de l'agonie de Jesus'' is the epitome of
The quibbles I mentioned are with the pacing of the accumulation in the first piece, ''Amen de la creation'', whose overall crescendo happens prematurely, in part because piano 1 disregards the explicit instruction to underplay the marked accents; and with the long central movement, ''Amen du desir'', where the voicing of the melody in piano 2 should surely be in the 'alto' (the right-hand thumb) throughout the first four bars (the first 52 seconds of the piece and again from 4'38'')—the confusion of the line at 5'04'', where the ear is momentarily drawn to piano 1, could thus have been avoided. A tiny split on the last chord should surely have been repaired.
More than these things I would have liked a slightly closer recording, to enable passages like the cosmic celebration of the final ''Amen de la consommation'' to be more cataclysmic. But the sound is good enough, and if you have been looking for a recorded version of this work that does full justice to its visionary content, this is surely it.'
Messiaen Vision de L'Amen
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