Continue the journey…
We recommend five works to explore after Messiaen’s La Nativité
F foror Messiaen’s take on the other end of Christ’s time on Earth, head L’ascension, arranged by him for organ in 1933. Of the four movements, three are taken directly from the orchestral original. The other, ‘Transports de Joie’, was written specially for the organ version and foreshadows La Nativité’s ‘Dieu parmi nous’ in terms of its thrilling display of virtuosity and raw power. (Tom Winpenny (organ) Naxos 8.573471).
Returning to Christmas, there’s the Six Antiennes pour le temps de Noël, composed in 1951 by one of Messiaen’s former Paris Conservatoire teachers, Marcel Dupré. Though much of the work is of a reflective and restrained disposition, it includes a sparkling toccata in ‘Germinavit radix Jesse’ before we finish off in a Messiaen-like blaze of glory in the closing ‘Lumen ad Revelationem’. (Jeremy Filsell (organ) Guild GMCD7173).
What might Jehan Alain, another of Dupré’s pupils, have gone on to achieve had he not lost his life at just 29 while serving as a dispatch rider in World War II? Though he was best
Dupré’s Six Antiennes pour le temps de Noël finishes off in a blaze of glory
known for his organ music, Alain’s entire works for the instrument can be covered on just a couple of CDS Short masterpieces such as the thundering Litanies and ethereal Le jardin suspendu give a glimpse of a rare talent lost too soon, however. (Kevin Bowyer (organ) Nimbus NI55512). Alain’s death was felt deeply by Maurice Duruflé (of Requiem fame), who paid tribute to his friend in his Prélude et fugue sur le nom d’alain in 1942. The Prélude actually quotes Alain’s Litanies towards the end, while the brilliantly crafted Fugue builds up to a thrilling finale. (Thomas Trotter (organ) King’s College KGS0053).
In 1993, the Lebanese Naji Hakim succeeded Messiaen as organist at the Église de la Sainte-trinité, where he remained in post until 2008. Equally acclaimed as an organist, improviser and composer, Hakim has recorded many of his own works, including 2011’s The Apostles for two organists. Based on woodcuts by Lucas Cranach the Elder, the 13-movement piece’s various inspirations include Lutheran chant. (Naji Hakim, Marie-bernadette Dufourcet (organ) Signum SIGCD389).