Messiaen's "Colors of The Celestial City"

Hello guys
I am uploading Messiaen's "Colors Of The Celestial City" for Wind Ensemble and Piano solo.
I recorded this live on November 18th 2004 with the University Of Kansas Wind Ensemble under the direction of Professo John Lynch.
I talked to Professor Lynch and you are authorized to post it on the site
Professor Lynch's bio can be found at http://www.kuband.org/faculty/lynch.shtml

Coulours de la Cite Celeste

 

Downloading! Will for sure be interesting to listen to.

 

Avguste, excuse my ignorance - I listened to the music, and I am sure it is of high technical standard, the brass orchestra and your piano playing.

It is only so that I am not used to those modern music. Even with good will it is not possible for little poor me to find the necessary beauty in the harmony to enjoy. :cry:

That's why I cannot comment something useful beside that I found that the orchestra and you are always very well together (rhythm wise). The harmony however sounds so strange to me that I fear that I cannot recognize if you would hit the wrong or correct notes. Maybe if it would sound lovely to me, than you probably hit wrong notes - because that seemed not to be the goal of the componist. Since nothing sounded really lovely to me, you probably took the correct notes. Ok, ok, I better shut up here ... :roll:

 

Actually,the piece itself is complete mess to prepare.
It changes from 3/8 to 5/16 to 7/8 and what not.
It was quite difficult to put together because of the huge change of rhythmes and beats.
Your comments are just fine,because that means we did our job

 

I had not problem at all to enjoy this performance. It was tight and the entire orchestra, including you at the piano, are doing a very good job. The only thing I miss is that I cannot see the performance .

Oliver Messiaen's music (french organ player from the beginning) is a combination of mysticism, romanticism and impressionism. This composition is very much a percussion performance where the piano is used more as a percussion than a string instrument. I have no problems hosting this on the site if we are granted the permission as you said we are.

 

Thank you for the compliments.
It was for sure a very exciting performance.
As far as permissions,you go them
Professor Lynch is aware of the site and I talked to him in person yesterday.
This recording was made at the University of Kansas because all of the concerts are recorded.Then students can order copies
And again,like I said,Professor Lynch,who is the head of the Band department at the University of Kansas has given permission.I do too

 

Hm... this is not the most endearing of Messiaen's music. But I have a difficult relationship with it at best. I greatly appreciate the Catalog and Regards cycles, and especially the early Preludes (which, admittedly, are not 'typical' Messiaen but more post-Ravel), but find it impossible to warm to the insistent wailing of the Turangalila symphony or the screeching pointillistic noises of this particular piece. It must be more fun to play it than to listen to, and an enormous challenge for a performer, especially the metric and rhythmic problems Messiaen throws at you. My deep admiration for anyone who brings off a piece like this ! You do a great job, as far as I can judge it (I must admit I have not listened until the end, it got on my nerves a bit.... )

 

You are not the only one.It got on our nerves too.We had to count non-stop and we had more than enough of it by the end.
However,our hard work payed and it was a success.
Any problems adding it to the site?

 

No problems. Just me being a bit slow but now it is up!

 

I love that! (I've been on a modernistic bent lately.) It must've been quite a beast to tame. I always like it when I see musicians performing something not easily accepted as "normal music" by the public. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin are still de rigueur, of course! However, I strongly believe we must effort to bring to attention music that pushes the boundary of artistic meaning. I don't know nearly enough about this Messiaen piece to make an erudite comment. The performance seemed 'tight', as Robert put it. Both you and the orchestra seemed in control and were very convincing, both technically and artistically. If a video exists, I would love to see it. Nicely done!

Pete

 

Thank you for the compliments.
I am sorry to say that we didn't do any video recordings as far as I know