Olivier Messiaen-The Eyes in the Wheels (from Organ Book)

[zippylad77]

This is the slowest rendition of this piece that I've heard , and yet it still sounds incredible! In fact I think I actually prefer it at this tempo!

[organboi]

@zippylad77 Thanks ZippyLad! I came to this piece without ever hearing any recording or performance of it. I went with my gut feeling. I LOVE this tempo because its ominous and sounds like wheels moving, and you hear the pitches. I'm not sure what Messiaen had in mind, so perhaps I'm totally off. This was also just two months after I started it, so I couldn't really get much faster! I'll be working on a slightly faster tempo soon. I appreciate your comment very much. It made my day!

[zippylad77]

@organboi I'm glad because you deserve it :-) Yes I agree with you that the slower tempo is definitely more evocative of moving wheels! If you heard Dame Gillian Weir playing it, you'd be thinking more along the lines of "Fast and furious". I bought my copy of the Messiaen livre d'orgue a while back and I'm actually intimidated at looking at the score to this! I might attempt it one day, but I think in the meantime I'll be sticking with the easier chants d'oiseaux. Best wishes!

[maurifleischmann]

Thanks so much for sharing this!

[bttq2788]

Amazing !! this video is very good !!

[vleermuisje2]

Subliem!

Zowel video als orgelspel.

[organboi]

@vleermuisje2 Thank you, my friend!

[sieracki001]

Ever thought of doing a video performance of Ligeti's Volumina? That is truly terrifying and I have had "new ears" for years. By the way I play this video a lot - I appreciate the slower than usual pace as I really like to hear the piece and savor each note.

[organboi]

@sieracki001 Thank you for your very kind comment. I will look into the Ligeti. And I will soon have a faster tempo of Eyes. I just learned it at the time of the recording. I also like the slower tempo because you can hear the notes. You're exactly right. Thanks again!!

[Sesquiltera]

@TheNiceNightmare This piece illustrates the biblical story of Ezekiel seeing a furiously whirling wheel covered wiith eyes, hence the speed. I do have to say that I heared versions of it played twice as fast.

[clarkewi]

@TheNiceNightmare I sure feel the evil.

[TheNiceNightmare]

@organboi Fair enough. Wasn't certain, but I figured you might be the composer. Guess I had that part all wrong.

[PolkRidgeAesthete]

@organboi---Yes, thanks, I would like to see your fingered score sometime. Watching it performed confirms every expectation of difficulty I had entertained. Glad you like my descriptions! I live by words as much as by music and painting...David

[PolkRidgeAesthete]

@organboi---You're certainly on a magnificent track with this piece! And I like your association with "gears and wheels." It seems to me that, among other things, Messiaen decided to write the all-time toccata of horror, awe and mayhem with this. Your post guarantees that I will acquire the score for study in the near future, for I'm sure I have a few things to learn from his precise choices here.

[organboi]

@PolkRidgeAesthete If you ever would like to see my score with fingerings, I could arrange that. If you attempt to use the insane fingerings in the score, the piece will fail completely. I'm not sure where those fingerings came from, but they are criminally bad. It took awhile to learn this. I spent one week per page and there are 6 pages. Then I added pedals afterwards and spent another 8 weeks getting it to flow. I love your description, "all-time toccata of horror, awe, and mayhem!!" Perfect!

[PolkRidgeAesthete]

Shell-shockingly glorious! What a piece and what a video! And I rather like the tempo, too, agreeing that it heightens the malevolence.---David Thomas Roberts

[organboi]

@PolkRidgeAesthete Thanks David! I one day had an inclination to play the piece slower than the "norm." And it's not necessarily easier slower. I enjoy hearing the intervals, rather than have everything fly by. I would like to pick up the temp just a tad when I get around to playing this piece again. I've started reworking on it recently, and hope to have a new soundtrack soon! Thanks for also thinking it heightens the malevolence. The piece always sounded like gears and wheels to me.

[Sesquiltera]

This is played rather slow.

[lorbo77]

geniale!!!!

[organboi]

@lorbo77 Merci mon ami! Il était un compositeur de génie.

[lorbo77]

@organboi si, anche le immagini!! oui, aussi les images!!

[OrbiliusMagister]

This is the proof that there's no need of drugs to push the extent of spiritual vision to places hardly bearable by human souls. Messiaen was etymologically catholic: he didn't deny anything from what God inspired him through scriptures to hear and transcribe in music.

[karoloandria]

can you upload more from the organ book?

[codeman2008]

I actually like it at this tempo, I prefer it to many of the faster performances I've heard. Well played!

[organboi]

codeman, i like the tempo too because it sounds grinding and ominous and you can hear the individual pitches better. but i am about to re-record the piece with a faster tempo just to say i did so.  :)

[ludwigvan17]

What is that picture of the church/tank from?  I need that.

[StreamConsciousness]

Fantastic

[manhattanchickie]

You are simply brilliant!!!

[organboi]

thanks "messjuh1". i need to practice the piece more to get the kinks out and to get it slightly faster. i don't like to too fast like some of the performances i have heard, because it loses its weighty character. when i recorded this it was basically new to me, and now i should perfect it, but where is the time for all of this great music to be learned!? thanks again for your comment!

[Messjuh1]

This is really beautifully played, Darren. And the images go very well with the message of the music.

[passacaglia28]

Very trippy! This is quite an explosion of awesome weirdness.

[LJBSasha]

Beautiful playing of a truly "wildly fantastic piece!!" A lovely performance!

As to the images, not bad; however, they don't match the music, and some of them are plain mundane! Instead of some of those skulls, it seems to me that a contemplation (one or more images) of Raffaele Sanzio's painting of Ezekiel's vision (which is the inspiration for this piece too!) would have been more appropriate!

[organboi]

thank you but i don't agree that Rafael's painting is appropriate. i wanted all modern paintings and photos to go with the time period of Messiaen. What you are mainly seeing in this video are images of wheels and gears, and eyes. that's basically it. i didn't want to have too many "themes" because it's only two minutes long. i don't think any of the artwork, except maybe one or two, could be called mundane, as you say.

[MilaMa57]

a idź ty...

[markvking]

What a wildly fantastic piece! I love his compositions for the Nativity and the Ascension, but hearing this for the first time. Love it! What a sound, what a mind!

[pluto69]

This is truly amazing to hear.. I would have loved to hear Virgil Fox play this in his prime before he got sick....

[pluto69]

I would have paid to see and hear Virgil Fox play this!!! Just incredible to hear!!

[biegel88]

Fantastic playing--images well selected--great collaborative video!

[mogemoets]

Sweetie

You ROCK!

This is SUCH a terrific piece!

I love the images, too!

Keep posting your works!

BTW----have you rendered any more Messiaen?

Martin

[organboi]

sorry so long to reply. thanks for the compliments. i will soon be posting more of this kind of montage with music of Messiaen and Durufle. i'll let you know when i do. i'm creating a vid for the Durufle Suite opus 5, and Messiaen Dieu Parmi Nous. thanks again!

[erexford]

Great! I want to use this to show my friends who haven't the slightest notion of Messiaen. If they can't get it by the music, these images will help!

[organboi]

hey thanks for the comment. please do use the vid to show your friends. when i first learned this piece, all of could think of were these images, nothing else...

[WillemTanke]

Well-done! Good to see and listen to your account, best wishes, Willem Tanke

[samanthatina]

SUPERB! Your imagery is perfect!

[organboi]

thanks! i worked real hard on that.

[tyfardee]

Fantastic is certainly the word, along with excellent, imaginative, ingenious, compelling, convincing, and FAR OUT. Messiaen is obviously the greatest master of the 20th century - every note coming from within, despite the 12-tone row in the pedal line. And the playing is exemplary - Mr. Motise is an extraordinary organist/musician with an intellect the caliber of which we do not see much these days.