OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908 - 1992) Le baiser de l'enfant Jésus ("The kiss of the infant Jesus") from "Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus" ("Twenty gazes/contemplations on the Christ-child") for piano (1944).
Performed by JANICA HRISTOVA on 21 May 2009 in Marktoberdorf, Germany.
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist. Messiaens music is rhythmically complex (he was interested in rhythms from ancient Greek and from Hindu sources), and is harmonically and melodically based on modes of limited transposition, which were Messiaens own innovation. Many of his compositions depict what he termed the marvellous aspects of the faith, drawing on his unshakeable Roman Catholicism. He travelled widely, and he wrote works inspired by such diverse influences as Japanese music, the landscape of Bryce Canyon in Utah, and the life of St. Francis of Assisi. Messiaen experienced a mild form of synaesthesia manifested as a perception of colours when he heard certain harmonies. For a short period Messiaen experimented with total serialism, in which field he is often cited as an innovator. His style absorbed many exotic musical influences such as Indonesian gamelan (tuned percussion often features prominently in his orchestral works), and he also championed the ondes Martenot.
Messiaen found birdsong fascinating; he believed birds to be the greatest musicians and considered himself as much an ornithologist as a composer. He notated birdsongs worldwide, and he incorporated birdsong transcriptions into a majority of his music. His innovative use of colour, his personal conception of the relationship between time and music, his use of birdsong, and his intent to express profound religious ideas, all combine to make it almost impossible to mistake a composition by Messiaen for the work of any other Western classical composer.
Janica Hristova in almost what appears to be a geisha attire, delivers a beautiful performance of 'Le baiser de l' enfant Jesus'. In just a few years, she has blossomed into an important pianist, under the tutelage of Veselinka Ivanova, and may well be on her way to become one of Bulgaria's top pianists of the new generation. Bravo.
Thanks for posting.
stephenjoeagi 2 years ago