Olivier Messiaen: Neumes rythmiques (1949)

Third, but first completed, of his four rhythmic etudes.

Peter Hill, piano. Art by Georges Mathieu.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• olivier
• messiaen
• avantgarde
• 20th-century
• french
• etude
• de
• rythme
• neumes
• rhythmic
• study
• peter
• hill

[danhatechav]

@prlepage What are? Your comments? I agree.

[MusicaRicercata]

@prlepage Have you considered killing yourself?

[MaestroTJS]

@RenewedWorld This music is as Western as the country Messiaen was from. He may have added some Eastern interpolations in his works here and there, but there's no mistaking any of it for anything from the Far East.

Yes, I can hear the birdsongs (or, rather, his evil-sounding artistic portrayal of them. Is the rumbling bass supposed to be a dinosaur? :P ). Still doesn't convince me of the general merit of his music or aesthetic. But it's better than some other composers who I'd swear are deaf.

[RenewedWorld]

@MaestroTJS Also, I shouldn't have said obviously, in my first comment. Typically, people (mostly western) that haven't studied music don't have an appreciation for anything that isn't western. This assumption is usually correct.

[RenewedWorld]

@MaestroTJS I would agree with you for most music, but for this, I have to disagree. This etude is about Papua, New Guinea, and Messiaen was an Ornithologist. I'm assuming that the spontaneous sound of this piece is to replicate the sounds and atmosphere of the island made famous by the birds there. I couldn't find anything to officially tell me if I'm right or wrong, but it's my interpretation of it.

Knowing a bit about the story behind the piece sometimes helps.

[MaestroTJS]

@RenewedWorld I've studied plenty, and the more I study (which I see as a lifelong endeavour, by the way), the less I like or even appreciate music like this. But thank you for once again trotting out the tired argument I've come to expect from "your side" that those who don't like or appreciate what I guess I'll call "newer music" (or avant garde, if you prefer) are simply uneducated. *yawn*

Really, you guys need to come up with something better.

[RenewedWorld]

@MaestroTJS You obviously never studied music.

[MaestroTJS]

@MusicaRicercata Have you, for loving something like this?

[danhatechav]

Beautiful peice... That is all.

[prlepage]

Nonsense. Ear pain.