If I Could Choose Only One Work By...MESSIAEN

It Would Have To Be...Des canyons aux étoiles
Because it does everything a work by Messiaen should. It has birdsong, religion, solo piano, and a wealth of amazing colors and textures.
The List So Far...
1. Ravel: Ma Mère l’Oye (Mother Goose Ballet)
2. Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
3. Schubert: String Quintet in C major
4. Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4
5. Mahler: Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection”
6. Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker
7. Debussy: Preludes for Piano (Books 1 & 2)
8: Handel: Saul
9. Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro
10. Brahms: String Sextet No. 2 in G major
11. Vaughan Williams: Job
12. Bach: Goldberg Variations
13. R. Strauss: Four Last Songs
14. Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust
15. Haydn: “Paris” Symphonies (Nos. 82-87)
16. Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen
17. Beethoven: String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor
18. Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E minor
19. Chopin: Preludes
20. Verdi: Rigoletto
21. Roussel: Symphony No. 2
22. Copland: Appalachian Spring (complete original ballet)
23. Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites Nos. 1 and 2
24. Bartók: Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion
25. Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2
26. Rimsky-Korsakov: Opera Suites (Scottish National Orchestra/Järvi) Chandos
27. Schoenberg: Pierrot Lunaire
28. Smetana: Ma Vlást
29. Falla: Nights in the Gardens of Spain
30. Bizet: Carmen
31. Elgar: In the South
32. Sullivan: The Mikado
33. Dvořák: Symphony No. 8; Cello Concerto (Piatigorsky/Munch/Boston Symphony) RCA
34. Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsodies
35. Monteverdi: Orfeo
36. Scarlatti: Sonatas
37. Schumann: Fantasie in C, Op. 17
38. Berg: Wozzeck
39. Hermann: Psycho (film score)
40. Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on the Theme of Paganini
41. Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
42. Holst: Suites for Military Band
43. Stravinsky: Oedipus Rex
44. Respighi: Three Botticelli Pictures
45. Sibelius: Symphony No. 5; Pohjola’s Daughter (Bernstein, New York Philharmonic) Sony
46. Britten: The Turn of the Screw
47. Borodin: String Quartet No. 2
48. Janácek: The Cunning Little Vixen
49. Korngold: Violin Concerto
50. Tallis: Spem in Alium
51. Nielsen: Symphony No. 5
52. Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915
53. Hindemith: Symphony in E-flat
54. Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov
55. Franck: Violin Sonata
56. Rossini: La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie)
57. Saint-Saëns: Piano Concerto No. 5 “Egyptian”
58. Weill: The Seven Deadly Sins
59. Pergolesi: Stabat Mater
60. Albeniz: Iberia
61. Bernstein: Mass
62. Schreker: Chamber Symphony
63. Walton: Variations on a Theme by Hindemith
64. Dukas: Piano Sonata
65. Gershwin: Porgy and Bess
66. Tippett: Piano Concerto
67. Poulenc: Songs (ATMA, 5 discs)
68. Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1
69. Gluck: Alceste
70. Vivaldi: L’estro armonico, Op. 3
71. Puccini: La Bohème
72. Hanson: Symphony No. 2 “Romantic”
73. Alkan: 12 Etudes in All the Minor Keys, Op. 39
74. Dutilleux: Métaboles
75. Glinka: Kamarinskaya
76. Crumb: Makrokosmos III (Music for a Summer Evening)
77. Biber: Sonata violino solo representativa
78. Josquin: Missa Ave maris stella
79. Arnold: Symphony No. 5
80. Fauré: Piano Quartets (Trio Wanderer) Harmonia Mundi
81. Hovhaness: Fra Angelico
82. Martinu: Symphony No. 6 “Fantaisies symphoniques”
83. Grainger: Lincolnshire Posy
84. Corelli: 12 Concerti grossi, Op. 6
85. Bellini: Norma
86. Ives: “Concord” Sonata
87. John Williams: Jaws (film score)
88. Honegger: Le Roi David (King David)
89. Kodály: “Peacock” Variations
90. Milhaud: Une Vie Heureuse (10 CD Set, Erato)
91. Scriabin: Piano Sonatas (Hamelin/Hyperion)
92. Casella: Concerto for Orchestra
93. Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus
94. Chabrier: España
95. Reich: Music for 18 Musicians
96. Waxman: Sunset Boulevard (film score)
97. Rameau: Hippolyte et Aricie
98. Suk: A Summer Tale
99. Delius: A Song of the High Hills
100. Telemann: Tafelmusik
101. Stenhammar: Serenade
102. Orff: Trionfi (Carmina Burana, Catulli Carmina, Trionfo di Afrodite)
103. Bax: Symphony No. 2
104. Turina: Canto a Sevilla
105. Glass: Koyaanisqatsi
106. Zelenka: Missa Dei Filii
107. Martin: Petite sinfonie concertante
108. Braga Santos: Symphony No. 3

[@JeeRant]

So - I'm not the only one to perceive a kinship between Bruckner and Messiaen!

[@iptych]

I once played the piccolo part for this back in the 1980s in a RAM student orchestra with John Carewe conducting and Yvonne Loriod on piano. It was one of my biggest solos and no need for anything but a reasonably large pocket for the picc. Unforgettable…

[@brentmarquez9057]

I believe it was in part inspired by a visit Messiaen had to Bryce Canyon in Utah. I bring the piece with me on the phone to listen to when visiting that area of the country - wonderful and mystical music.

[@skryabin07]

You make a good case for From the Canyons to the Stars, Dave. It's an awesome piece and almost the absolute representation for all things Messiaen. Plus the title alone is spine-tingling. BUT... I gotta say... I think it comes up slightly short only in that the orchestration does not include an ondes martinot. C'mon, that's a tell-tale Messaien element. I think if you want the whole package: weird French Catholicism , lots of birds, no thematic development, and an Ondes to boot... I hate to say it, but you might have to go with St. Francis of Assisi. Plus, it's 3 hours LONGER than Canyons. So more Messiaen survives.

[@OW0974]

Completely agreed, this would be my personal pick as well

[@mgconlan]

My favorite story about Messiaen is the one about the French organist Marie-Claire Alain, who was determined to record all of Messiaen's organ works. The problem is that every time she thought she was finished, he would write more. Alain finally finished her complete recording of Messiaen's organ works in the six months between his death and hers.

[@PhilKelley]

Dave, thank you for educating us about this music. You always make me laugh. Sometimes for joy at your sharp wit and sometimes at the way you joyfully express your love of music. And sometimes at the craziness of the music you are trying to describe. I intend to keep listening to the music you present --- and to you, my friend.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

My pleasure! Thank you for watching and listening!

[@josecarmona9168]

One of the most "cosmic" endings (and it applies to the complete work) I know. Really incredible piece. And a compemdium of Messiaen's oeuvre.

[@jdj830]

Excellent choice and exactly what I would have picked. It really is the ultimate Messiaen sampler, and unlike some of his other obsessions, it’s easy to get on board with the sublime landscape of the American West as the extra-musical entry point. (And don’t tell anyone but I actually prefer it to Turangalila). That said, I’d like to make a plug for Chronochromie, a thrilling half hour orchestral piece that covers two other favorite subjects, time and birds. And then there’s St. Francis of Assisi, which might be the greatest opera since Pelleas; to my ears it accomplishes what both Wagner and Philip Glass tried repeatedly to do and never completely succeeded in doing: making a man’s spiritual journey into compelling music drama, with music that makes us think of the main character’s beliefs and internal struggles and not the composer’s. The piece is a huge undertaking, but it’s actually shorter than Parsifal and at least as worthwhile….

[@cliffordbaker4930]

I had never thought about the Messiaen-Bruckner similarity, but your reasoning strikes me as true. Of course, they are both organists also, which you can hear even in their orchestral music it seems to me.

[@dennischiapello3879]

Gosh, I could have sworn you did Messiaen already! But the list doesn't lie. I applaud your choice. I can't make an informed argument about which work of his is most typical or representative, but if it aligns with what I'd most enjoy hearing, I'm not going to argue. And I find it more appealing than Turangalila. I'm thrilled to see Classics Today rated Myun-Whun Chung's recording 10/10, because that's the one I have, and it's likely to remain my only one.

[@sgfnorth]

I heard this wonderful piece in London in 2016 with Dudamel and LAPO. It had photos of the locations projected as the music progressed. I think it is such a great work especially for our current times as these landscapes are degraded.

[@hendriphile]

If Bruckner were an avant-garde French composer he'd sound like Messiaen.... Priceless!

[@jimslancio]

Messaen had a knack for writing well-behaved diatonic music, but with extra notes thrown in. He threw in extra notes in a distinctive way, to which no other composer's extra notes could be compared. As a choral singer, I approach his O Sacrum Convivium by forcing myself to always keep straight in my mind which kind of notes I'm singing. I don't know enough of his music to select a desert island piece, but I'd be interested to read an analysis of his approach to harmonic wtiting.

[@dvdlpznyc]

My choice for the single greatest composition by Messiaen (which has the most of everything he did the best and the least of everything he did the worst) is "Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine," specifically the Chung recording on DG... Marvel-ous Fantas-tic Awe-someness...

[@alwa6954]

I enjoyed your theory on the religious parity of the music of Messian and Bruckner, the "block music theory" lol. Two composers I also love without sharing one iota of their religious devotion. Sometimes I feel a little guilty for wallowing in Messian's religiously motivated works while being complete non-believer. But they are so beautiful, why did he have to contaminate them with religious mumbo-jumbo?

[@murraylow4523]

This is very wise Dave. It has to be a religious thing and the reaching out to the United States from France there is worth noting (I can’t think he was especially motivated by money). What a weird way of celebrating 1776. But it is a very typical work of a composer where it is extremely hard to choose one thing. Yes it’s Catholic but maybe I’d rather have him on the Supreme Court than some of these other doctrinal people Of course he’d be awful at that, but the music is the best kind of advert for that kind of seriousness in recent times

[@Bachback]

Just now discovering Reynaldo Hahn. What would your pick be for him? Scott Varland

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

See reviews on ClassicsToday.com.

[@ultradmann2367]

I'd loved to see you try to program this piece with other stuff for a Fabulous Concert Programs vid, Just to see what think would go with the piece before hand as this would seem to be a second half piece.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

It's usually played on its own--the performing forces are too odd, and it's too long to mix with anything else.

[@asheko]

I just looked at amazon. Could you give us a CD recommendation ( please ) ?

[@Warp75]

Yes please ☝🏻

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

If you can still fine it, get the Marius Constant recording on Erato, but please see reviews at ClassicsToday.com.

[@dvdlpznyc]

I wouldn't be without Chung, for when I really want to get into it, and Salonen, for when I really want to get it in...

[@ippolit23]

I adore Messiaen and his music and have to agree with Dave's choices most of the time - but the "Canyons"? There's only one interesting movement: the "appelle interstellaire" to be played by a solo horn. The rest doesn't hold up to "Eclairs sure l'aux-dela"-standards.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Nonsense.

[@Warp75]

I’ve tried with it on numerous occasions with numerous recordings & it does nothing for me whatsoever & I like Messiaen