Messiaen Olivier

Anca Elena in Personal Piano Project

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Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus

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#5 – Regard du Fils sur le Fils

click the thumbnails to go to the pianist page

Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus by Olivier Messiaen

“At the origins, this work had to accompany the poems of Maurice Toesca, La Nativité, a project for radio. Playing Vingt Regards sur l`Enfant – Jésus, I imagined the words which could follow the music, the voice of the actor reading the poems, the atmosphere of Christmas, people after the 2^nd World War listening it to the radio like a ray of hope after so much craziness of destruction.

The violence is present also in this cycle, a terrible and extremely one. Jesus himself was a victim of it. In Regards we find the chaos before the creation, but also the tenderness of the motherhood, the image of a sweet sleep of Child Jesus, the wonderful freedom and joy of birds… And after all, in the end, Messiaen shows us the Christian window for peace and freedom, which is love.”

Anca Elena.

Anca Elena and Pianists Corner offer you a rendezvous every two weeks. Each rendezvous will contain one Regard. The first episode will be released first week of December.

#5 – Regard du Fils sur le Fils

“Mystère, rais de lumière dans la nuit – réfraction de la joie, les oiseaux du silence – la personne du Verbe dans une nature humaine – mariage des natures humaine et divine en Jésus-Christ …”

“Mystery, rays of light in the night – refraction of joy, the birds of silence – the person of the Word made flesh – union of the human and divine natures in Jesus Christ …”

Olivier Messiaen.

“There is something hypnotic in that piece, something huge and very stable, the eternity itself. Regard no. 5 is growing up on only one theme, the Theme of God, played very slowly from the beginning till end. Just one theme for a single piece ! No development, only birds over it which are singing freely. The birds of silence appear like a rhythmical canon sounding as Chinese bells – in first section. Three tâlas compose every plan, repeated obsessively, in a pedal. In the second section the birds are really speaking in a wonderful ‘oiseau’ rhetoric.

Memorizing this piece was a challenge, everything and nothing was the same… Till I understood that it is a work of rhythm and colour. Going more on this way, I discovered a temple of beauty! So I had to let the music to exist freely, without my obvious implication. I was just an observer, listening the vibrations of sounds and their mysterious power.”

Anca Elena.

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Personal Piano Project

Anca Elena in Personal Piano Project

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Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus

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#4 – Regard de la Vierge

click the thumbnails to go to the pianist page

Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus by Olivier Messiaen

“At the origins, this work had to accompany the poems of Maurice Toesca, La Nativité, a project for radio. Playing Vingt Regards sur l`Enfant – Jésus, I imagined the words which could follow the music, the voice of the actor reading the poems, the atmosphere of Christmas, people after the 2^nd World War listening it to the radio like a ray of hope after so much craziness of destruction.

The violence is present also in this cycle, a terrible and extremely one. Jesus himself was a victim of it. In Regards we find the chaos before the creation, but also the tenderness of the motherhood, the image of a sweet sleep of Child Jesus, the wonderful freedom and joy of birds… And after all, in the end, Messiaen shows us the Christian window for peace and freedom, which is love.”

Anca Elena.

Anca Elena and Pianists Corner offer you a rendezvous every two weeks. Each rendezvous will contain one Regard. The first episode will be released first week of December.

#4 – Regard de la Vierge

“Innocence et tendresse … la femme de la Pureté, la femme du Magnificat, la Vierge regarde son Enfant …”

“Innocence and tenderness … The woman of purity, the woman of the Magnificat, the Virgin gazes upon her child …”

Olivier Messiaen.

“A lullaby of a mother for her child… She is repeating it so many times till hypnose and so tenderly that the baby is falling asleep… Then the vision of the future: birds, bells, a pray, fear and courage of loving humans… In the end her song comes back, even more calm and tenderly…”

Anca Elena.

____________________

Personal Piano Project

Anca Elena in Personal Piano Project

–

Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus

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#3 – L’Échange

click the thumbnails to go to the pianist page

Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus by Olivier Messiaen

“At the origins, this work had to accompany the poems of Maurice Toesca, La Nativité, a project for radio. Playing Vingt Regards sur l`Enfant – Jésus, I imagined the words which could follow the music, the voice of the actor reading the poems, the atmosphere of Christmas, people after the 2^nd World War listening it to the radio like a ray of hope after so much craziness of destruction.

The violence is present also in this cycle, a terrible and extremely one. Jesus himself was a victim of it. In Regards we find the chaos before the creation, but also the tenderness of the motherhood, the image of a sweet sleep of Child Jesus, the wonderful freedom and joy of birds… And after all, in the end, Messiaen shows us the Christian window for peace and freedom, which is love.”

Anca Elena.

Anca Elena and Pianists Corner offer you a rendezvous every two weeks. Each rendezvous will contain one Regard. The first episode will be released first week of December.

#3 – L’Échange

“Descente en gerbe, montée en spirale; terrible commerce humano-divin, Dieu se fait homme pour nous rendre dieux …”

“Descending in a spray, rising in a spiral; the terrible trade between humans and God. God made man to make us gods …”

Olivier Messiaen.

“Here is a totally abstract work, a mixture of mathematics and theology, developed on scientific principles!
What is the good of music if it doesn’t speak to souls? Messiaen shows the opposite in this emotionless work, perfect in its frozen architecture. The equality and symmetry of the terms, the almost hallucinating predictability in a twelve-tone sound can be a shock to the music lover and can challenge his sensitivity. This is why this piece is one of the most daring of the cycle Vingt Regards sur l´Enfant-Jésus as an extreme aesthetic essay.”

Anca Elena.

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Personal Piano Project