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CI 9119
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CI 9119
MESSIAEN, O.: Visions de l'Amen / DEBUSSY, C.: En blanc et noir (Oppens, Lowenthal)

MESSIAEN, O.: Visions de l'Amen / DEBUSSY, C.: En blanc et noir (Oppens, Lowenthal)

Released Date:
01 Mar 2012


Artists:

Ursula Oppens

Soloist

Jerome Lowenthal

Soloist

Record Label
Cedille

Genre:

Instrumental


Classical

Total Time - 60:02
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MESSIAEN, O.: Visions de l'Amen / DEBUSSY, C.: En blanc et noir (Oppens, Lowenthal)

     
Select Complete Single Disc for
     
 

OLIVIER MESSIAEN

 

Visions de l'Amen

  
1 I. Amen de la Creation 5:37
 Jerome Lowenthal Soloist
     
2 II. Amen des etoiles, de la planete a l'anneau 5:17
 Jerome Lowenthal Soloist
     
3 III. Amen de l'Agonie de Jesus 7:50
 Jerome Lowenthal Soloist
     
4 IV. Amen du Desir 9:56
 Jerome Lowenthal Soloist
     
5 V. Amen des Anges, des Saints, du chant des oiseaux 6:54
 Ursula Oppens Soloist
     
6 VI. Amen du Jugement 2:44
 Jerome Lowenthal Soloist
     
7 VII. Amen de la Consommation 7:09
 Jerome Lowenthal Soloist
     
 

CLAUDE DEBUSSY

 

En blanc et noir

  
8 I. Avec emportement 4:10
 Jerome Lowenthal Soloist
     
9 II. Lent. Sombre 6:03
 Jerome Lowenthal Soloist
     
10 III. Scherzando 4:22
 Ursula Oppens Soloist


This is an inspired pairing 20th-century French works for duo piano composed during the century’s greatest conflicts: Olivier Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen (Visions of Amen) and Claude Debussy’s En blanc et noir (In Black and White). On other recordings, Visions de l’Amen  typically appears alone or as part of an all-Messiaen program. 
 
Messiaen’s Visions de l’Amen, from 1943, was composed in wartime Paris during the German occupation. With an orchestral range of colors and immense dynamic range, it’s a monumental set of seven mystical meditations, often beginning subtly and building to an exhilarating intensity. From the first movement, “Amen of Creation” to the last, “Amen of Consummation,” the work is Messiaen’s musical metaphor of Life. Sonically powerful and emotionally demanding, it was composed with his unique imagination for sonority. Author and critic Paul Griffiths, in program notes for Carnegie Hall, wrote, “The two pianos together become a percussion orchestra, akin to the gamelans of Indonesia.”
 
Debussy’s En blanc et noir, from 1915, is the composer’s response to World War I. A landmark in the two-piano genre, the three-movement work is notoriously difficult to play. In the first movement, a vigorous waltz of clashing harmonies represents the “dance” of war, which is interrupted by military-sounding motifs. French and German musical themes battle for dominance in the second movement. The finale opens with a gentle D-minor theme reminiscent of Debussy’s Cello Sonata but becomes, in turns, sad and sinister, ending with a bitter dissonance that seems to suggest that the post-war years will be shadowed by memory.
"I’ve rarely heard the sheer impact with quite such a physical effect as here... this is certainly the best recording of the [Messiaen] in my current collection."
 
MusicWeb-International.com
 

"Pianists Ursula Oppens and Jerome Lowenthal bring an inspired pairing of two masterpieces for piano duo..."
 
WGBH Boston

"It was only two issues ago that I . . . mentioned this new disc from Oppens and Lowenthal, which I had not heard at that time, expecting great things. Now I have heard it, and have certainly not been disappointed: These distinguished artists give us a thoughtfully calibrated overview of the work.How perfectly Oppens and Lowenthal time the build of the first movement, Amen de l’Creation, as it proceeds literally from the depths into glowing major-key light; and yet, they keep some extra power up their (four) sleeves for the thundering peroration of the final movement, Amen de la Consommation. In between, they point each detail and ensure that all dynamic variations register cleanly..."
 
Phillip Scott - Fanfare



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