Messiaen
by Professor Peter Hill, Professor Nigel Simeone
Book Summary Information
Author: Professor Nigel Simeone, Professor Peter HillEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2005-10-11
ISBN: 0300109075
Number of pages: 450
Publisher: Yale University Press
Book Reviews of Messiaen
Book Review: A DISAPPOINTMENT
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is a bit like a Chinese meal - filling but not very satisfying.
It should be. Peter Hill knew Messiaen in his later years and worked with him on his complete CD set of the piano music. The writers also had access to much original material that was unavailable before, including the composer's diaries which he started soon after the War and kept up right until his death.
Obviously the authors made an editorial decision to be very non-interventionist, to present all the facts as objectively as possible but to refrain from any speculation. The result is a book which tells us all about Messiaen's travels, which concerts of his own music he played in or attended, what the critics published about first performances, which birdsongs he notated and where, what colleagues said about him in public pronouncements (but not private ones), the import of some of his letters (usually rather formal). There are some insights into his working methods, too. We discover that orchestration often took him as long or longer than composition and that he preferred to make his own fair-copies for the printer - indeed that he liked to control the dissemination of his music in print and in performance as much as possible. We can infer that he liked to attend as many performances of his works as he could and that he was touchingly susceptible to applause and approbation.
But we never get a very clear picture of Messiaen as a man. His relationship with his first wife, for example, was clearly a devoted one, but we discover little of how it changed once her mental deterioration took her into a Home in the years before her death. Nor do we really know exactly how his relationship with Yvonne Loriod, his second wife, evolved during the same period. Clearly they became very close, if only because he was thrown together with his young student so much while they travelled around playing Visions d'Amen together and introducing the 20 Regards to the world. This is not just a desire for a bit of prurient scandalising. Mme Loriod had a profound effect on his musical development almost from the first moment he heard her play his music and the early development of their lifelong relationship is very relevant. The relationship with Messiaen's son from his first marriage remains a very grey area, too. In later years, were they close or distant? It's hard to tell from the text here.
One would also like to know so much more about the individual nature of the composer's Catholic faith. That it was absolutely fundamental to his thinking, his composition, his very being is clear enough from the music itself. But there is little further elucidation of what he actually believed in this book. Moreover there is little personal reflection on the man and his music and the huge influence he has had on composition from the early 50's to today from the many, many students he taught - from Boulez and Stockhausen to Benjamin and through them to so many other contemporary composers. Indeed, as teacher as well as composer, it could be argued that Messiaen is the most influential figure in music since Wagner. That surely was worth investigation while these witnesses are still alive.
In summary, the facts and the information are all here, but not a real portrait of the man himself. To that extent, this book is a disappointment.
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