Messiaen Piano And Orchestra

"You love us, sweet Jesus: that we had forgotten," wrote Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) in the preface to "Offrandes oublieés" of 1930. Much of religiOUS art, with its artificially circumscribed expression and stylised piety, has contributed to this tendency to forget, and it was something Messiaen also fought against in his organ suite "La Nativité du Seigneur" of 1935. While a prisonelcof-war in 1941, during the Second World Wal; Messiaen wrote his "Quatuor pour la fin du temps" at Stalag VIII in Silesia.

Decca’s first FFRR concerto recording available for the first time: Eileen Joyce / Tchaikovsky 2nd Piano Concerto – never released on 78rpm and long thought lost, the test pressings were recently found at the International Piano Archives in Maryland.

French composer Fernande Breilh-Decruck showed signs of a promising career from an early age, when she won several prizes at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris (harmony, fugue, piano). As an assistant professor of harmony, she trained many students, including one who became very famous and later dedicated her a score: “To Fernande Decruck, with all the gratitude and fond memories of the author – Olivier Messiaen”.

Few performers are more familiar with the musical language of the French composer Olivier Messiaen than the American conductor Kent Nagano. Nagano has had Messiaen's orchestral works and oratorios in his programme for several decades now, and he also participated in the world premiere of 'Saint François d'Assise', Messiaen's only opera. During the year 1982 Nagano spent his time with Messiaen in Paris, where not only an artistic relationship but also a close personal one developed between the two musicians.

To coincide with Messiaen’s 100th anniversary DG presents this recording of rarely heard spiritual works of the beloved French composer. Religiosity and Catholicism have been important sources of inspiration for Olivier Messiaen throughout his artistic life and form the key aspect of the repertoire selected for this album. The Trois Petites Liturgies for piano, ondes martenot, choir and orchestra were premiered in occupied Paris in 1943, and received highest praise by Jean Cocteau, Francis Poulenc and Arthur Honegger among others – with the aim of bringing “a kind of organized act of praise into the concert room” Messiaen achieved one of his most colourful and enduring works up to that point – he himself described the music as “nothing but an act of love”.

The pianist, composer, producer and renaissance musician Jeroen van Veen has played many concerts with both his wife Sandra and his brother Maarten, and has recorded with both of them for Brilliant Classics. The present compilation brings together a unique sequence of masterpieces for the genre in live and studio performances, made between 1992 and 2008, and given by the brothers as Piano Duo Van Veen.

The set includes several recordings which appear as international CD releases for the first time (symphonies by Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert) as well as first CD releases of works by Hendrik Andriessen and Stravinsky. Several other recordings have been unavailable for a number of years and are included here.