Apparition De L'Eglise Eternelle

By Olivier Messiaen

A beautiful, clearly printed edition of this early masterwork by Olivier Messiaen. It's only four pages long, so not as daunting a task to learn. It's structured as a gradual crescendo to the utmost fortissimo of the organ, and then the gradual decrescendo, lasting about ten-and-a...

-half minutes total time.

This piece has a very mysterious and powerful feeling to it...One should definitely play this to show off ones organ. Messiaen wrote this because he felt it was like the spirt of the actual church/cathedral. The chords are like the stone and mass of people that hold it...

together...

This magnificent work unfortunately requires a large organ to really make it sing. A pneumatic crescendo/decrescendo pedal also helps immensely with the nuances unless you have a very good stop-puller. I played it this Christmas Eve with great success on a smaller instrument, though. It certainly isn't...

the same as the Cavaille-Coll instrument for which Messiaen wrote. To hear this work at its best, I suggest Latry's recording on Deutsche Grammophon, recorded at Notre Dame, Paris (a similar organ to La Trinité, where Messiaen worked for over 60 years).

This piece is not one of the composers' best. Any organist out there, will know that Messiaen's works often have dischordant harmonies and rhythmic vitality. The chords are cetainly present in this piece, but the repeated minim (or whatever it is) chords really bring this piece down. It is...

loud all the way through (DO NOT play the beginning on strings etc. Full swell, box closed) and has no contrast. Messiaen still remains my favourite composer, despite this piece of music.