CCLI. MESSIAEN, Olivier: Messe de la Pentecôte

CCLI. MESSIAEN, Olivier (1908-1992)

Messe de la Pentecôte (Pentecost Mass) (1949)
1. Entrée (les langue de feu) (Entry of the Priest [the Tongues of Fire])
2. Offertoire (les chose visibles et invisibles) (Offertory [Things Visible and Invisible])
3. Consécration (le don de sagesse) (Consecration [the Gift of Wisdom])
4. Communion (les oiseaux et les sources) (Communion [the Birds and the Springs])
5. Sortie (le vent de l'Espirit) (Recessional [the Wind of the Spirit])
Catharine Crozier, organ
[scrolling score]
(28:38)

A full decade after writing his last work for organ (Les Corps glorieux) and -- in the interim -- having survived the war (he wrote Quatuor pour la fins de temps [see Post LXXX] in a concentration camp) and returned to teaching, he created this mass (influenced by the five-movement works of Charles Tournemire) based on many years of improvisation, finally set down on paper.

A marvelous work and a clean, insightful scrolling score -- a thrill for both eyes and ears.