Some Thoughts on Playing the Organ by Willem Tanke: Olivier Messiaen - Les enfants de Dieu (from: La Nativité du Seigneur)

26/03/2016

Olivier Messiaen - Les enfants de Dieu (from: La Nativité du Seigneur)

I find this one of Messiaen's most exciting -and towards the end most quiet- pieces. In his Technique de mon language musical, Messiaen compares his way of composing this piece to the central section of a sonata form, where exposed material is developed.

About

As a classical organist I have been a prominent Messiaen and Reger interpreter since the '90s. Nowadays Bach interpretation is my main classical project. This is represented by my research "Dancing Bach on the organ". At the same time, as an improviser and a performing composer, I have been creating a new musical language which brings together musicians with avant-jazz, avant-pop, Western classical and traditional African and Asian backgrounds. I now relate this to my Bach interpretation.