Copy re-contextualizing Messiaen

Case studies

1. Re-contextualizing a most remarkable fragment from L'Ange aux parfums (from Les Corps Glorieux, 1939)

This duet is a unique passage in the history of keyboard music. Written in 1939(!), the texture remains completely original; nothing similar has ever been written by Strawinsky, Bartok, Schönberg, Varèse at the time or, as far as I know, any other composer since. Here is the original for organ:

Video: Olivier Messiaen - L'Ange aux parfums, first bicinium, with score

I made a transcription for piano for the avant-jazz trio Turnstone, with Friso van Wijck, drums, and Ruben Verbruggen, saxophone:

Video: First duet of Messiaen's "L'Ange aux parfums" in Turnstone's avant-jazz

A few more examples of how to recontextualize this passage for organ and piano respectively:

Video: Left hand Messiaen - right hand modal improvisation (organ)

Video: Piano variations on L'Ange aux parfums, first bicinium

2. Looping a part of a scale from "Livre du Saint Sacrement (1984)

Video: Scale from "Livre du Saint Sacrement" in Turnstone's "The Boat Arrives"

Copy video flutist Chauvet cave

3. Combining modal improvisation and atonal fragments from "L'Ange aux parfums" and "Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité" on a rhythmic melodic pattern in 7/4 measure Video: Olivier Messiaen and the flautist of the Chauvet Cave Time table to this video: 0'00 - 4'10'' modal improvisation (without fragments from Messiaen) 4'10" - 10'14" passages from the first duet of Messiaen's "L'Ange aux parfums" on the second and third manual alternating with modal improvisations on the first manual 10'15"- 10'27" two passages from Messiaen's "Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité" (7th movement; middle section) 10'28" - 12'27" like before from "L'Ange aux parfums" 12'28" break 13'37" - 14'14" varied racapitulation of the left hand loop; modal improvisation (not Messiaen)

Copy Projects

Willem Tanke has three main project for the next years: 1. making recordings of organ works by J.S. Bach on instruments of great value. See Dancing Bach on the organ 2. making new recordings of Olivier Messiaen's complete organ works Tanke's 8 CD-box with Messiaen's complete organ works, recorded in 1994, has been critically acclaimed and considerably contributed to his reputation as a leading Messiaen interpreter. However, these recordings were made rather casually on a few consecutive evenings and with two edits only. New audio and video recordings on some of the most suitable instruments will have a great added value. 3. developing his musical language which brings together Western classical, world music, avant-jazz and avant-pop musicians 2017 - present: Imagining the music of the future 2017:  Olivier Messiaen and the Cave of Forgotten Sounds for organ solo 2016: The Enchanted Desert for organ, flute and percussion, including dance and performance 2007 - present: Re-contextualizing Messiaen 2007 Super Audio CD Meditations for a lent 2006 Super Audio CD Two Wind Fantasies (with Max Reger - Variationen und Fuge fis-moll op. 73) 2005 CD Imaginary Day - 21 Fantasies for organ 2001 CD My friend the Indian and other pieces  2000 CD Variations for organ, keyboards and processors with Vidna Obmana

Copy Recensie Budel e.a.

Willem Tanke combines the modality of gregorian chant —the basis of Western classical music— to music from the East and, inspired by Messiaen, enriches the result with atonal, bird song melodies and refined harmonies.

YouTube playlist: Giving a new dimension to the East meets West tradition

Review by René van Peer in Eindhovens Dagblad, 2.10.2017:

Tanke tovert vogeltjes uit orgel 

"Een kerkorgel en trommels uit de Indiase raga-traditie. Dat lijkt een vergezochte combinatie. Maar de muziek die organist

Willem Tanke en tablaspeler Sandip Bhattacharya gisteren in de Budelse Zaalkerk al improviserend brachten klonk volkomen

natuurlijk en spontaan.

De twee stonden centraal in de vierde editie van de maandelijkse serie Once in a Blue Moon. Tanke is vooral bekend door zijn

virtuoze vertolkingen van het orgelrepertoire van Olivier Messiaen. Als basis voor zijn werken gebruikte deze Franse componist

Indiase ritmepatronen en vogelzang. Tanke verdiept zich al jaren in die patronen, maar het was voor het eerst dat hij ze in een 

concert met een tablaspeler toepaste.

De Indiase patronen kunnen in de grond eenvoudig lijken. Er kunnen vijf tellen in een cyclus zitten, maar ook zestien met steeds

wisselende accenten, of zelfs zeven en een halve tel. Tanke speelde ze met zijn linkerhand, terwijl hij zijn rechterhand over de

toetsen liet dwalen in melodieën die tegelijkertijd bespiegelend en kinderlijk konden klinken, maar ook onweerstaanbaar konden

swingen. En het waren met name de lange, lastig te tellen patronen die van het kerkje het schouwtoneel maakten van een

duizelig makende dans. Tanke doorkruiste zijn heldere melodieën met plotse toonwervelingen, alsof er een vogeltje al zingend

uit de muziek tevoorschijn kwam.

Bhattacharya was de ideale partner in deze improvisaties. Hij speelde de meest complexe ritmes met speels gemak, vulde de

patronen steeds anders in. Hij stuwde de muziek op, kwam soms onverwachts langszij bij Tanke in slagen die precies in diens

melodie pasten. Zoals organisator Jan Doms het verwoordde: hier werd een nieuwe muziek geboren. Maar wel muziek die

uit een ver verleden leek op te doemen."

Copy Dancing Bach on the organ

Dancing Bach on the organ In 2017 a simple but essential change marked the difference between my old and new way of playing Bach: inspired by my former teacher Rudi van Straten I started making upward movements from my lower stomach on strong beats.This literally gives a "gut" feeling which compensates for over activity in the brain and the heart. It results in: - dancelike movements, also regarding the wrists - an improved breathing - looking in front me of me or slightly upward, without a particular focus, instead of looking at the the manuals. This is how I interprete observations on Bach's organ playing made by contemporaries of his. It also relates to the tradition of blind organists throughout the ages, beginning with Franceso Landini in the 14the century. - considerably less finger and foot substitions - a complete reduction of guttural noises (the notorious "accompaniment" of in particular exciting passages) - (up to the present) absence of lower back pain. I practise at home with the digitalized sound of historical organs to prepare for recordings on some of the most beautiful instruments in Europe. The project —which may last about ten years— will be continually documented with writings and videos on the Internet. As Bach's music surpasses the boundaries of the instruments which he knew several types of organs will be used, for instance the Callinet-organ in the Church of the Cordeliers in Lons-le-Saunier (France), made between 1842 and 1844. This instrument represents a transition between the esthetics of the 18th and the 19th century.  J.S. Bach - Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland BWV 659, Callinet-organ Lons-le-Saunier - Four basic emotions  I concentrate on four states of mind which are essential for both Bach's music and human life in general: joy, rage, suffering and longing. These emotions have been naturally related to dance throughout the ages. 1. JOY Joy is at the basis of everything. In 1802 Forkel, Bach's first biographer, wrote about the organ sonatas: "One can not say enough of their beauty". I imagine Bach playing such a sonata and listeners associating the music with paradise. Video: J.S. Bach - Trio Sonata in E-flat major BWV 525, second movement, with score Video: J.S. Bach - Trio Sonata in E-flat major BWV 525, first movement, with score 2. RAGE  Rage is a powerful source of creativity, which can be transformed in several ways to serve a performance. Regarding Bach I consider it as a manifestation of the Holy Spirit leading to the majesty and grandeur of, for instance, a toccata. This does not imply any form of ponderosity; on the contrary, lightness and souplesse are always the starting-point.  3 and 4. SUFFERING AND LONGING Suffering and longing are at the heart of Bach's music and can not be separated from each other, for instance in the performance of a profound choral prelude. The essence of the project is going beyond professionalism and re-discovering a lost naivity. A naivity that is both simple and efficient. See my YouTube playlist My new way of playing Bach: Dancing Bach on the organ

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Copy YouTube Playlists

Willem Tanke as an improviser and a performing composer:

Organ, tabla and other instruments

Olivier Messiaen and the Cave of Forgotten Sounds

Organ and flute

The Enchanted Desert for organ, flute and percussion, including dance and performance

Re-contextualizing Messiaen

A 21st Century Way of Playing the Organ

A 21st Century Way of Playing the Piano

Giving a new dimension to avant-garde jazz

SuperAudioCD Meditations for a lent

Piano + live electronics 

Willem Tanke as an interpreter of the classical repertoire:

My new way of playing Bach: Dancing Bach on the organ

My old way of playing Bach

Haydn and Mozart Organ Works

Joh. Brahms Organ Works

Max Reger Organ Works

About practising Maurice Duruflé's "Veni Creator"

Olivier Messiaen Organ Works

20th Century Composers (other than Messiaen)

Copy links

Willem Tanke combines the organ with tabla, assimilating bird songs by Messiaen in his improvisations: Organ and tabla

He gives a 21st dimension to playing the pedals: Grand solo for the pedals

Using his expertise as a Messiaen interpreter, Tanke stretches the boundaries of avant-jazz: The Waiting Traveller

His composition Stillness  suits playing with musicians from world music traditions:  Stillness 

He plays the Yamaha SY99 synthesizer in a new context: The Great Voyage

The Enchanted Forest text

For music examples see  YouTube play list: The Enchanted Forest In The Enchanted Forest, a project by organist  Willem Tanke and flautist Martijn Alsters,  associative relations between sounds, images  and words replace a logical storyline. They  leave impressions which may be different  for everyone in the audience, but have a  similar basic pattern or "blueprint" in the  subconscious mind. Consequently,  The Enchanted Forest has an archetypal quality  that surpasses differences in cultural  background, race and religion. The listener  may experience a feeling of being in an alternative,  timeless world. The Enchanted Forest has a strong message,  namely that creativity, spiritual force and  imagination can transform negative energy  into positive energy. In Madonna of the Sky,  a key movement of the project, this is represented  with the help of a passage from Ramon  María del Valle-Inclán's novel Flower of Holiness,  in which the shepherdess Adega envisions a miracle. The music contains a rich variety of moods such as  stillness, exaltation, longing and affectionate emotion.  Forces of nature, such as may be found in a storm, are  also depicted. It is essential to recognize a mood of  childlike, naive joy of playing; a quality which is hard  to find in contemporary classical music. In this respect,  Martijn Alsters and Willem Tanke feel inspired by  18th century music, in which an uncomplicated joy  of playing was an obvious means of expression.  They relate to the 18th century in other respects  as well and present their music with depth, transparency   and accessibility.  The Enchanted Forest may be performed in small, medium  or large sized churches or concert halls, for example at a  festival or as part of an organ recital series. The duration  is approximately 58 minutes. Voor muziekvoorbeelden zie: YouTube play list: The Enchanted Forest  In Het Betoverde Woud, een project van organist Willem Tanke en fluitist Martijn Alsters, nemen associatieve verbindingen tussen geluiden, beelden en woorden de plaats in van een logische verhaallijn. Zij laten indrukken na die voor iedereen  in het publiek verschillend kunnen zijn, maar een vergelijkbaar basispatroon of "blauwdruk" hebben in het onderbewustzijn. Hierdoor ontstaat een grote herkenbaarheid, onafhankelijk van culturele achtergrond, opleiding, ras en religie. De luisteraar  kan een gevoel ondergaan zich in een andere, tijdloze wereld te bevinden.  Het Betoverde Woud heeft een kernachtige boodschap: creativiteit, spiritualiteit en verbeelding kunnen negatieve energie omzetten in positive energie. In het centrale deel Madonna of  the sky  wordt dit duidelijk gemaakt aan de hand van een passage uit de roman Bloem van Heiligheid van Ramon María del Valle-Inclán, waarin het herderinnetje Adega een wonder ondergaat.  De muziek is rijk geschakeerd aan stemmingen, zoals verstilling, vervoering, verlangen en ontroering. Ook worden natuurkrachten uitgebeeld, zoals een storm. Essentieel is de stemming van kinderlijke, naieve speelvreugde, een kwaliteit die in hedendaagse klassieke muziek vrijwel niet aan te treffen is. Martijn Alsters en  Willem Tanke voelen zich hierbij geïnspireerd door 18e eeuwse muziek, waarin ongecompliceerde speelvreugde een vanzelfsprekende wijze van expressie was. Ook in andere opzichten sluiten zij bij de 18e eeuw aan en presenteren zij hun muziek met diepgang, transparantie en toegankelijkheid.  Het Betoverde Woud is geschikt voor kleine, middelgrote of grote kerken of concertzalen, bijvoorbeeld in het kader van een festival of een serie orgelconcerten. De tijdsduur is ongeveer 58 minuten. Het dagblad “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" in een recensie over  de CD Imaginary Day: “Willem Tankes Musik ist Lichtjahre von jener  Behäbigkeit entfernt, die Unkundige mit dem Instrument Orgel in Verbindung zu bringen pflegen.“ (“Willem Tankes muziek is lichtjaren  verwijderd van de zwaarwichtigheid, die leken met het instrument orgel  in verbinding plegen te brengen”)

Programme The Enchanted Forest with flautist Martijn Alsters

There are more options, but basically the programme will be:

1. Invocation
2. Rotations
3. Wild energy
4. Thin air
5. Birds, Drums and Signals
6. Stillness
7. Listening to the fairies
8. In memoriam Claire Delbos
9. Terra ferma
10. Madonna of the sky
11. Visions
12. My friend the Indian

Update programme notes The Enchanted Desert

The Enchanted Desert, for organ, flute and percussion and including dance and performance, was premiered on June 30th, 2016 to celebrate the Schnitger Dream Prize awarded to Willem Tanke in 2015. 

The Enchanted Desert has a strong message, namely that creativity, spiritual force and imagination can transform negative energy into positive energy. This is represented by the metaphor of a barren desert turning into a flowering desert. Associative relations between sounds, images and titles of pieces replace a logical storyline. They leave impressions which may be different for everyone in the audience, but have a similar basic pattern or "blueprint" in the subconscious mind. Consequently, The Enchanted Desert has an archetypal quality that surpasses differences in cultural background, race and religion. The duration is about 60 minutes.

The following video shows fragments of the first performance, with Eliana Stragapede, dance; Martijn Alsters, flute; René van Commenée, performance and percussion; Friso van Wijck, percussion, and Willem Tanke, organ. Rick Kaijser made the choreography.

Video: The Enchanted Desert - selection of fragments

Photo by Guy Tal

The Enchanted Desert
programme notes by the composer

Part One

1. Intro consists of sparse, percussive sounds, produced by a wandering, enigmatic figure.

2. Stillness is originally a composition for organ solo, written in 1996. It expresses the emptiness of a desert; an emptiness that is nevertheless full of concentration. In January 2017, I had a vision that referred to my ancestors who during many centuries were labourers in the fields or peasants with a small piece of ground in Twente, a region in the east of Holland, bordering Germany: 

Springtime. At the end of a hard day’s work a farm worker is resting a while before going home. He is leaning against a tree, his face in the late afternoon sun and his thoughts nowhere. Suddenly and for a very short time he sees Eternity. Some years later it happens again and after that never more. But the longing for it encourages him during the rest of his life and strengthens him at the hour of death.

Video Stillness (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)

3. Listening to the fairies was written in 2003, also for organ solo. The mood is light, easy-going and cheerful, a quality which is almost impossible to find in contemporary classical music. The improvising flautist strengthens the feeling of joy.

Video Listening to the fairies (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)

4. Wild Energy is the last movement of Five Dances for organ, composed in 1997. It depicts forces of nature, such as a may be found in a thunder storm.

Video Wild Energy (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)

5. Terra Ferma is a composition for alto flute by Martijn Alsters. The high sound of a bowed cymbal suggests sizzling air on a hot day. The air vibrates above the solid ground, accompanied by strange sounds of the organ that increase the concentration.

Video Terra Ferma (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)


Part Two

6.The Loop Man # Ardha Jai Taal originated in 2016."The Loop Man" is a nickname which Mike Garson gave me because of the many rhythmic-melodic patterns which I composed for in particular the left hand. By frequent repetitions these patterns function as a "groove" or a "loop".They are particularly suitable for cross-overs between genres of music. The loop in this piece has 13 beats, following the example of Ardha Jai Taal, a rhythmic pattern from Indian music. 

Video The Loop Man (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)

7. Exaltation is like Wild Energy originally a movement from Five Dances for organ. The neo-Celtic melody came to me after watching a performance by Riverdance, an Irish dance group that was famous in the '90s.

Video Exaltation (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen,2016)

8. Howling Sands is a title which spontaneously rose up when I made this piece in May 2016, after visiting the Der Aa-church in Groningen. When I entered it as a search term on Internet, I saw to my surprise that howling sands really exist. It is a natural sound phenomenon of up to 105 dBs, lasting as long as several minutes, that occurs in about thirty-five desert locations around the world, for instance the Mojave Desert in California.

Video Howling Sands (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)

9. Birds, drums and signals is the second movement of Three Light Pieces. Similar to Listening to the fairies a mood of naive, childlike joy can be recognized. The loop or groove (with a 13/8 time signature) is played by the right hand and accompanies an improvisation on the flute and a rather virtuoso part for the organist's left hand.

Video Birds, drums and signals (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)

10.Terra Incognita is in line with the title the freest movement of The Enchanted Desert. Its content depends on the circumstances of the location and the moment. In Groningen it resulted in an improvisation by percussionist-composer Friso van Wijck.

Video Terra Incognita (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)


Part Three

11. Grooving Angry Elephants originated in May 2016, when the magnificent trumpets of the Schnittger-organ in the Der Aa-church served as a source of inspiration. Before they sound there is a wild passage in octaves, played with a plenum of the positive. The 11/8 groove that follows, with the sound of the main organ reeds and played by the left hand, suggests the swaying back and forth of the elephant's trunk and its trumpeting. The improvising right hand expresses a feeling of rage and powerlessness. The title came to me after watching a video about hunted elephants on YouTube.

Video  Grooving Angry Elephants (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)

12. Madonna of the sky plays a key role in The Enchanted Desert. It refers to the Assumption of Maria, Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, who was born as a Mohawk Indian, the unforgettable image of the Angel in Messiaen's opera Saint-François d'Assise in the Parisian performance in 2004 and symbols of fertility all over the world, like the bee.

Video Madonna of the sky (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)

Madonna of the sky suits the following passage from Valle-Inclán's novel The Flower of Sanctity very well:

"Adega, cuando iba al monte con las ovejas, tendíase a la sombra de grandes peñascales y pasaba así horas enteras, la mirada sumida en las nubes y en infantiles éxtasis el ánima. Esperaba llena de fe ingénua que la azul inmensidad se rasgase dejándole entrever la Gloria. Sin conciencia del tiempo, perdida en la niebla de este ensueño sentía pasar sobre su rosto el aliento encendido del milagro. ¡Y el milagro acaeció!…Un anochecer de verano Adega llegó a la venta jadeante, transfigurada la faz."

(fragmento de la novela Flor de Santidad de Ramon María del Valle-Inclán)

"When Adega went up to the mountain with her sheep, she would lay herself down in the shadow of large boulders and spend many hours there, her eyes fastened upon the clouds and her young soul in ecstasy. Full of naive faith she hoped that the immense blue would tear apart, letting her see the Glory. Unaware of time, and lost in the haze of this dream she felt the burning breath of the miracle pass her face. And the miracle happened!…One summer nightfall Adega arrived out of breath at the tavern, her face transfigured."
(fragment of the novel Flower of Sanctity by Ramon María del Valle-Inclán, translated by Peter Clark)

Video Madonna of the sky (versie Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)

13. Mirage - Intensity - Vision brings the third and final climax, that surpasses the two before. The first part is based on an improvisation which I played to express a storm in Henk van Ulsen's performance Job in the '90s. It also appeared with the title Breakwave on my CD Imaginary Day. The second part originates in an improvisation from the mid '80s, when I was still studying with Jan Welmers at the conservatoire in Utrecht.

Video Mirage -Intensity - Vision (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)

14. My friend the Indian was originally written for a Yamaha SY99-synthesizer in 1996 and is dedicated to Rien Roggeveen and —in 2017— Saint Kateri Tekakwitha. The piece evokes an image of a desert that flourishes after heavy rainfall. An indian is sitting on the ground, looking quietly around him.

Video  My friend the Indian (version Der Aa-kerk, Groningen, 2016)

Photo by Guy Tal

The Cave of Forgotten Sounds with Indian musicians and Bennie Maupin

As it is rather doubtful if the following will succeed I removed it from my website. I am actually working on an ensemble version of my organ solo project Olivier Messiaen and the Cave of Forgotten Sounds, with some of the most prominent Indian musicians and Bennie Maupin. This implies mastering the technique of playing an Indian rhythmic cycle with the left hand while improvising with the right and vice versa. In the improvisations I assimilate and transform numerous atonal bird songs by Olivier Messiaen which I have been internalizing since the early '80s (Messiaen was one of the greatest composers of 20th century Western classical music and used to imitate bird song in his compositions). Combined with numerous formulae from the church modes they leave an impression of modality as seen from the perspective of the 21st century, which is what I have been aiming at in the past few decades.  The project is inspired by Werner Herzog's documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams, about the prehistoric Chauvet cave in the Ardèche in the South of France, discovered in 1994. Besides prehistoric paintings on the walls an approximately 30.000 year old flute was shown, made of the bone of a vulture and tuned according to the pentatonic system which characterises modality throughout the ages and everywhere in the world. After watching the documentary I imagined a prehistoric flutist and Olivier Messiaen imitating a bird together, the flutist on his instrument and Messiaen while writing on music sheets. When the bird flies away, the flutist and Messiaen stop their work and look at each other with a smile of satisfaction and happiness. This image stimulated me to start the project and create new music that surpasses differences of cultural background, race and religion.  The first movement establishes a spiritual atmosphere which suits the encounter of music from the East and and the West. Invocation, the beginning of the organ solo version of the project, will serve as a starting-point for a dialogue between raga Bhimpalasi, the notion of alap, Bennie Maupin's solo and my own modal style, derived from Gregorian chant with which I was raised. The organ solo version is: Video: Invocation, version St. Stephen's Church, Nijmegen 2017 This will be followed by movements based on Indian rhythmic cycles, similar to the following: The Loop Man # Rupak with Sandip Bhattacharya, Budel 2017 N.B. The project is closely related to my research Dancing Bach on the Organ.  For many Western classical musicians, Bach interpretation is a process of lifelong learning that is at the very heart of their musicianship. My particular concern is to transfer the lightness and souplesse of performing with tabla masters to the interpretation of organ works by Bach. With the involvement of Messiaen's bird songs the result is what I experience as a perfect symbiosis between Bach, Messiaen and playing with Indian musicians and Bennie Maupin.

Looking forward

I removed the following from my website, had enough of all that looking back and reflecting. From now on just looking forward. 

Tanke's musicianship can be understood knowing that as a teenager a favourite album of his was, besides Bach, Messiaen and Webern, Miles Davis' Bitches Brew. In addition he was overwhelmed by John Coltrane's A Love Supreme and intrigued by Frank Zappa's albums, Stockhausen's Aus den sieben Tagen, a recital with Indian classical music in his hometown Hengelo and pianist Cecil Taylor. 

For some decades Willem Tanke was puzzled by his musical identity, because he could not relate the nature of his own improvisations and compositions to being a Western classical organist and theorist. Only in the past few years he managed to overcome conventions of music life and integrate seemingly contradictory sides of his musicianship, knowing that they are essentially related and feeling that they make each other stronger. 

Visiting Bernard Jeunet in the Jura

During a visit to the Jura in France in the autumn of 2017 I had the following experience:

On October 16th, 2017, between seven and half past seven in the morning, it appeared to me that I met a shaman, who was as the same time Olivier Messiaen and My friend the Indian, according to a composition I wrote in 1996, shortly after my father died. The shaman had the following message: “abandon the ideal of playing the organ with as less movements as possible, as put into practice by Marcel Dupré, his student Olivier Messiaen and many others including yourself and introduce a dancing way of playing, to bring lightness into organ art. Identify with the instrument that you play and feel a spiritual unification. Be like a chameleon regarding the inmense variety of organs and other keyboard instruments.” One day later, the shaman c.q. Olivier Messiaen and My friend the Indian returned. This time he had a spiritual message: leave the strict, catholic context of Messiaen’s music and strive for a message which everyone, regardless of cultural background, race or religion, can understand.

This happened while I was practising on a keyboard without sound in a holiday home with a view to a lake, Lac Chalain, near Doucier in France, at about twenty kilometers of La Champagnole, where my wife and I would meet Bernard Jeunet later that week, who was a friend of Olivier Messiaen between 1972 and 1992, until the latter’s death in 1992. It was still half dark, the sun was rising.

With "My friend the Indian" I refer to a native American Indian, quietly seated somewhere in the Mojave desert, in a place where the energy of the archangel Michael can very well be felt."

Both the musical and the spiritual message refer to lightness, space and relaxation. This possibly represents Messiaen's afterlife, as his life on earth which made him a famous composer was evidently filled with internal conflicts.

Variations on "To God be the Glory", Lons-le-Saunier, with score

Between1998 and 2000 I was the organist of the African Choir of the Scots International Church, Rotterdam. During this period I learnt about 40 songs from Ghana and Cameroon. I was impressed by the swing, soulfulness and indestructible optimism with which members of the choir expressed their faith through their music. The choir performed W.H. Doane’s “To God be the Glory” in a particularly cheerful way.To remember this I composed a set of variations on this hymn in what —not without a twinkle in the eye—might be called “African baroque” style. The piece is typical of the 18th century in regard to harmony, voice leading, texture, ornamentation, fingering and registration. However, I
rhythmicized it in a way that would stimulate the choir to dance. The organ part may be supported by percussion, for instance a talking drum.The original melody can be sung before the variations.

It sounded very good on the Callinet-organ in Lons-le-Saunier (1842-1844).

Physical, mental and spiritual dialogue with Messiaen

Henk ten Holt wrote: "The musical dialogue between Messiaen and Tanke is a radical mental and spiritual experience which, at the same time, touches you very physically." Indeed I feel it that way. This is an example; the end of my project "Olivier Messiaen and the Cave of Forgotten Sounds".

Nunn komm, der Heiden Heiland BWV 659 Callinet-organ Lons-le-Saunier with score

My research "Dancing Bach on the Organ" will include a project to make recordings on beautiful historical instruments in Europe. This project may last about ten years and will be well documented on video and in writings. As Bach's music surpasses the boundaries of the instruments which he knew several types of organs will be used, for instance the Callinet -organ in the Church of the Cordeliers in Lons-le-Saunier (France), made between 1842 and 1844. This instrument represents a transition between the esthetics of the 18th and the 19th century.

The right words for performing Bach's trio sonata BWV 525b

In 1802 Forkel, Bach's first biographer, wrote about the organ sonatas: "One cannot say enough of their beauty". I imagine Bach playing such a sonata and listeners associating this with paradise. Recorded with the digitalized sound of the Van Dam-organ in Tholen (1832) on 11.10.2017. See my research "Dancing Bach on the organ": https://sites.google.com/site/willemtankeofficialwebsite/projects/resea