# What do you think of Messiaen's Des Canyons aux étoiles...



## Guest (Aug 12, 2018)

It came in at first place in Portamento's game of compositions from the 1970s. I know, this game was completed nearly a month ago, but I find it interesting to see how people respond to games focussing on some of the more niche areas in the classical repertoire.


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## Clairvoyance Enough (Jul 25, 2014)

I've been listening to Messiaen a lot more lately and his music, for me, seems to come in two types. I'm more into the beautifully haunting orchestral and choral passages that evoke awe and dread than the twitchy nervous-tick orchestral writing accompanied by a plink-planking piano. The latter stuff still sounds interesting to me, and in this piece some of the piano sections are actually striking me more than they usually do, but it's more the half of his music I struggle with than enjoy right now. I love "weird" music like this but the way its presented as a series of repetitive episodes becomes tiresome to me.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Listening-wise _Des canyons aux étoiles..._ can be broken down into separate sections but taking in the whole thing is, I think, worth the perseverance - for me it's like the musical equivalent of reading a lengthy but absorbing _National Geographic_ article.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I don't know.

I find Messiaen difficult. I actually dislike Turangulila - there was a brief period when I liked it a lot and then it went bad on me! - and, apart from the Quartet for the End of Time, am never able to settle with his music. I've listened to Des Canyons many times and am impressed by it. But I haven't fallen in love with it. I know (or strongly suspect) that Messiaen was a great composer ... but my time for him has not yet come.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

I don't think I voted for it even once in that game, but that was because there were other compositions in the game that I liked better. I like Messiaen in general, and this is one of his better works for my taste.


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## Portamento (Dec 8, 2016)

I, like many others, agree that _Des canyons_ is one of Messiaen's greatest and grandest works. My only qualm is that IMO his piano writing relies too heavily on cluster chords and long periods of silence. Either way, I think it deserves the top spot.


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## Phil loves classical (Feb 8, 2017)

Great work. Messiaen has become one of my favourite composers of all time.


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## Guest (Aug 13, 2018)

elgars ghost said:


> Listening-wise _Des canyons aux étoiles..._ can be broken down into separate sections but taking in the whole thing is, I think, worth the perseverance - for me it's like the musical equivalent of reading a lengthy but absorbing _National Geographic_ article.


Coincidentally, this is pretty much exactly how I feel about it as well. I do find the smaller sections satisfying in an of themselves, but the whole thing is really worth listening to in one go. The sense of timing, pacing and space of many of Messiaen's works are less linear and goal oriented than a lot of other western classical music, and launching into this enormous work can sometimes even give me a sense of culture shock because of it. Adjusting to the pace of the music is all the effort it really takes for me to listen to it.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Quite wonderful, one of his best works. I listen to it quite regularly.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Will have to give this a listen. I don't own a copy. I do like Eclairs... and Et exspecto resurrectionem...


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## R3PL4Y (Jan 21, 2016)

One of his greatest works, along with Éclairs sur l'au-déla, Saint Francois d'Assise, and la Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ.


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## WildThing (Feb 21, 2017)

I'm curious to check it out. What recordings would everyone recommend?


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

I know de Leeuw, Constant, Salonen and Chung. 

I think the differences are subtle and even marginal, they are all good IMO. That´s why I skipped De Leeuw, keeping the others.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

WildThing said:


> I'm curious to check it out. What recordings would everyone recommend?


Pierre Boulez is many people's 'go-to' conductor for Messiaen but I don't think he recorded it. I have the recording with Yvonne Loriod on piano with Marius Constant conducting - originally on Erato but re-released on Warner's _Apex_ budget imprint. I don't go in for duplication so I can't say whether it's the best, but having Messiaen's wife playing piano presumably gives it credentials and the mid-1970s sound is fine.


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

The version by Cambreling must be heard for Robert Muraro's Mockingbird, just amazing... Cambreling is much different with Messiaen than other conductors, never in a hurry, letting the spaces breath... His rhythm is bit rigid but it's a fair tradeoff...

Et exspecto has never worked for me. I must have heard 7 versions, with several in my library, but no go.


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## Thomyum2 (Apr 18, 2018)

Messiaen is a composer I happen to be exploring a bit at the moment. I find his work fascinating but challenging at the same time - some aspects really draw me in but others strike me as abrasive. I find I really have to be in the right frame of mind to listen to his music, and need to be free of distractions and able to give it my full attention. I've known the _Quator pour le fin du temps _for many years and it remains a favorite, but I also like the _Concert á Quatre_ and have been enjoying discovering _Saint Francois d'Assise_, which I think is an amazing and under-appreciated work.

I actually also just purchased a copy of _Des canyons aux étoiles _based on some of the recommendations on this forum. I was already familiar with, and love the eighth movement from a CD of selections that I owned. Unfortunately I haven't been able to give the full work the time and attention it deserves for a comprehensive listening yet, but it's high on my list.


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## kyjo (Jan 1, 2018)

I started listening to it a while ago but never finished. There's some really cool effects and sonorities, for sure, but for an hour-and-a-half-long piece there's not enough contrast in it for my liking. Nothing really "jumped out" at me like passages in earlier works of his such as _L'Ascension_, _Turangalîla-Symphonie_, and _Quatuor pour la fin du temps_.


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