Born in Avignon to Pierre Messiaen, a Shakespeare scholar, and the poet Cécile Sauvage, Olivier Messiaen (1908 - 1992) exhibited a rare musical talent from an early age. He was admitted to the Paris Conservatory at age eleven, where he won five First Prizes - notably in classes with Marcel Dupré (organ), Maurice Emmanuel (music history), and Paul Dukes (composition). In 1930, he was appointed "Organiste Titulaire" of Sainte Trinit´´Church in Paris, a position he held until the early 1970s. At the outbreak of World War II, he became a French army hospital attendant, and in 1941 was taken prisoner and held in a POW camp in Silesia (where he composed "Quartet for the End of Time"). Upon his repatriation in 1942, he was appointed Professor of Harmony at the Paris Conservatory. During his lifetime, Messiaen was famed as an organist and pianist and frequently performed his own difficult compositions in concerts around the world.

Messiaen's music differs from much Western music through the use of invented scales ("Scales of limited transposition"). He only rarely used the traditional Western diatonic scale. He also integrated complex Indian (Hindu) rhythms, serial compositional techniques, and methods intended to suspend the perception of time Because of its "non-evolving" quality, Messiaen's music has often been compared with meditation - that is, as something not to be thought through from beginning to end, but merely allowed to be. This characteristic is at the heart of his music, and, once recognized, it enables the listener to experience the dancing, illuminating quality to be found there.

He was also greatly aware of the role of color in his music; he once stated that "when I hear music, I see colors, not through my eyes, but through my intellect." There are many allusions to color in his works. As the notes about the pieces on this recording demonstrate, Messiaen occasionally described in his scores the colors he saw depicted by various combinations of sounds.

Finally, Messiaen was innovative in his interest in and use of birdsong. He spent a lifetime cataloging birdsongs from all over the world, and diligently incorporated elements of those songs in his music. He wrote, "Among the artistic hierarchy, the birds are probably the greatest musicians to inhabit our planet."

In other, equally striking ways, Messiaen was rooted in the past, both in his faith and in his music. He continued in the tradition of many of the greatest Western composers, especially in his deliberate attempt to incorporate the "spiritual truths of the Catholic faith" into his music. In fact, along with the titles of his works, Messiaen often included biblical passages alluding to the images and affects he was attempting to evoke in the music (the appropriate citations are contained here). Finally, and most significantly for this recording, Messiaen's organ music perpetuates the style of the great French organ tradition that began with César Franck and the instruments of Cavaillé-Coll.

About the Organ:
This Cavaillé-Coll (1885) / Gloton-Debierre (1937) organ was the second instrument the vicar at Auteuil (Paris) commissioned from Cavaillé-Coll. The first was "borrowed" in 1877 by the French government and placed in the Place du Trocadéro to be used for the Paris World Exhibition. (At that time, the building of Notre-Dame d'Auteuil was not complete.) When the time came for the hall to be demolished and the organ sent to Auteuil, in southwest Paris, Guilmant and Widor spearheaded a campaign to get the government to purchase the organ from Notre-Dame d'Auteuil. So, in 1884, Cavaillé-Coll commenced building another noble two-manual instrument for Notre-Dame d'Auteuil, which was dedicated on February 11, 1885 by Widor and Dallier (organists at Ste. Sulpice and Ste. Austache, respectively). In 1937, Gloton-Debierre worked under the direction of Albert Alain to add a third manual (Positive expressive). At that time, the organ was electrified using the Debierre System and fitted with a new console. This electric installation has functioned faultlessly ever since. The sounds of this organ are very similar to those at Ste. Trinité, where Messiaen spent many years of his life. Both instruments seem to relay the poetry innate in this music, and are integral to the French tradition.

Messiaen's comments to Jonathan Dimmock (November 1978):
"You have a perfect understanding of my music. You play like an angel!"

Messiaen, from "Saint François d'Assise"
"Music carries us to God in default of Truth. Thou speakers to God in music: He is going to answer you in music. Know the joy of the Blessed by gentleness of color and melody. And may there be opened for thee the secrets of Glory!"