FRANK MORANA
AmerOrganist 38/7

OLIVIER MESSIAEN, Prélude, Leduc 29414. Offrande au Saint Sacrement, Leduc 29357. Monodie, Leduc 29146. What sorts of questions should we be asking about the recent publication of these three “new” organ pieces by Messiaen, dating, in two instances, from around the late 1920s, and in another instance from the early 1960s? There is, on the one hand, the great corpus of works that were prepared for publication and nurtured in performance by the composer himself during his own lifetime; but on the other hand, the phenomenon of posthumous adulation and commercial appeal can give rise to a subsidiary corpus of ephemeral works that, despite obvious musicological interest, the composer himself may never have intended for public consumption. These pieces were first performed in major venues by Olivier Latry, in complete Messiaen cycles given in Paris, New York, and London in 1999–2000 and subsequently recorded for Deutsche Grammophon at Notre-Dame. The impressions gained through these performances and recordings are as idiomatic and convincing as one would expect, but it is only with reference to the scores themselves that a closer, more objective look is possible. It is a rare privilege to be accorded a glimpse into the workshop of the genius of Messiaen, and these three pieces––owing precisely to their longtime “unofficial” status and (in the two instances) early compositional genesis––afford us just that.

The most substantial and musically satisfying of the three is the Prélude. It is written throughout in 7/8 time, with a key signature of four sharps. It is easy in this work to detect resemblances to Le banquet céleste in the opening measures, Dieu parmi nous in the ensuing “presque vif,” to Debussy, in the final section, and even to Franck, in the final “triumphal” statement of the theme in octaves. But ultimately, these aspects are merely incidental, and the work as a whole is as original as almost everything else one finds in Messiaen.

The Monodie was written as an example for an organ treatise published by a colleague in the early 1960s. Monodic writing occupies an important place in Messiaen’s music, though usually within the context of other, contrasting textures, rather than in self-contained pieces. This 16-measure movement calls for––and at the same time summons forth––the suspendu effect (quality of suspendedness) that is highly prized among French organists, but it is otherwise purely didactic. The three scores carry metronomizations, and state that the Prélude and Offrande clock-in at about nine minutes and five minutes respectively. The Monodie carries a metronomization of eighth-note equals 48, and therefore runs about three minutes––long enough to create a mood––but not six minutes, as stated in the score.