Olivier Messiaen: Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus

Featuring

Alfonso Gómez
Olivier Messiaen

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Olivier Messiaen, a 20th-century composer, combined music and theology to explore the Christian faith in an innovative way, aiming to appeal to all listeners.

Performer Biography

Alfonso Gómez, the pianist on this recording, has won 11 national and international prizes, including the Grand Prix in the J. Françaix competition in Paris.

Compositional Technique

Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus is structured around the liturgy of the three Christmas masses: the midnight mass, early mass, and daytime mass.

Composer Biography

Messiaen held the post of organist at La Trinité church in Paris for over 60 years and was a Professor of Harmony at the renowned Conservatoire de Paris.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The title Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus (Twenty Visions of the Infant Jesus) was inspired by a work from Dom Marmion, a Belgian spiritual figure, about the various gazes upon baby Jesus.

Composer Biography

Olivier Messiaen was a synesthete, meaning he associated sounds with colors, and his music was influenced by composers like Debussy, Stravinsky, and Mussorgsky.

Composition History

Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus, written in 1944, is dedicated to Yvonne Loriod, the composer's future wife, who also performed its premiere in 1945.