Messiaen's La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jesus Christ is a blockbuster - 200+ singers, huge orchestra, 7 soloists, three banks of marimbas and a drum 2 metres tall. It could have transfigured the Royal Albert Hall, blasting us into the divine. But it didn't.
Excellent playing from the massed forces, held together courageously by Thierry Fischer. But gargantuan proportions in Messiaen do not operate in nearly the same way as in, say, Bruckner or Berlioz. This music is profoundly spiritual, so the key, I think, is understanding what type of spirituality Messiaen seeks to invoke. Messiaen isn't "churchy". On the contrary his vision takes in vast panoramas, stretching into infinity. His spirituality isn't polite, socially sanctioned propriety, but connects more to the heterodoxy of the Middle Ages. :Look at those paintings of the saints Messiaen loved - they glow ! They are "high" on their beliefs. This isn't "established church" propriety. A good performance can capture the supernatural frenzy such intense spiritual abandon can produce. Messiaen was steeped in early music and knew all about religious intensity. At once, he's pre modern and a modernist.
And the birds...Messiaen studied them as they really were, movements, habitats, etc. His birdsong is nothing like birdsong in, say, Schubert or Mahler. The cacophony in La Transfiguration has nothing to do with bigness for its own sake. It's there to celebrate the vast diversity of creation. It's like a dawn or evening chorus made by every bird in the universe. The cacophony comes straight from nature, it's free, liberating and totally uncivilised. After all, men don't transfigure into God every day. When they do, shouldn't there be wild, unrestrained ecstacy ?
On birdsong in Messiaen: another aspect of Messiaen that shouldn't be taken too literally. Ornithologists probably get a lot out of Messiaen because they can identify specific birds and know why Messiaen used which bird when. But good ornithologists also know that birds don't just sing - they observe their movements, habits, habitats. Birdsong in Messiaen is nothing like birdsong in, say, Schubert or Mahler. Messiaen studied birds from life. So he knew they don't sing nice little melodies, they sing to mark territory, to alert others, and also because they enjoy it. Even the most eloquent sing in snatches, breaking off in different directions, following quirky rhythms and intervals. It operates simultaneously on many levels, so what may seem like cacophony is in fact clearly defined. So Messiaen's birdsong is radically different. Only Janacek, who notated the chickens in his yard, comes near.
Messiaen's birdsong defies form, and even conventional line and pitch. It's organic, evolving of itself, rather than from a preconceived harmonic idea. It moves, changes direction, follows odd little riffs and cells. Listening to Messiaen this year has enriched my feel for Boulez tremendously. Nadia Boulanger's intense dislike of Messiaen and his circle extended to Boulez and even to Yvonne Loriod, who was instantly dropped when she took up with Messiaen. Her influence on many English language writers and musicians still prevails. Perhaps Boulanger, who did have a good ear, but was fixated on Stravinsky, realised where Messiaen might be heading.
So this Proms didn't ignite into the mind-blowing experience it might have been. Listen out for Nagano this autumn at the South Bank, and listen to the recordings (Cambreling, Myung whun Chung and recently de Leeuw). But so what ? We listen to music (or at least I do) for what it gives us, not because we're searching for "definitive" perfection. I got lots out of this Prom even though it dragged in places, even for me, a long term fan. I can't at all blame those who walked out or fell asleep. But a friend told me he'd seen a little girl with thick glasses, listen rapt with attention through all 14 sections. Now that must surely justify this Prom and indeed the whole Prom tradition. If the joy of performance can touch even a small girl way up in the galleries, the Proms serve their purpose. Does our government even begin to understand what a an asset the BBC Proms are to the cultural life of this country ? (and others. too)
Listen to this Prom online on http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2008/. It was also televised so you can watch the film, too ! The live performance was spoiled because the music had to stop for regular radio commentary. Of course people benefit from knowing "about" the music but interrupting a performance kills whatever atmosphere there might be, so it's self defeating.
Read the full formal review here :
http://www.musicweb-international.com/SandH/2008/Jul-Dec08/prom14_2707.htm
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