SKU: HL.48180687
UPC: 888680831998. 9.5x12.25x0.139 inches.
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) is known for his unique composition style. Incorporating complex rhythms, harmony and melodies, The Ascension for Organ is no exception to the composer's popular, distinctive style. The Ascension was originally composed for orchestra by Messiaen in 1932-1933. The composer described the work as Four Symphonic Meditations and the sections are; 1) Majesty of Christ praying that His Father should glorify Him, 2) Serene Alleluias from a soul longing for Heaven, 3) Alleluia on the Trumpet, Alleluia on the Cymbal, and 4) Prayer from Christ ascending towards His Father. Messiaen arranged The Ascension for solo organ a year later. The first, second and fourth movements are arrangements of the orchestral version, however, the composer created a new third movement; Outburst of joy from a soul before the Glory of Christ, which is its own glory. The Ascension is essential to all advanced organists seeking to expand and vary their repertoire.
SKU: BT.PMC3367
Each of the five connected movements in this choral cycle contains references to 'Light,' assembled from various sacred Latin texts. I composed Lux Aeterna in response to my mother's final illness and found great personal comfortand solace in setting to music these timeless and wondrous words about Light, a universal symbol of illumination at all levels - spiritual, artistic and intellectual. The work opens and closes with the beginning and ending of theRequiem Mass, with the central three movements drawn respectively from the Te Deum, O Nata Lux and Veni, Sancte Spiritus. The opening Introitus introduces several themes that recur later in the work and includes an extended canonon et lux perpetua. In Te, Domine, Speravi contains, among other musical elements, the cantus firmus Herzliebster Jesu (from the Nuremburg Songbook, 1677) and a lengthy inverted canon on fiat misericordia. O Nata Lux and Veni,Sancte Spiritus are paired songs, the former an a cappella motet at the center of the work and the latter a spirited, jubilant canticle. A quiet setting of the Agnus Dei precedes the final Lux Aeterna, which reprises the openingsection of the Introitus and concludes with a joyful celebratory Alleluia. --Morten Lauridsen.
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