La Monnaie : La présence divine (2)

A substantial part of Messiaen’s oeuvre took shape under the influence of his faith. The Trois Petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine were composed shortly after the Quatuor pour la fin du temps, based on one of Messiaen’s own writings. Messiaen explored rhythms and timbres and wrote the piece for an unusual instrumentation, all with the aim of creating his ‘music of colours’. The Burleske is one of the series of concertante works that Strauss wrote when young, but it is also an early foretaste of Der Rosenkavalier. It is not a ‘comical’ work, but more a scherzo larded with ironic touches. The instrumental suite that Strauss distilled out of Der Rosenkavalier in 1945 is evidence of the uninterrupted popularity of his opera since it was first performed in 1911. Ludovic Morlot here forges the unrestrained musical joy of the Burleske, the nostalgic reverie of Der Rosenkavalier and Messiaen’s supernatural sound world into a single entity.

Flagey, La Monnaie