Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Glorious Bodies


Caught the second of six Saturdays of Olivier Messiaen's organ music yesterday afternoon. My old boss when I interned at Knitting Factory eleven years ago Steve Smith reviews the first concert here. What incredible music, played with equal parts stoic calm and religious fervor by organist John Scott. I can't make the next one but I will be back in November. I won't say that I had a Christian epiphany or anything like that ('cause thats just not how I roll), but listening to the fourth movement of "Les Corps Glorieux," "Combat de la Mort et de la Vie," (check the Youtube link included in this post) definitely induced some religulous ecstasy.

1 comment:

Alex Hawkins said...

Hey Harris,

Awesome piece...I was lucky enough to do a masterclass on Messaien's own instrument in Paris when I was much younger, and wow...the colours and stuff when you hear them on the organ where he wrote the pieces...Beautiful stuff!

A

p.s. that AACM concert sounds totally incredible. I love Amina Claudine Myers, and that duo album with Muhal is one of my favourites.