Messiaen - Sight Reading Test (LiC 23/11/11)

[johnb]

One fascinating facet of last night's excellent Messiaen recital by the esteemed Peter Hill was his encore.

It was a Sight Reading Test from the 1930s. Messiaen had been teaching sight reading at the École Normale de Musique in Paris (he wasn't allowed to teach composition) and probably composed hundreds of these tests but only one has survived.

It is particularly beautiful and I urge everyone to give it a hearing, even if you intensely dislike Messiaen's music.

It is approximately 1:48 into the iPlayer Listen Again.

[amateur51]

A fascinating concert full of wonderful unusual music

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/b017cjys

[Serial_Apologist]

The majority of the early Messiaen Preludes sound simple to play; they're ferocious - key signatures, double sharps and flats; a nightmare of sight reading - I just gave up on them. They're not conventionally tonal but based on the invented modes Messiaen was already in 1929 basing his harmonic method on. I've often wondered why he bothered with key signatures, which he later abandoned.

S-A

[Bryn]

Anyone looking for an alternative performance of this little piece on CD need look no further than:

http://www.matthewschellhorn.com/discs/messiaenchamberworks/

which can be found for around a fiver (including p&p), "new", from the amazon.co.uk marketplace.

It's the final item on the disc.

Ah. Looks like I got the last of the really cheap new copies. There's currently a "very good" condition used copy there for around a fiver including p&p but the lowest priced new copy is now a fiver plus p&p.

[makropulos]

Anyone looking for an alternative performance of this little piece on CD need look no further than:

http://www.matthewschellhorn.com/discs/messiaenchamberworks/

which can be found for around a fiver (including p&p), "new", from the amazon.co.uk marketplace.

It's the final item on the disc.

Ah. Looks like I got the last of the really cheap new copies. There's currently a "very good" condition used copy there for around a fiver including p&p but the lowest priced new copy is now a fiver plus p&p.

Or why not try it at home. Here's a scan of the musical supplement to Le Monde musical in October 1934:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40420482@N04/6394720093/sizes/l/in/photostream/

[johnb]

makropos,

Thank you so much for that link. I've spent about an hour trying to find someone who sells the sheet music - to no avail.

A piece of Messiaen that I *might* actually be able to play!

[makropulos]

makropos,

Thank you so much for that link. I've spent about an hour trying to find someone who sells the sheet music - to no avail.

A piece of Messiaen that I *might* actually be able to play!

Nobody sells the sheet music, John, at least not yet - which is why I posted the scan. It only ever appeared as this 1934 supplement and then not until it was rediscovered (by me, as it happens) and subsequently used as an illustration in Hill & Simeone: Messiaen (Yale, 2005).

As you say, it's a delightfully playable piece of Messiaen!