Messiaen

by Robert Sherlaw Johnson

Author Robert Sherlaw Johnson discusses all Messiaen's main works, exploring his musical language, the development of his technique, his individual approach to harmony and rhythm, the theological and symbolic aspects of his music, and his use of birdsong.

Genres: Music, Biography

232 pages, Paperback

First published September 12, 2009

Reviews

[Robert McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reference book than biography, this volume won't offer much to the uninitiated. To others however, it is well organized, not too long and clearly shows its subject honor by the two authors.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fascinating book presents a detailed account of Messiaen's compositional techniques and development up through the early 1980s (he died in 1992). Johnson writes very clearly and uses a lot of examples and diagrams to explain what is going on in the music, so despite the fact that this book is very technical, it never became too dense or hard to follow. Johnson covers all the main works up through 1983, with an especially interesting chapter on Catalogue d'Oiseaux. This book gave me a fresher and deeper understanding of what Messiaen did in his music, why he did it, and how it all works. I love Messiaen's music, so I very much enjoyed reading this book. It has made me want to go back an listen to all the pieces covered to see how my new understanding of what is going on in them will change my experience of them.