Jump to content

Messiaen’s ‘Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus’


paul secor

Recommended Posts

Can anyone recommend a favorite recording of Messiaen’s ‘Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus’?  I've listened on YouTube and read reviews. So far, I'm inclined toward Peter Serkin's recording on RCA (o/p, but copies are available) and Haakon Austbö's recording on Naxos (available from Amazon, but only as a CDR, and I'm not sure whether copies from other parties are real CDs or CDRs also).

Any recommendations will be greatly appreciated.

Edited by paul secor
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bought the Austbo when it was a newish release. Found it good enough to not pursue alternatives, but I'm not a Messiaen enthusiast (20 Regards... and Quartet for the End of Time are my favorite pieces of his, fwiw).

Serkin's recording seems well-regarded and is probably very good. If I was to explore alternatives (not likely at present), I'd want to hear Loriod on Erato (for historical reasons) and Aimard on Teldec (I trust him in modern repertory). Steven Osborne on Hyperion got some excellent reviews, but I don't know enough about him to comment.

Edited by T.D.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, JSngry said:

For the times when I want to consider multiple options, I do recommend Berkshire Record Outlet.

In this case: https://www.broinc.com/search.php?row=0&brocode=&stocknum=&submit=Find+Item&text=messiaen+vingt+regards&filter=all

Thanks, Jim. For some reason, I hadn't thought of Berkshire.

 

7 minutes ago, T.D. said:

I bought the Austbo when it was a newish release. Found it good enough to not pursue alternatives, but I'm not a Messiaen enthusiast (20 Regards... and Quartet for the End of Time are my favorite pieces of his, fwiw).

Serkin's recording seems well-regarded and is probably very good. If I was to explore alternatives (not likely at present), I'd want to hear Loriod on Erato (for historical reasons) and Aimard on Teldec (I trust him in modern repertory). Steven Osborne on Hyperion got some excellent reviews, but I don't know enough about him to comment.

Thanks, T.D.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Paul, I like the Serkin as well, though I seem to reach for the Aimard more often than the other versions I have. Worth mentioning that Aimard plays it noticeably faster than the Serkin (or most others I've heard) but it certainly works for me! I have the original CD release (Teldec) but a friend of mine recently bought his 6 CD set of "Warner Recordings" for only a few dollars more that includes the Vingt...

Edit: This is the set I meant, though it was cheaper in Australia - NOT often I can say that :P

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Warner-20th-Century-Recordings/dp/B007KKKGQG/ref=sr_1_10?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1547022183&sr=1-10&keywords=aimard+messiaen

Edited by Marzz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Marzz said:

...

Edit: This is the set I meant, though it was cheaper in Australia - NOT often I can say that :P

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Warner-20th-Century-Recordings/dp/B007KKKGQG/ref=sr_1_10?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1547022183&sr=1-10&keywords=aimard+messiaen

That's a nice set! Only minor quibble is that it doesn't include the full contents of Aimard's awesome "Ligeti Edition Vol. 3, Works for Piano" disc.

Edited by T.D.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 1/9/2019 at 10:00 AM, T.D. said:

That's a nice set! Only minor quibble is that it doesn't include the full contents of Aimard's awesome "Ligeti Edition Vol. 3, Works for Piano" disc.

Oh yes, a wonderful disc, though that's the Sony set of course. Different label and all that. Only the first etude of Book 3 was written at the time of that release (1995/96). The last 3 recorded for Teldec in 2002 and included on the "African Rhythms" disc - he also re-recorded etudes 4, 8 & 12 for that disc's theme. So we need both the Sony and Teldec for Aimard's complete Ligeti etudes.

Btw, no doubt you already know this of course, I only mention it in case anyone's confused - one of the reviews on Amazon seems to suggest that the Teldec box contains a few of the Sony recordings but missing the rest. Now I'm confused! :D

 

Edited by Marzz
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks...No, I didn't know all that...I took a cursory look at the box on Amazon, put it on the wish list, but got discouraged by the Amazon comments. :blink: The classical label mergers have gotten me all confused; I thought it was plausible that Sony Classical could be under the Warner umbrella by now!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...