An organ recital in progress: part 86

Dear SMM Community,
 

The next part of my online organ recital is here, and I hope that you enjoy it. I offer up these musical meditations as part of our parish efforts to find ways to keep you connected at this time. Recorded on my house organ, the instrument is a musical facsimile of the great 'Father' Willis organ at Salisbury Cathedral.

Today, I present Olivier Messiaen's Apparition de l'église éternelle.


The music of Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) is strongly rooted in his deep Roman Catholic faith, a foundation on which Messiaen crafted and informed his art. His Apparition de l'église éternelle, written in 1932, paints a bold vision of the eternal Church. Messiaen described the work as an ‘enormous and granite-like crescendo. The Church comes into sight and recedes. The pedals mark the hammer-blows of the Grace that builds the divine edifice’.



With best wishes,
Andrew Adair
Director of Music