Messiaen’s Dieu Parmi Nous (1935)
Remember Messiaen from the Turangalila Symphony earlier this term?
This is the final movement of La Nativité – a suite for organ based on the different elements of Christmas (shepherds, wise men etc) – in this, Jesus is born, with a fiery toccata, and the symbolic descending pedal notes!
Here is the completely brilliant and wonderfully-shoed Dame Gillian Weir at the pretty much unbeatable organ of St Ouen in Rouen (it has some of the most devastating pedal reeds in the world).
The toccata section (where it gets especially interesting) is at 5:09:
Score:
The Listening Project Blog 