Messiaen as Pianist: A Romantic in a Modernist World
- Submitting institution
-
Birmingham City University
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 33Z_OP_C0015
- Type
- C - Chapter in book
- DOI
-
-
- Book title
- Perspectives on the Performance of French Piano Music
- Publisher
- Routledge
- ISBN
- 9781315600239
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- -
- Year of publication
- 2014
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
-
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Christopher Dingle’s chapter ‘Messiaen as Pianist: A Romantic in a Modernist World’ challenges both the predominant view of Messiaen as a performer and the notion that his music should necessarily be performed in a modernist aesthetic. It argues that Messiaen was first and foremost a pianist rather than organist, drawing on evidence from both the literature and analytical listening of often rare recordings to outline the extent of Messiaen’s activities as a pianist. The chapter then demonstrates that, contrary to his advice to performers suggesting a modernist, _texttreue_ approach, Messiaen’s aesthetic was rooted firmly in the pre-war Romantic tradition. In its conclusion, the chapter argues that, while the prevailing modernist approach to performing Messiaen’s music is effective (as exemplified by the first and second generation of interpreters), it is at least as legitimate to approach this music in a similar manner to that of Chopin.
The chapter is supplemented by a discography of commercial recordings featuring Messiaen as performer. The book in which the chapter appears, _Perspectives on the Performance of French Piano Music_ (Scott McCarrey and Lesley A. Wright, eds), is supported by a dedicated website that includes audio examples corresponding to the music examples for Dingle’s contribution:
http://frenchpianomusic.com/
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -