March 27–April 3, 1997

critical mass

Orchestra 2001

The four works on the all-Messiaen concert by Orchestra 2001 spanned over 60 years of creativity, from 1930 to 1991. The Forgotten Offerings was written by Olivier Messiaen when he was 22, and it was remarkable to hear how much of his musicalpersonality was already formed at that age and still present in his final work, Concerto for Four. Messiaen was a deeply profound Christian and the expression of this faith in his music produced some of his most memorable work.

The three movements of The Forgotten Offerings are The Crucifix, Sin and The Eucharist. In the final section, Messiaen is already speaking in what would later become his signature harmonic language, a post-Debussy, Asian-infused style thatdares to conjure the spirit of the other world. The composer's sincerity, concentrated power and elegance of construction succeed in creating music that comes as close to this philosophical illusion as any music since Bach and late Beethoven. Thisrapturous voice is heard again in the Vocalise section of the Concerto, which the composer was working on at the time of his death.

Orchestra 2001 music director James Freeman played the Vocalise as an encore, after declaring it to be "one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever."

Messiaen never separated the sensuality and violence of the human experience from his religious viewpoint, and these elements also found themselves in his music throughout his career. The Sin section of The Forgotten Offerings screams inhorror, a 20th-century counterpoint to Verdi's blazing trumpets of death in his Requiem. The Rondeau that concludes the Concerto is a joyous dance laced with eroticism.

The usual forces of Orchestra 2001 were augmented by members of the Swarthmore College Orchestra and the University of Pennsylvania Orchestra, required to adequately reproduce Messiaen's gigantic arrangements.

The star soloist was the composer's widow, Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen, for whom the composer wrote most of his piano music. She played in two works, the Concerto and the 1986 work "A Stained Glass Window and Birds." This piece displayedMessiaen's lifelong obsession with bird-song, as well as his fascination with the gamelan music of Bali. There were long stretches where only percussion instruments were heard, a massive battery replete with bells, gongs and xylophone.

The playing of the enlarged group was both focused and lustrous in tone, especially in the difficult sustained string passages. Both Freeman and guest conductor Ricardo Averbach (for the 1989 homage to Mozart "A Smile") seemed inspired tolead the players with a heightened sense of occasion. The soloists for the Concerto, Pamela Guidetti, flute, Dorothy Freeman, oboe, and Lori Barnet, cello, played as fully capable peers to the illustrious Madame Messiaen.

— Peter Burwasser