Colin Andrews - Messaien: Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité (2016)

Intended as his final major work for organ, Messiaens Meditations on the Mystery of the Holy Trinity is the culmination of his lifetime work as composer for the organ. Begun as a set of improvisations celebrating the renovation of the organ at Trinité (and the churchs 100th anniversary), Meditations employs new musical languages to explore the mysteries of Christian faith. Born in Avignon to Pierre Messiaen, a Shakespeare scholar, and the poet Cecile Sauvage, Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) exhibited a rare musical talent from an early age. He was admitted to the Paris Conservatory at age eleven, where he won five First Prizes- notably in classes with Marcel Dupre, Maurice Emmanuel, and Paul Dukas. In 1930, he was appointed Organiste Titulaire of Sainte Trinite Church in Paris, a position he held until the early 1970s. At the outbreak of WWII, he became a French army hospital attendance, and in 1941 was taken prisoner and held in a POW camp in Silesia (where he composed Quartet for the End of Time). Upon his repatriation in 1942, he was appointed professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatory. During his lifetime, Messiaen was famed as an organist and pianist and frequently performed his own difficult compositions in concerts around the world. Colin Andrews is an internationally famous concert artist, with extensive experience in the music of Messiaen. One of only four organists to have recorded Messiaens complete organ works, Andrews was recently named Membre dHonneur of the Association Grand Orgue Trinite Messiaen, based at Messiaens church in Paris.

Tracklist:
01. Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité: No. 1, Le Père inengendré
02. Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité: No. 2, La sainteté de Jésus-Christ
03. Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité: No. 3, La relation réelle en Dieu est réellement identique à l’essence
04. Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité: No. 4, Je suis, je suis!
05. Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité: No. 5, Dieu est immense, éternel, immuable - Le souffle de l’Esprit - Dieu est amour
06. Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité: No. 6, Le Fils, Verbe et Lumière
07. Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité: No. 7, Le Père et le Fils aiment, par le Saint Esprit, eux-mêmes et nous
08. Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité: No. 8, Dieu est simple
09. Méditations sur le mystère de la Sainte Trinité: No. 9, Je suis celui qui suis