Paul Jacobs’s recording of Messiaen <i>Livre du Saint Sacrement</i> to be released on Naxos

Frank Ferko is a well-established Chicago composer whose musical output has included numerous organ compositions in addition to works for chorus, vocal solo, chamber ensembles, and orchestra. Currently Composer-in-Residence with the Dale Warland Singers, Mr. Ferko spends part of his time each year in the Twin Cities. Mr. Ferko holds a B.M. degree in piano and organ performance from Valparaiso University, an M.M. degree in music theory from Syracuse University, and a D.M. degree in composition from Northwestern University. His teachers have included Philip Gehring and Will O. Headlee (organ), Howard Boatwright (theory), Richard Wienhorst and Alan Stout (composition). His master’s thesis was an analysis of Olivier Messiaen’s piano cycle Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus. As a scholar of the music of Olivier Messiaen, Mr. Ferko has lectured extensively on Messiaen’s organ music and has performed many of Messiaen’s works in concert.

Without a doubt, Olivier Messiaen was the most innovative composer of organ music in the last century. The organ was Messiaen’s own instrument, so he spent much of his life exploring its musical possibilities as related to color and texture, alongside his larger pursuit of a unique musical expression based on personal studies of theology, ornithology, rhythm, modes, and musical structures. Messiaen’s published output for the instrument was significant1: seven multi-movement cycles and five single-movement works (four published during his lifetime, and one published posthumously), totaling approximately 81/2 hours of music. The works range in style from Debussy-influenced, triadic harmony-based works to highly cerebral, academically-influenced works of serial pointillism.

Portrait of the Composer: a Brief Overview

Messiaen’s early works were clearly “the next step” after Impressionism, and they have often been classified by the term post-Impressionistic. After the Second World War Messiaen entered a phase of experimentation with serialism which encompassed the organization of pitches (or sometimes entire harmonic structures as distinct units), rhythms, articulations, and dynamics. Simultaneously, Pierre Boulez experimented with serializing these parameters in his own works, which eventually resulted in the concept of total serialization. Messiaen’s interest in serialization on any level was short-lived, and within a few years he moved on to incorporating notated bird song into his works. The songs of the birds provided an enormous palette of pitch and rhythmic variety--without serialization--which resulted in a seemingly simple, free-flowing kind of music that could be combined with the ever-developing harmonic language rooted in the composer’s earlier works.

During the 1940s Messiaen’s interest in other kinds of composition increased, so that he wrote nothing for the organ between 1940 and 1949, but instead, his attention was turned to piano music, orchestral works, and a certain amount of vocal composition. Exploring the musical possibilities of these media provided the composer with further development of his compositional technique which is not always represented in the organ works that followed. For example, his developmental technique of agrandissement asymétrique can be found rather abundantly in his piano works of the 1940s and 50s but not at all in any of the organ works. Similarly, he explored new and unusual vocal effects in such works as Harawi (1945) and even to some degree in Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine (1944) and even explored electronic composition primarily through his interest in the Ondes Martenot.

The 1950s and 60s provided a time for the new procedures to be incorporated into the composer’s established portfolio of compositional techniques so that the result was fresh and innovative but always recognizable as distinctly that of Messiaen. One such technique developed in his organ cycle of 1969, Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité, was the musical alphabet/grammar system which he called “communicable language.” This technique allowed the composer to write theological statements into the music in order to clarify and intensify the meaning of particular musical passages. The composer was pleased enough with this technique that he used communicable language in the final organ cycle, Livre du Saint Sacrement. In 1983, at the time of the premiere of his opera, Saint François d’Assise, Messiaen announced publicly that he would compose no more; the opera represented a summation of all of the musical techniques used throughout his career, and there was nothing more for him to say. However, in the following year he went on to compose his longest organ cycle ever. In 18 movements (and about two hours of performance time) Livre du Saint Sacrement represents another summation of Messiaen’s thoughts: a summation of his theological beliefs expressed through the vast array of musical techniques and thematic ideas which he had developed over a career spanning nearly 60 years and particularly expressed through the medium of the organ.

The Marathon

It has now been a decade since the death of Olivier Messiaen, and during these past ten years the importance of his contribution to the organ repertoire has steadily increased. Indeed, these works collectively stand as one of the towering achievements in all of organ composition. The sheer intensity and technical difficulty inherent in these works have defied complete performances in public. Although a few artists have recorded the complete organ works during the past 20 years or so, the recordings have been made under controlled conditions and without an audience. Jon Gillock is among the very few organists to present the entire body of Messiaen’s organ works in a live concert setting, and even his presentation occurred over a period of time in a series of separate concerts. It would be almost unthinkable for one person to present them all in a single extended concert.

Enter Paul Jacobs. A quiet, unassuming master’s degree student in his mid-twenties, Paul Jacobs has entered the organ concert circuit doing what some people might consider to be the impossible. Having performed the complete organ works of Bach in two separate series of concerts and then later in a single 18-hour marathon concert, Mr. Jacobs has distinguished himself as the only living organist to have performed all of those works himself in a single, live concert event. After having achieved some notoriety for the accomplishment, Mr. Jacobs turned his sights in an entirely different direction: the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen.

On January 11 at 12:10 p.m., at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, Paul Jacobs set out on an expansive spiritual journey into that mystical, colorful, intensely beautiful sound world of Olivier Messiaen--and he let us go with him. For the next 81/2 hours those of us who were fortunate enough to be there found ourselves transported, from one magnificent region of Messiaen’s sound universe to another, a tour of the aural galaxies. We experienced, at various times, bursts of brilliant nebulas, choruses of ecstatic birds amid the liquid chant of medieval monks, and at other times, towering architectural wonders surrounded by mathematical complexities and occasionally enhanced by mysterious handwriting on the walls. This is a deeply spiritual sound world, a place where one goes for respite, meditation and prayer, but also for the extraordinary experience of an almost unbearable joy, and it was difficult to return.

This concert was the first in a series of six marathon concerts, organized over a period of six months in different cities across the U.S., in which Mr. Jacobs is presenting--at each one--the complete organ works of Messiaen. (January 11, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago; February 22, Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, DC; March 9, St. Philip’s Cathedral, Atlanta; March 17, Grace Cathedral, San Francisco; May 9, Basilica of St. Mary, Minneapolis; and June 14–15, St. James Cathedral, Seattle.) Each marathon (except the last, in Seattle) presents the works in six installments throughout one day: short concerts, each of which includes a small group of pieces or a single, multi-movement cycle. The six segments are separated by short breaks so that the audience (and presumably, the performer) can have a few moments of rest before moving on to the next destination.

Although the Chicago audience was permitted to come and go during the concert, many of us remained for the entire marathon in order to experience the complete journey. The six component concerts of the day were organized as follows:

I. L’Ascension and Messe de la Pentecôte

II. Les Corps Glorieux and Diptyque (offered in this order rather than that printed in the program)

III. Apparition de l’Eglise éternelle, Verset pour la Fête de la Dédicace, and Livre d’Orgue

IV. Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité

V. Le Banquet Céleste and La Nativité du Seigneur

VI. Livre du Saint Sacrement.

The only work not included in this program was the posthumously published Monodie. Each program segment was preceded by a few brief statements by Mr. Jacobs about the music in that portion of the program. There was no extensive commentary nor were there printed program notes to clutter the mind or influence the thinking of the listener. It was the intention of the performer to allow the listeners to hear the music in its pure form as Messiaen wrote it. The only comment which appeared in the program was a general note from the organist, as follows: “It is a tremendous blessing for me to offer these concerts of the complete organ works of Olivier Messiaen in honor of the tenth anniversary of the composer’s death. Messiaen, without doubt, is one of the greatest musical minds and souls of the twentieth century and has profoundly affected my life. I am extremely grateful to be able to share his work with you.”

It is not the purpose of this article to provide a detailed critique of the performances of these works, but some general comments are certainly in order for an event of this magnitude. One of the distinctive characteristics of Messiaen’s music is his use of color: harmonic color, instrumental color, and in Messiaen’s own experience, visual color, which he perceived from music through synaesthesia. Harmonic color was achieved, of course, through his complex system of juxtaposing either very simple chordal structures or very dense ones--often derived from impressionistic models-- with pitches from his own modes. In his own personal experience the colors were generated by the resonance in the music. Messiaen’s music never depended completely on the instrument or the acoustics to generate its resonance; he wrote the resonance directly into the harmonies. For this reason in particular, pitch accuracy in the performance of this music has always been of the utmost importance.

All of his organ works were composed for the organ at La Trinité in Paris, an instrument which underwent several changes in tonal design during the 60+ years that Messiaen served there as or-ganist. The composer was quite meticulous in specifying in each score the tone colors that he wanted to be used at any given time within a piece, and each work had stop specifications appropriate to the Trinité organ at the time of the work’s completion. Thus, the later works encompass a wider palette of tone colors than the earlier works. For American performers this frequently presents problems since many American instruments do not come equipped with the required stops for Messiaen’s works, and they often lack the appropriate voicing.

In this particular setting, given the placement of the organ console in relation to the pipework, the performer was faced with the additional challenge of trying to hear balances and colors the way the audience would hear them. Paul Jacobs rose to the challenge effectively and used the 126-rank Aeolian-Skinner organ to its best advantage. Each color was carefully selected to comply with the composer’s demands, and yet the performer was sensitive enough to utilize some variety in his stop selection in order to make the most of the instrument’s available tonal resources. These color nuances were particularly noticeable in quiet passages, such as the closing section of the second movement of L’Ascension, the “Offertoire” movement of Messe de la Pentecôte, and in several of the extended passages of bird song in the two late cycles. Throughout the day I did notice a few departures from the score in Mr. Jacobs’s stop selections, but his intentions always seemed to be in service of the music, and the overall effect of his color palette was quite successful.

For most audiences, the least accessible of Messiaen’s organ works is Livre d’Orgue, dating from 1951. Anyone entering Fourth Presbyterian Church between 2:55 p.m. and about 3:40 p.m. would have been treated to the most complex, disjunct, cerebral, technically difficult--and yet colorful and solidly constructed--music ever conceived for the organ. Mr. Jacobs explained in his verbal comments prior to this portion of the program that “this piece is not about beauty; it’s about time, color and light.” Knowing full well that this work would not be a favorite among most people in the audience, Mr. Jacobs wisely placed it in the middle of the day when, presumably, the attendance level would be relatively low. Although some people did leave during Livre d’Orgue, I was pleasantly surprised to see how many stayed to experience this very challenging music. Their continued presence served as a testament to the music itself and to the confidence with which Mr. Jacobs presented it. 

As the day progressed the music re-turned to the more familiar sounds of works dating from the early years of Messiaen’s career, but then concluded with the composer’s final, crowning achievement in organ composition, Livre du Saint Sacrement. This is the work that truly summarized it all: Messiaen’s thoughts on musical composition, his intense religious beliefs, his admiration for the music of the birds, and the myriad colors which he perceived visually and aurally. What an appropriate and exciting way for our musical odyssey to end! 

Portrait of the Artist: an Interview

So what brought about this phenomenon of performing all of the Messiaen organ works in one concert? Why the marathon? I had the opportunity to discuss this and other matters with Paul Jacobs prior to his concert, and the resulting portrait that I was able to construct of this young musician was most impressive. The marathon, he ex-plained, has a practical side to it. Since he is a full-time student, it would not be possible for him to go out to various cities and present the Messiaen works in a series of multiple concerts in each city, over the course of a full week, before going on to the next city. It would be much more efficient and practical to present them all in one day and then move on. From the standpoint of one in the audience, I would say that the marathon presentation allows the listener really to embark on this magnificent musical journey, to become immersed in Messiaen’s unique sound world without interruption, and also to hear the works comparatively with each other and to experience the musical growth and development of the composer as this vast oeuvre unfolds before us.

With so much exciting organ music out there in the world, some of it by composers who are much more popular with audiences than Messiaen, why present Messiaen’s complete organ works? Mr. Jacobs had much to say on this topic, and his comments are summarized as follows: Olivier Messiaen offers a message that no other composer of any era has offered. There is an intense conviction in this music and a relentless joy--all of the time. The seriousness in Messiaen’s music is not based on sorrow or sadness, but rather, it is based on joy. One can be overwhelmingly crushed by the joy in this music, and that makes it extremely attractive.  Messiaen was perfectly sincere and said what he believed, what needed to be said, and he was not concerned with the audience’s reaction. There is no ego in this music. Messiaen’s inspiration came from God, and he saw it as his obligation to use his musical gift to create this sincere and intensely joyful music.  Mr. Jacobs went on to comment that “we need to hear more of Messiaen’s message, especially after September 11th.” 

When asked how difficult it is to prepare a very challenging concert as this, Mr. Jacobs responded that there really is no trick to it. He prepares, in part, by reading about the life and works of the composer, but he refrains from listening to existing recordings of the works which he is about to learn. Successful performance of the music comes from the plain, hard work of dedicated daily practice. For him learning new music has become second nature, and he feels an extreme devotion to it. In further comments about Messiaen, Mr. Jacobs explained that he always believed that Messiaen’s work--and certainly the sincerity of the work--can be appreciated by everyone. The style and the creative process may need some explanation for the audience to get the most out of it, but lengthy explanations are really not necessary. Anyone can grasp and understand the beauties of Messiaen’s music, and people should have the opportunity to hear it.

These artistic beliefs were quite evident in the performance I heard, a performance by a very sincere and dedicated artist. I suppose that as Mr. Jacobs continues to perform this music, his interpretations will undergo some change. That kind of change is part of the process of artistic growth, and that is always a good thing. Mr. Jacobs expressed that he is not interested in “entertaining,” but rather, he is interested in using his own gifts to share this very worthy music with others and to allow them the opportunity to experience what he himself has experienced through hearing it. I wish him well, and I am looking forward to hearing more musical performances by this phenomenally gifted and intelligent young artist.

Reflections ten years later

Joyce Johnson Robinson is editorial director of The Diapason.