Olivier Messiaen - The Crystal Liturgy
by Olivier Mille
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Olivier MessiaenDirector: Olivier Mille
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: Dutch (Original Language); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 107 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-11-20
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Juxtapositions
Movie Reviews of Olivier Messiaen - The Crystal Liturgy
Movie Review: An informative and entertaining DVD on Messiaen, but the extras are more informative than the main documentary
Summary: 4 Stars
This entry in the Juxtapositions series features Olivier Mille's documentary "Olivier Messiaen: La Liturgie de cristal". By assembling archive footage of the great French composer from the 1950s to just before his death in the early 1990s, Mille has created an engaging montage where Messiaen relates the course of his life, explains his general aesthetic, and speaks of some of his inspirations. Besides interviews with Messiaen, we are also treated to bits of his piano works by Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Yvonne Loriod, Pierre Boulez leading the Ensemble Intercontemporain in the opening of "Chronochromie" and other samples. The original material that Mille has created for the documentary are lovely shots of the American Southwest that inspired Messiaen's "Des Canyons aux Etoiles". The documentary does give a very complete overview of the composer's natural inspirations, but much less so his religious ones. In fact, his Catholicism is hardly mentioned at all until we reach a discussion of his opera on the life of Francis of Assisi. One shouldn't expect too specific a discussion of specifics. Case in point, we see footage of Messiaen explaining how he transcribes birdsong an octave or two lower, and writes half tones instead of quarter tones, finishing by saying "though what I'm doing is truthful all the same." I, however, have long been puzzled why Messiaen didn't go for microtonal writing, and answers elude us here.
The DVD extras consist of nearly an hour of interview with musicians and composers about Messiaen's work. Yvonne Loriod talks about collecting birdsong with him, Pierre Boulez and George Benjamin tell of their studies under him, and Gilbert Amy speaks of his translations of birdsong into music. This is quite informative even for one who has read widely about Messiaen. For example, I finally understood here that Messiaen didn't adopt microtonal writing because his relationship with Loriod meant an emphasis on piano music. The extras also add the religious dimension missing from the main documentary, with a whole series of interviews on his faith.
If you've been collecting the rest of the Juxtaposition series, this latest entry is very much worth picking up. Even if you are not a Messiaen fan, I think it can help you make inroads into his soundworld, which can be challenging simply because it is so individual amidst 20th century repertoire.
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