Messiaen: Eclairs Sur L'Au-Dela (Illuminations Of The Beyond)

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) wrote "Eclairs sur l'Au-dela" (Illuminations of the Beyond) from 1987-1991, on commission from Zubin Mehta and the New York Philharmonic, who premiered the work six months after the composer's death, on November 5, 1992. "It consists of a series of meditations on the hereafter and heavenly Jerusalem, taken primarily from the Revelation of St. John," says Paul Fiebig in the Hanssler liner notes. The piece has 11 sections, each a tableau, or block. There is no use of sonata form, no development of themes. There *is* a proliferation of transcribed bird songs, characteristic of Messiaen's late works, including for the first time the Australian lyre bird, which Messiaen saw in the wild on an 80th birthday trip down under.

Sylvain Cambreling leads the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Frieburg in a great 2002 performance, recorded at the Konzerthaus Freiburg. The SWR Baden-Baden und Frieburg was led by Michael Gielen from 1986-1999, and Cambreling has been music director since then. Despite having less recognition than the Berlin Philharmonic, it is a great orchestra, especially in modern and contemporary repertoire.

Here are the 11 movements:

1) Apparition of Christ in Glory (7'26)
2) The Constellation of Sagittarius (6'47)
3) The Superb Lyrebird and the Bridal City (4'09)
4) The Chosen Ones Marked By the Seal (2'02)
5) Dwelling in Love (14'48)
6) The Seven Angels With Seven Trumpets (6'32)
7) And God Shall Wipe Away All Tears From Their Eyes... (4'17)
8) The Stars and the Glory (11'44)
9) A Number of Birds In the Trees of Life (3'08)
10) The Way of the Invisible One (3'19)
11) Christ, Light of Paradise (11'06)

Messiaen was a devout Catholic, an organist, and an amateur ornithologist and astronomer who saw God's work as immanent in nature. There are many beautiful passages in "Eclairs," especially the fifth section, "Dwelling in Love," which is a stunning piece of sacred, devotional music that attempts to create a sense of timeless eternity. It is immediately followed by the stirring monumental theme of "The Seven Angels" featuring six horns, three trombones, and three bassoons. But I do not find it to be compelling as an overall composition. It is too episodic, and the whole is less than the sum of the parts. It is not as accomplished as Des Canyons aux Étoiles, another work featuring birdsong and constructed as a series of tableaus. And it is not as accomplished as the earlier orchestral works Chronochromie and Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum. I would recommend those compositions, and those recordings (see my reviews) for anyone just investigating Messiaen, rather than "Eclairs."

I have not heard any other recordings of "Eclairs," so I cannot speak to which is better. This recording is substantially longer than the earlier Chung recording and the later Rattle recording. The longer time is not spread throughout the work, but is added to the slow movements, which are taken even more slowly and majestically. At 76 minutes, Cambreling's "Eclairs" is 10 minutes longer than Chung's and 16 minutes longer than Rattle's.

For those impressed by Cambreling and the SWR, there is an 8-disc Hanssler box set of Messiaen's orchestral music, including this disc, all performed by the same director and orchestra.

[Disregard the Track Listings and Editorial Reviews on this page, both of which refer to another Hanssler product, Oliver Messiaen: Cinq Rechants, which includes choral works by Debussy, Ravel, and other French composers.]