Messiaen:La Nativite Du Seigneur

by Richard Gowers / King's College Cambridge

Written in 1935, La Nativité du Seigneur is one of Messiaen's most popular organ works, and a piece that helped to establish the then 27 year-old as an important figure in contemporary music. A testament to Messiaen's devout Catholicism, each movement follows a portion of the Christmas story. Significantly, the work contains early examples of Messiaen's signature compositional elements, such as birdsong, rhythmic inspiration from Hindustani and Carnatic musical traditions, and the 'modes of limited transportation,' which he would later publish in La technique de mon langage musical. These nine extraordinary meditations by one of the twentieth century's musical titans are performed on the magnificent King's College Chapel organ by former organ scholar Richard Gowers.