Tom Bell performs three of Messiaen’s great cycles of organ music: La Nativité, Messe de la Pentecôte, as well as the magisterial Livre du Saint-Sacrement in its entirety, plus the early Le Banquet Celeste. These are filmed and recorded at Blackburn Cathedral, home of the best organ for playing Messiaen’s organ music in the UK. In an accompanying four-part magisterial documentary, almost four hours long, biographer and scholar Christopher Dingle explores Messiaen’s life and compositional styles and development in relation to his organ music. This includes footage in which Thomas Lacôte demonstrates the organ of Sainte Trinité in Paris, where the composer was organiste titulaire for 60 years.

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Watch the first 12 minutes of Messiaen’s Musical Universe here:

Tom co-presents the documentary with Professor Christopher Dingle, author of The Life of Messiaen and Messiaen’s Final Works. Chris is one of the most authoritative Messiaen scholars in the world. Together they will explore the history, style and language of Messiaen’s Musical Universe. Tom  himself says:

‘Messiaen’s Livre du Saint-Sacrement (LSS) is the ultimate and longest organ piece by one of greatest composers of the 20th century. It is an ideal way to discover the sound world of Messiaen, as it is an almost comprehensive account of the major styles he used within his compositions, such as innovative use of rhythm, birdsong, richly colourful harmony and the influence of world music. We shall also include La Nativité and the Messe de la Pentecôte in this DVD for as full an account as possible of Messiaen’s style. Therefore this one boxset shall showcase Messiaen’s full range as a composer of organ music.’

Watch Tom playing the end of Dieu Parmi Nous: