Two things:
Firstly, a second venture into Messiaen’s Tristan triptych. This week three love songs: from Harawi: Bonjour toi, colombe verte; from Turangalîla: Chant d’amour 1 and the first of the Cinq rechants.
Then a search for the elusive Vinteuil violin sonata mentioned in Marcel Proust’s great -in all senses of the word (seven volumes!) – novel, À la recherche du temps perdu.
Olivier Messiaen:
Harawi
II. Bonjour toi, colombe verte
Turangalîla-symphonie:
Chant d’amour 1
I. Introduction 0:00:48
II. Chant d’amour 1 0:07:31 ∙
III. Turangalîla 1 0:15:58 ∙
IV. Chant d’amour 2 0:21:30
V. Joie du sang des étoiles 0:32:56
VI. Jardin du sommeil d’amour 0:39:53 ∙
VII. Turangalîla 2 0:52:02
VIII. Développement de l’amour 0:55:45
IX. Turangalîla 3 1:07:25
X. Final 1:12:38 ∙
Cinq Rechants: Rechant 1
Proust’s novel is a roman à clef – there are often real people lurking behind the facades of the fictional characters. The work concerns itself with involuntary memory – a thing we’ve all experienced, when an object, a place, or a person instantly brings back a long forgotten memory. Amongst these joggings of the author’s hidden recall (and apart from the famous madeleine of the opening) there’s a phrase from a sonata by the (fictional) composer Vinteuil.
A roman à clef; so who is actual composer behind this mysterious Vinteuil? Three of the most likely candidates can be sampled below:
Guillaume Lekeu:
Violin Sonata in G
Très modéré [0:00]
Très lent [13:08]
Très animé [24:17]
Camille Saint-Saëns:
Violin Sonata in d
00:45 Allegro agitato
07:31 Adagio
13:45 Allegretto moderato
17:43 Allegro molto
César Franck:
Violin Sonata in A
Allegretto ben moderato 0:33
Allegro 6:56
Ben moderato: Recitativo-Fantasia 15:19
Allegretto poco mosso 22:45
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The Art of Listening 