Book Review

Jun. 6th, 2019 08:10 pm
kenjari: (St. Cecilia)
[personal profile] kenjari
Olivier Messiaen and the Music of Time
by Paul Griffiths

In this book, Griffiths examines Messaien's music (up through 1983's St. Francis of Assisi) in chronological order and with a focus on how the music relates to time and aspects of development and directionality. Griffiths delves into the means through which Messiaen subverts and abandons both of these central principles of Western classical music. I found this book fascinating and useful for illuminating several aspects of Messiaen's music. He has long been one of my favorite composers, and I really enjoyed being able to take a closer look at his work, especially for pieces that I was not previously familiar with. I also appreciated that Griffiths takes Messiaen's religious motivations and inspiration seriously. My only minor criticism is that I could have used a few more pointers or guides through several of the examples where extremely dense harmonies are in play.

Profile

kenjari: (Default)
kenjari

June 2025

S M T W T F S
12 34567
8 91011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930     

Style Credit

Page generated Jun. 15th, 2025 02:29 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Most Popular Tags