Olivier Messiaen is a master of the musical vision. With out-of-the-ordinary sound effects and a strong sense of atmosphere, he evokes ecstatic images, worlds in which only birds and other celestial beings seem to live.

Messiaen passed on this sound magic to his pupils George Benjamin and Gérard Grisey. In At First Light, Benjamin took inspiration from a blinding sunrise painted by William Turner. For Grisey, music has nothing to do with pictures or poetry – for him, it is sound and sound alone – but later he described Talea as a machine that fell prey to rampantly growing plants and parasites.
Pianist Marc-André Hamelin is this season’s artist in residence at Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ.

Artists

GEORGE BENJAMIN
At first light
OLIVIER MESSIAEN
Oiseaux Exotiques
GÉRARD GRISEY
Talea
OLIVIER MESSIAEN
Couleurs de la Cité Céleste

ASKO|SCHÖNBERG
SLAGWERK DEN HAAG
conductor Etienne Siebens
piano Marc-André Hamelin