Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992)
Vingt Regards sur l’enfant-Jésus (1944)
Petites Esquisses d’Oiseaux (1985)
Ciro Longobardi (piano)
rec. 2023, Artesuono Recording Studios, Cavalicco (Udine), Italy
Piano Classics PCL10246 [2 CDs:134]
Having recorded Messiaen’s monumental Catalogue d’oiseaux (1956-1958) (review) Italian pianist Ciro Longobardi now turns his attention to Vingt Regards sur l’enfant-Jésus, that epic cycle of reflections on the infant Christ child in the manger as viewed from the perspectives of men, angels, creation and God himself.
Writing for the piano spans Messiaen’s whole creative life and there is a corpus of material ranging from the 1920s to the 1880s, most of which Ciro Longobardi has already set down for Piano Classics in the studio. Vingt Regards was composed in Paris in less than six months in 1944 during which time the city went through its liberation. He composed it for Yvonne Loriod, his protégé and future wife, who recorded in twice, for Vega in 1956 (now available in a Decca box set, 481 7069) and again for Erato in 1973. She also made two 78s of Regard 10 (‘L’Espirit de joie’) and 15 (‘Le baiser de l’enfant-Jésus’) for Pathé in the 1940s.
The score can be experienced and enjoyed in a number of ways. It works well in two parts equally divided after Regard 10. Both Regards 1 and 11 are a mirror of one another with the Theme of God prominent. You can also hear the work in four parts: 1-5, 6-10,11-15,16-20. This also works and Messiaen sanctioned this approach by placing natural headers and footers in the music at these points. Many pianists prefer to present the work as a whole; some not even coming up for air and going right through without an interval. Steven Osborne, a noble ambassador for this piece, advocates this approach, but even he has performed it in other ways too: at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival he gave a recital which had Schubert’ Sonata D960 in the first half and Regards 1, 8,14,19,10 in the second. (I actually programmed that sequence on this CD version and it works really well as an introduction to the piece.)
The Nativity is narrated in only two of the four Gospels. St. Matthew’s tells us of the wise men (not mentioned by St. Luke) whilst Luke’s wonderful account takes us through the birth of John the Baptist, the Annunciation, the Holy Family’s journey to Bethlehem from Nazareth (at the command of Caesar Augustus) and the birth of Jesus in the stable. Luke tells us of the angels and the shepherds but nowhere in the canonical Gospels do we read of an Ox or an Ass. Messiaen, always a good Catholic, doesn’t include those animals in the procession of gazers, so theologically everything is as it should be. I mention all this as it is important to realise this is a work of religious devotion as well as a pinnacle of pianistic virtuosity. Indeed, Messiaen wrote, “The misfortune of my life is that I have written religious music for a faithless audience”.
Ciro Longobardi plays the whole piece in exactly 2 hours. Individually, his timings are pretty conventional. I might highlight a rather expansive Regard 6 (‘Par Lui tout a été fait’) and conversely a fast-paced Regard 15 (‘Le baiser de l’Enfant-Jésus’) as a couple of examples where he is a little different. If you intend to listen in four parts (I would recommend this) his timings are 24/29/28/38. Two other excellent versions I have been listening to are those by Pierre-Laurent Aimard (Teldec, 1999) with 23/28/28/37 and Steven Osborne (Hyperion, 2001) with 27/28/31/41.
Longobardi has a formidable technique and this certainly comes in handy in Vingt Regards. I will highlight some areas where he impresses, but first there is the question of his instrument. He plays a Fazioli 278 which is bright, clear and sparkling in the upper register. His fellow artists I am comparing him with all play the more common Steinway D with its richness, sustaining capability and warmth. It does make a difference and the sheer power and bass resonance of the Steinways are always going to be impressive.
The big showpieces of the cycle are Regards 5, 6,10,11,15,19 and 20, but it is in some of the smaller or perhaps less vividly coloured movements where Longobardi shines. I enjoyed the tenderness he brings to Regard 4 (‘Regard de la vierge’) and Regard 8 (‘Regard des Hauteurs’) for its precision and glazed delicacy (the Fazioli piano really impresses here). In Regard 11 (‘Première communion de la vierge’) his dexterity is once again impressive as he embellishes the God theme with mercurial figurations in the right hand. In the famous Regard 15 (‘Le baiser de l’Enfant-Jésus’) he adopts a faster pace than some and his playing in the last minute of the piece (from 8:24) is just marvellous, but he does plod a bit through the chords from 5:55 – 7:00. Aimard on the other hand is sparkling here; his Regard 15 is a tour de force of bliss and tranquillity, with pianissimi to die for at the end.
In the last two Regards we hear transcendental beauty and the joyous culmination of what the Nativity means for fallen man. As the preface to the Mass during the Octave of Christmas says: ‘In the mystery of the Word made flesh a new light of your glory has shone upon the eyes of our mind; so that, as we recognise in him God made visible, we may be caught up through him in love of things invisible’. Surely this is what Messiaen is composing in the final Regards.
Steven Osborne’s Vingt Regards (Hyperion CDA67351/2) was until 2022 my go-to recording. His is a considered, meditative account without show. He just lets the music speak and the sound Andrew Keener and Tony Faulkner engineered for Hyperion is tremendous. It should also be understood that for Osborne, Vingt Regards was not a one-off meeting in a recording studio. He has presented this piece live all over the world and many thousands must have been profoundly moved over the years by his interpretation (my colleague, John Quinn, for one, when he reviewed a performance for Seen and Heard in 2013). In the Summer of 2022, however, Erato released Bertrand Chamayou’s version. It does not seem to have been reviewed here at MWI, but for me, it is now the first choice in this work (9029619666). Chamayou has known the piece all his life and the care he takes over the phrasing on each line in the score really comes across. Like the Hyperion of 20 years earlier, it is a superbly produced disc. In pieces like Regards 6 and 10 the French pianist shows his technical prowess and musicality, yet it is in the more subtle contemplative passages where his rubato and discrimination make this a very special performance. Against these two outstanding interpretations, I am afraid the new recording by Ciro Longobardi is not competitive.
The new version has a coupling, unlike most CD versions of Vingt Regards. Longobardi follows the work with Petites Esquisses d’Oiseaux. This is a 14-minute work in six movements depicting four birds: Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush and Skylark. It is a late composition dating from 1985 and like the more substantial La Fauvette des jardins of 1970 is an appendix to the famous seven books of bird music he wrote in his famous Catalogues d’oiseaux. Collectors who have Longobardi’s two previous releases will be pleased that these Esquisses have not been left out but they feel superfluous after the odyssey of the Vingt Regards.
Philip Harrison
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