Messiaen - Le merle bleu

III. Le merle Bleu (Bluebird)
(monticola solitarius)

The third entry in the Catalogue d’Oiseaux (1956-58). This poème for piano is distinctive for some very lovely passages, the blue sea (2:30, 4:32, 8:16. 11:12) and the chorus of women’s voices heard from afar at the very end (12:25). Then some truly insane counterpoint, right hand and left (5:07, 7:30).The curious thing is that with continued exposure and a dose of synesthesia , all of the pictorial stuff begins to make sense; big loud chords - cliffs, yeah okay. Mr Bong can be a great help.

One of the curious things about Messiaen's compositional style is avoidance of the mezzo piano marking, i.e.nothing between p and mf. He outlined this in the modes de valeurs et d'intensitées, seven gradations between ffff and ppp.

Here is a rough translation of the text:

June. Le Roussilion, Vermillion Coast. Close to Banyuls: cape l'Abeille, cape Rederis. Overlooking the cliffs, above the prussian bleu and sapphire blue sea. Cries of swifts, lapping water. The capes stretch into the sea like crocodiles. In an echoing crevise in the rocks, the bluebird sings. It is a blue other than sea: blue violet, slate, satin, blue black. Almost exotic, recalling Balinesian music, his song mixes with the sound of the waves. We also hear the Thekla Lark which hovers in the sky above the vineyards and rosemary. Herring gulls calling out at sea. The cliffs are awe inspiring. The waves die away at their feet with the memory of the bluebird.

martinets noir - swift
merle bleu - blue rock thrush
cochevalis de thekla - thekla lark
goéland argenté - herring gull

I made this! on an old Mac mini, Performer 5.13, Ivory sound banks. I'm getting smarter about less use of reverb...