Messiaen's Musical Techniques The Composer's View and Beyond [Hardcover]

Despite Messiaen's position as one of the greatest technical innovators of the twentieth century, his musical language has not been comprehensively defined and investigated. The composer's 1944 theoretical study, The Technique of My Musical Language, expounds only its initial stages, and while his posthumously published Trait? de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie contains detailed explanations of selected techniques, in most cases the reader is left to define these more precisely by observing them in the context of Messiaen's analyses of his own works. Technical processes are nevertheless in many cases the primary components of a work or movement. For instance, personnages dominate 'Joie du sang des ?toiles' from the Turangal??la-symphonie, and in certain cases, such as 'L'?change' from the Vingt regards sur l'Enfant-J?sus, the process (asymmetric augmentation) is the only structuring element present. Given this reliance on idiosyncratic techniques, clear comprehension of the music is impossible without a detailed knowledge of Messiaen's methods. Gareth Healey charts their development and interconnections, considers their relationship with formal structures, and applies them in refined and extended form to works for which Messiaen himself left no published analysis.Contents: Introduction; The theoretical and analytical writings of Messiaen; Theoretical and written sources; Extra-musical influences; The influence of Debussy and Stravinsky; Rhythmic evolution; Harmonic evolution; Harmony: an alternative perspective; Form; Implementation of analytical methodology; Conclusion; Appendices; Bibliography; Index.The music and writings of Messiaen became the focus of Gareth Healeys postgraduate research at the University of Manchester, under the supervision of Professor David Fanning, where he was awarded his PhD in 2005. An initial study of Messiaens Trait? de rythme, de couleur, et dornithologie fostered a growing fascination with Messiaens theoretical magnum opuslÓh