“Music which lulls to sleep and which sings, which is of new blood, speaking gestures, an unknown fragrance, an unsleeping bird; music of stained-glass church windows, a whirl of complementary colours, a theological rainbow.” This personal definition which Olivier Messiaen gave in those words points to both the purely musical and the extra-musical characteristics that Messiaen demands of himself and attributes to his works. It also serves as a brief résumé of one of the most important works which Messiaen produced during his first great creative period, the Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps. Mixed and edited from the original 8-track tapes, this edition provides a breathtaking listening experience of the highest analogue sound quality.

 

The audiophile vinyl series The Original Source presents outstanding recordings from the 1970s in a whole new sound quality. For this, the renowned Emil Berliner Studios have remastered and edited the original four- and eight-track tapes in 100% analog quality (AAA) using technologies developed specifically to produce the series. The sonic differences to the original releases are considerable: greater clarity, more subtleties and improvements in frequency response, while at the same time less background noise, distortion and compression allow for an audiophile listening experience like never before.

 

On 180g vinyl records and in a deluxe gatefold edition with original covers and lyrics, the copies of this series are released limited and numbered, accompanied by additional photos and facsimiles of the recording logs and tape boxes.

 

Tracklisting:

 

Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du temps

 

LP1

Side A

 

1. Liturgie de cristal

2. Vocalise, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du temps

3. Abîme des oiseaux

4. Intermède

5. Louange à l’Eternité de Jésus

 

Side B

 

1. Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes

2. Fouillis d’arcs-en-ciel, pour l’Ange qui annonce la fin du temps

3. Louange à l’Immortalité de Jésus