Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus

[Iota]

Fwiw, I love both Austbo and Kars. It was with Austbo I felt I first really entered the world of Vingt Regards, and I still think his opening Regard du Père is the most hypnotic of any I've heard, it seems so entrancingly bathed in the golden glow of Messiaen's faith. I possibly find the Kars the slightly better of the two overall. Haven't heard the Helmchen so am keen to hear what you make of him, as I'm an admirer of his elsewhere.

[Spotted Horses]

I'm not sure I ever listened to this piece properly. It's not in my listening notes but I think I listened through the Warner Messian Edition, which has a recording by Loriod. Then the discussion boards were full of praise for Ogdon, which became mythical because it was long out of print on CD and almost impossible to find, so no one could refute it. Anyway, I tracked down the Ogdon but I don't think I've listened to any of it until now, after Austbo. I listened to the first movement of both. I was attracted to the way Ogdon brought out the dissonances. Now, of course, it is easy to stream Ogdon (Decca).

[aukhawk]

So I've been listening to a few more recordings other than the ones I've already mentioned, plus Bellheim (which I have already surveyed and liked) to act as a 'control':

Loriod (3 different recordings), Kars, Helmchen, Austbo, Guðmundsdóttir, plus Bellheim.  (I don't have Bessette to hand right now - and I also recently passed up a chance to buy the 3-LP set of Rajna, and am kinda regretting it, it would have been fun to needledrop it and make it available somehow.) 
I listened mostly to Nos 1, 3 and 9 with occasional reference to Nos 7 and 11 as well.

I propose to deal with Loriod in a following post - her recordings really are not directly coparable with the bulk of more recent recordings - partly because of dated sound quality (which actually isn't bad at all in her last recoding on Erato) and partly because her interpretation is quite unique, and some speculation on the reasons for that uniqueness.

Of the rest, Guðmundsdóttir is a bit of an outlier, and not in a good way.  Her heavy-footed use of the sustain pedal makes for some delicious sonorities to be sure, but it soon gets rather tiresome and by the third track (No.9, Regard du temps) I was beginning to wonder if she'd just left a brick on it to save herself the effort.  That aside, she is the slowest (NB of the 5 I have auditioned here not including Bellheim) in No.1 Regard du Père and No.3 L'échange but then, confusingly, she rushes No.9, a shortish piece which begs to be taken more slowly IMHO.

The others - Kars, Helmchen, Austbo - I would all charecterize as 'mainstream' both in terms of performance and recording and as such seem fairly comparable to Hill, Hyldig, MacGregor, Osborne and Gomez that I've already mentioned upthread.  Sound-wise there is little to choose between Kars and Helmchen, both very good modern piano recordings, with Austbo, recorded in 1993, only very slightly behind.
Performance-wise again there seems little to choose, Helmchen and Austbo in particular seem very similar (though I note from my table upthread that Austbo is an outlier in No.15 Le baiser de l'Enfant-Jésus - with exceptionally slow tempo).  Helmchen in particular sounded very persuasive in No.1, justifying the tempo (which all three share) which is very close to the composer's marked 60 bpm - although personally I prefer slower.
Kars however managed to come across as more 'thoughtful' in No.1 (I don't know how else to describe it) and he impressed me in No.3 which is a steady build in crescendo and intensity from start to finish.  At the start I was marking him down as 'too prosaic' but during the long slow build he grew on me and in the end I was awestruck by his articulation in the repeated downward arpeggios which is absolutely second to none.  So on performance I give Kars the edge over Helmchen and Austbo. 
[EDIT TO ADD - in my haste I omitted to mention a singnificant point, which is that Kars is a live recording.  There is a noticeable cough partway through the slow first movement (which surely could have been edited/patched), and hard on the end of the tenth - ie, halfway through - there is enthusiastic and prolonged applause, lasting about 35 seconds.]
In sum I would put Kars up on a level with Osborne (not necessarily similar, but equally recommendable), with Helmchen and Austbo both comparable with Gomez, MacGregor, Hill - recommendable but not in my top drawer - and Guðmundsdóttir nowhere. 
Personally I still favour Bellheim and I will admit to leaning more and more towards Hyldig, for his spectacular sound which, I will admit, may be a bit too technicolor for some, and I would understand anyone having that reservation.


Vingt Regards - Jean-Rodolphe Kars

[aukhawk]

Yvonne Loriod was the dedicatee of Vingt Regards, and performed the premiere in 1945 and the first complete recording in 1956 - this is now referred toas the Vega recording.  She recorded again for Erato in 1974, and while searching on Spotify I came across another recording made in Baden-Baden for SWR in 1957. 
Clearly from this alone her view of this music must be taken as authoritative - but it goes deeper than that since even back in the early '40s when this music was conceived and written, Loriod was influential on Messiaen's compositional style for the piano, and his modes of thought generally.  They had met in 1941 when Loriod was a teenage student.  It would be going too far to say she was a collaborator in the composition, but she definitely would have had an input at some level.
Incidentally her influence on the avant-garde extended beyond and through Messiaen, to Boulez and possibly Stockhausen.  Boulez and Loriod were pretty much the same age and knew each other well - which may go some way to explain why there was often some friction discernable between Boulez and his mentor Messiaen.

It could also be said that the Vingt Regards, supposedly a grand devotional treatise by the devout Catholic, Messiaen - is also a love-letter of quite a different kind.  Shocking!

The earliest, Vega, recording is flagged by all the authorities as being in mono sound.  Well - not what I am listening to.  That is, the Vega recording as streamed losslessly on Spotify - this is audibly and visibly (if I put a pair of meters across it) not mono.  It may well be some sort of ersatz processed effect, ir may be unique to Spotify, I wouldn't know about that although other known mono recordings on Spotify do stream as pure mono.  But the audible result is a pleasing spread across the middle third of the sound stage, to my ears a big improvement on a plain mono image.
In more general terms the sound is not unpleasant, but is quite restricted both at the high and low ends of the spectrum, close and lacking in ambience.  It's a bit disappointing because, even back in 1956, the best way to record a grand piano had been a solved problem for some time.  During No.3 L'échange as the music gets progressively louder a tizzy resonance can be heard, rather as if someone had left a glass ashtray on top of the piano.


Vingt Regards: Yvonne Loriod, 1956, Vega

The SWR recording sounds muffled by comparison and is mono - no surprise for a broadcaster in that period - and with the performance overall being similar to the Vega this doesn't really have anything to commend it.  As well as streaming, it is also available to download from Presto.

The Erato recording exists as an Apex release on Presto (download only) and I found a pre-loved Apex twofer CD on Amazon.  It is also in the 18-CD 'Messiaen Edition' collection.
The sound is better and as good as you might expect for this vintage and label, really comparable with but a step below, the likes of Austbo or MacGregor.  Soundwise for me this is the only choice, of the three Loriod recordings here.

Performance-wise it's a bit more complicated.  A lot had happened in Loriod's life between the two recording dates, and it does show in her music.  In 1956 she was 32 and, well maybe this is not the appropriate term for one of that age but I'll say it anyway - angst-ridden.  In 1974 she was 50 and happily married.  'Nuff said.
Most authorities prefer the earlier, edgier, more impulsive performance style.  Either way it's a bit of an acquired taste, with modern performances sounding more relaxed and nuanced at every turn. To me she just sounds heavy-handed.  I haven't listened to Aimard (a student of Loriod), but it would not surprise me if his recording comes closest to Loriod, among modern versions.

I'm still left though, puzzling over Loriod's extraordinary tempo choice for the big opening movement Regard du Père.  To be blunt, at the fast pace she chooses she takes a wrecking ball to the music.  And why did Messiaen, effectively her Producer for these recordings, not have any influence here?  Perhaps a clue lies in this quote, from the liner notes of an Erato recording -
"He was very very slow in his work, but he always worked well and exceptionally thoroughly.  But while he was doing that, I could have done two things - though possibly badly.  But this speed had its advantages ... we two were very different, not to say antithetical, characters who complemented each other very well."


Vingt Regards: Yvonne Loriod, 1974, Erato/Apex

[aukhawk]

I've had a first listen to Bessette, and am impressed.  This one had definitely flown under my radar, how did that happen?

The piano sound is very pleasing and natural, missing only, for my taste, the last iota of weight at the extreme low end.  The bass is there, but it doesn't purr.
I've only listened to the quieter sections (as I'm not alone in the house) but she has a delicate touch with note clusters in the high registers having a gentle fizzing quality.  In No.11 Première communion de la Vierge I could feel my back hairs stirring, a very unusual reaction for me to any music.  Incidentally in this track there is a small finger slip that really should have been re-taken.
Slightly unusual - the white space between tracks is very long - more concert-length than CD-length.

Harking back to the Kars, Helmchen, Austbo comparison, on this brief encounter I would prefer Bessette to any of those.


Vingt Regards : Louise Bessette

[Mandryka]

I've had a first listen to Bessette, and am impressed.  This one had definitely flown under my radar, how did that happen?

The piano sound is very pleasing and natural, missing only, for my taste, the last iota of weight at the extreme low end.  The bass is there, but it doesn't purr.
I've only listened to the quieter sections (as I'm not alone in the house) but she has a delicate touch with note clusters in the high registers having a gentle fizzing quality.  In No.11 Première communion de la Vierge I could feel my back hairs stirring, a very unusual reaction for me to any music.  Incidentally in this track there is a small finger slip that really should have been re-taken.
Slightly unusual - the white space between tracks is very long - more concert-length than CD-length.

Harking back to the Kars, Helmchen, Austbo comparison, on this brief encounter I would prefer Bessette to any of those.


Vingt Regards : Louise Bessette

Louisee Bessette has recorded a super Scelsi suite -- I've not heard any of her Messiaen.

[aukhawk]

I note she is another pupil of Loriod - but, happily, not inclined to Loriod's quickness as Aimard and Muraro are.
Further listening at more realistic volume (house to myself) I can revise my opinion a bit about the recorded bass frequencies - it is mostly just that Bessette has a light touch in her left hand which is more than fine by me, but in combination with my lower listening levels that did make the bass seem a bit lacking - at higher volume I have fewer complaints.
Likewise, the long inter-track white spaces that I remarked upon turn out to be, at least in part, in fact just very prolonged sustain after the final note of each piece.