Messiaen on Speed (or Dieu parmi nous - what not to do)

Being Christmas Day, organists up & down the land will be putting Messiaen's Dieu parmi nous through its paces • In the UK, it's become practically as ubiquitous as Handel's Messiah, so with the wonderful & timeless "Messiah on Crack" in mind, i offer you what we might perhaps call "Messiaen on Speed" •

At the 2001 Proms, Wayne Marshall gave an organ recital that included the last two movements of La Nativité • Whether Marshall was drunk, over-excited, showing off, taking the piss, eager to get home early, or some wild combination of all the above i have no idea, but the result rather boggles the mind • Marshall takes most of the music at a tempo so fast as to be way beyond ridiculous, his fingers literally spilling over the keys—wrong notes a go-go—sounding like an organ transcription of one of Conlon Nancarrow's more frantic studies • Inevitably, all the detail of Messiaen's material is completely lost, & the closing toccata simply has to be heard to be believed • Marshall turns Messiaen's coruscating hymn of joy into a excruciating but hilarious exercise in meaningless velocity • Oh, & the organ's out of tune too •

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Messiaen on Speed (Wayne Marshall plays Dieu parmi nous)