Des Canyons aux Etoiles : Eschenbach / London Philharmonic, Barto(P)(2CD)

Commissioned to celebrate the bicentenary of the United States Declaration of Independence, Olivier Messiaen's Des canyons aux etoiles (From the Canyons to the Stars) was inspired by the composer's tours around Utah's magnificent landscapes. The work's unusual instrumentation creates a texture that evokes the majesty and loneliness of the landscape, as well as it's inhabitant birds with astonishing effect. This recording presents a rare opportunity to hear a work not available extensively on record and infrequently performed live. Recorded in concert at Royal Festival Hall on 2 November 2013, as part of Southbank Centre's The Rest Is Noise year-long festival of 20th c. music, inspired by Alex Ross's bestselling book of the same name. Christoph Eschenbach, a champion of 20th - 21st c. music, has gained a reputation as a key interpreter of more unusual and challenging works. Pianist Tzimon Barto is one of America's foremost pianists, and has enjoyed a close musical collaboration with Christoph Eschenbach for 25 years. ... it's the teeming richness of the whole that overwhelms, and Eschenbach and his players had the measure of the music's vast perspectives. (Evening Standard)