Olivier Messiaen was
repatriated from the wartime prison
camp of Görlitz, Silesia in 1941,
and was appointed to a professorship
at the Paris Conservatoire. It was not
long after this that a young pianist,
Yvonne Loriod, joined his harmony class,
and the direction of Messiaen’s creativity
was once again transformed. In this
context, it is clear that Visions
de l’Amen is a major part of a new
era in which the piano became the central
focus of Messiaen’s work.
This great work is
played here by Paul Kim and his son
Matthew, whose piano education began
aged two, and whose performing record
with Visions dates, incredibly,
from the age of ten. When this recording
was made he had reached the grand old
age of fifteen, making him – according
to the booklet notes – the youngest
artist to have recorded Messiaen’s music
on a commercially released CD.
Keeping my feet firmly
on the ground by referring to Peter
Hill and Benjamin Frith’s excellent
Unicorn/Regis recording of this work,
and with some others like that of John
Ogdon and Brenda Lucas resonating
in the memory, I have to admit to being
mightily impressed with this recording.
The father and son combination, clear
in its synergy, works supremely well,
and there is never a hint of the second
pianist’s lack of maturity in terms
of years – indeed, I only read the booklet
notes after an initial play through,
and was amazed at what I was reading,
having assumed they must be brothers!
Visions de l’Amen requires not
only absolute technical proficiency,
but an equal if not greater sense of
spiritual wonder and awe. Comparing
Hill/Frith with Kim/Kim, I can’t help
feeling that the latter achieve more
in this direction. Take something like
the Amen de l’Agonie de Jésus,
and the composer’s acidic harmonies
and doloroso gestures are given
true profundity by these pianists. Their
impact is uncompromising, and the cumulative
effect will overwhelm you if you are
prepared to allow your emotions follow
their journey. Music like this is challenging,
but at the same time it is often the
intellect which needs to be given a
back seat, and if you close your eyes
and give yourself over to the Kim family’s
version of a movement such as the Amen
de Jugement then it will take you
a little while to rejoin the real world
after it has finished.
Paul Kim takes us further
through his survey of the complete piano
works with a blisteringly impressive
opening Île de feu I, the
first movement of Quatre Études
de rythme. The second movement,
Mode de valeurs et d’Intensités,
demands a dissertation in its own right,
and Paul Kim’s excellent booklet notes
once again provide us with a great deal
of detail concerning this and all of
the other pieces in this set. Kim’s
intellectual approach is coupled to
an intelligence and musical instinct
which, in my experience, blows away
most of the competition. The precursor
to this movement, Cantéyodjayâ,
which also explores multiple-voiced
serialism is also given an all-embracing
performance on this disc. Kim understands
and is able to express the non-European
cultural influences in these pieces
– not that they will necessarily be
immediately apparent in the seemingly
endless flow of complex ideas contained
in this work, but you can at least rest
assured that all the detail and content
is accurately, skilfully, and powerfully
presented on this recording.
I would love to be
able to say that this disc is a highlight
in Paul Kim’s complete Messiaen piano
cycle, but am only reluctant in doing
so in that it might give the impression
that there are weaknesses elsewhere.
This complete set goes from strength
to strength, and this disc is about
as strong as they come.
Dominy Clements
Volume
1
Volume
2
Volume
3
Volume
4
for
details
Paul Kim (piano) 
