Messiaen was his own worst enemy when it came to vocal writing. Not only are his own texts often embarrassing (to the extent they are comprehensible at all), but his abuse of the human voice makes them almost impossible to sing with any feeling or beauty of tone. Francoise Pollet does her best in Poèmes pour Mi, but it’s basically a lost cause from the start. On the other hand, the rest of this program now appearing through MHS sounds absolutely stunning. Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Pierre Boulez bring out all of the elegance, vitality, and even wit (believe it or not) in the birdsong chirpings of Réveil des oiseaux, and the Sept Haïkaï never have sounded more accessible (particularly the last, with it’s almost-melody in the violins seemingly trapped by a loony assortment of accompanying sounds). The Cleveland Orchestra plays this music with virtuosic ease, and the sound is excellent too. So don’t worry about the Poèmes; whatever Messiaen was up to, it’s still not as twisted as late Tippett (though, to be fair, Tippett was more fun). First rate.
