for the concluding piece of Martin Baker’s live concert on BBC 3.
Messiaen’s great cycle of nine meditations on Christ’s birth, La Nativité du Seigneur, forms the core of the recital. It was written when Messiaen was 27, during the summer of 1935 while he was in residence at Grenoble near the French Alps. Messiaen wrote that in addition to theology, the movements were inspired by the mountains, as well as the stained glass windows in medieval cathedrals.
The concert is available from the BBC 3 Website until 12/8: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03k0lg2.