Review by Choice Review
This book purports to accomplish two purposes: to provide the reader with a historical-philosophical view of Messiaen (1908-92), arguably the most important French composer since Ravel, and to give detailed analyses of "selected piano compositions." Unfortunately only three short chapters ("Messiaen in His Time," "Bartok: Messiaen's Master of Thought?" and "Summary"), a total of 33 pages, deal directly with the first aim, although some comparative analysis between Messiaen and Liszt, Debussy, and Bartok can be found in the analytical and interpretative chapters ("Analyses of Preludes [1929] and Regard de l'Esprit de joie [from Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jesus, 1945], 73 pages; "A Guide to Interpretation and Performance," 19 pages). Jan LaRue's Guidelines for Style Analysis (1970) is used as the basis for analysis and the result is more categorical than insightful. Nevertheless, Hsu (Boise State Univ.) provides accurate observations about this limited sampling of Messiaen's piano music, and her grasp of his contribution to 20th-century music is on target. Readers wishing a more inclusive study of Messiaen should turn to The Messiaen Companion, ed. by Peter Hill (CH, Dec'95) or the work of Paul Griffiths, Harry Halbreich, Theo Hirsbrunner, and Robert S. Johnson. Recommended for libraries serving piano-performance majors. W. K. Kearns University of Colorado at Boulder
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
