I B Dansker har indspillet grænseoverskridende mystisk album

Med sin fortolkning af komponisten Olivier Messiaens legendariske klaverværk ’Vingt regards’
indskriver Kristoffer Hyldig sig blandt de store pianister.
THOMAS MICHELSEN
Klassisk
IFERNE NU
Rigtig mange klassiske pianister får sig en fin karriere ved at spille Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms og Liszt. Gerne en blanding. Men for den danske pianist Kristoffer Hyldig er der én særlig opgave, der fra begyndelsen har skubbet sig frem foran alle de andre, og han løser den som en mester. Opgaven er den meget specielle franske komponist Olivier Messiaens klavermusik.
Messiaen var katolik, organist ved en af de store kirker i Paris og ophavsmand til musikalske værker, der er mere sanselige end snart sagt noget andet musik i det klassiske repertoire. Messiaens musik lyser af en inderlighed, der er stærk som de små stearinlys, der flammer i store rolige katolske kirker, når man træder ind og væk fra larmen udenfor på gaden. Musikken er sanselig og overjordisk på samme tid. Den er fuld af fuglestemmer, for Messiaen var også en ivrig ornitolog, der kendte fuglenes sang både i Frankrig og i andre dele af verden. Det har han udnyttet i sit enorme klaverværk ’Fuglekatalog’ eller ’Catalogue d’oiseaux’. Et fascinerende værk, som den franske pianist og Sonningpris-modtager Pierre-Laurent Aimard opførte på Louisiana sidste sommer. Men Messiaen troede med en tro som en kulsvier, som han selv formulerede det. Komponisten, der døde for 30 år siden, tvivlede aldrig på Guds eksistens, og det er hans måske allermest kendte og beundrede værk for soloklaver, det to en halv time lange mystiske oeuvre ’20 blikke på Jesusbarnet’ – ’Vingt regards sur l’enfant-Jesus’, som det hedder på fransk – Kristoffer Hyldig har indspillet på et album, der kan stå sig mod de bedste.
Olivier Messiaen skrev ’Vingt regards’, som pianister kalder værket, i 1944, da Frankrig hang i laser under Anden Verdenskrig, og der var oprør i gaderne i Paris. Det er musik, der søger mod det sarteste og det mest voldsomme på samme tid.Førnævnte Pierre-Laurent Aimard har for længst, for snart 25 år siden, indspillet ’Vingt regards’ i en version, der gælder som målestok, for Aimard voksede op sammen med Messiaen og fik musikken ind om ikke med modermælken, så i hvert fald med aftenteen. Men Kristoffer Hyldig måler sig overbevisende med den altid lidt nøgterne Aimard. I tøvende, lyttende, fremstormende sanselighed overgår han ham på sin vis. Det er ganske forrygende at lytte til. Års arbejde med Messiaens særlige klangfokuserede måde at behandle flyglet på lader musikkens ro træde overvældende frem. En klokke ringer, en fugl synger, og stjernetåger synes at danse, mens Faderen betragter Jesusbarnet, eller Korset taler manende til
den lille Frelser.
Skal man være katolik for at værdsætte det hele? Nej. Kristoffer Hyldig forklarer selv i noterne til sit forløsende album, at han er jordbunden protestant. Men han har arbejdet med en dramaturg for at trænge dybest muligt ind i Messiaens mystisk-religiøse univers, og når han skal formidle det chok, nåden er, eller få kosmos til at danse, bliver man svimmel.
Her er ekstase og skønhed mikset med voldelige sammenstød mellem Guds ord og menneskets gerninger. Hyldig er ikke brændende katolik, men han brænder for Messiaens sanseligt- religiøse, klaverteknisk grænseoverskridende klaverkunst, og efter tidligere blandt andet at have akkompagneret sange af Messiaen er han her ude med et album, som bør få international opmærksomhed. Akkorder står fantastisk flot balanceret, toner er bundet sammen med perfektion, og en fuga så vild, at den sidste afsluttende klang ikke kan slippes, men må stå i rummet, til den er helt slut, den slags er sjældent at opleve. Og meget smukt. Den fine indspilning af de 20 musikalske blikke er lavet i Vor Frelsers Kirke. Vil du også meditere over mystikken i, at ord kan forvandles til kød, og opleve fugle synge svimlende sfæriske sange, er dette en chance, du skal gribe. thomas.michelsen@pol.dk 24.03.2023

Google Translation

A Dane has recorded a boundary-crossing mystical album

With his interpretation of composer Olivier Messiaen's legendary piano work 'Vingt regards'
Kristoffer Hyldig ranks among the great pianists.

Quite a few classical pianists make a fine career playing Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Brahms and Liszt. Preferably a mix. But for the Danish pianist Kristoffer Hyldig, there is one particular task that has pushed itself ahead of all the others from the beginning, and he solves it like a master. The task is the very special piano music of the French composer Olivier Messiaen.
Messiaen was a Catholic, organist at one of the great churches in Paris and author of musical works that are more sensual than almost any other music in the classical repertoire. Messiaen's music glows with a fervor as strong as the small candles that burn in large quiet Catholic churches when you step inside and away from the noise outside on the street. The music is sensual and otherworldly at the same time. It is full of birdsong, for Messiaen was also a keen ornithologist who knew the songs of birds both in France and in other parts of the world. He used this in his enormous piano work 'Catalogue of birds' or 'Catalogue d'oiseaux'. A fascinating work that the French pianist and Sonningpris recipient Pierre-Laurent Aimard performed at Louisiana last summer. But the Messiah believed with a faith like a coal burner, as he himself put it. The composer, who died 30 years ago, never doubted the existence of God, and it is perhaps his most well-known and admired work for solo piano, the two and a half hour long mystical oeuvre '20 glances at the Child Jesus' - 'Vingt regards sur l'enfant -Jesus', as it is called in French - Kristoffer Hyldig has recorded on an album that can stand up to the best.

Olivier Messiaen wrote 'Vingt regards', as pianists call the piece, in 1944, when France was in the throes of World War II and there was rioting in the streets of Paris. It is music that strives for the most delicate and the most violent at the same time. The aforementioned Pierre-Laurent Aimard has long ago, almost 25 years ago, recorded 'Vingt regards' in a version that serves as a benchmark, because Aimard grew up together with the Messiah and got the music in, if not with the mother's milk, then at least with the evening tea. But Kristoffer Hyldig measures up convincingly with the always somewhat sober Aimard. In hesitating, listening, advancing sensuality, he surpasses him in his own way. It's quite thrilling to listen to. Years work with Messiah's special sound-focused way of treating the grand piano lets the calmness of the music emerge overwhelmingly. A bell rings, a bird sings, and nebulae seem to dance, while the Father contemplates the Child Jesus, or the Cross speaks to the little Savior.
Do you have to be Catholic to appreciate it all? No. Kristoffer Hyldig himself explains in the liner notes to his released album that he is a down-to-earth Protestant. But he has worked with a dramaturg to penetrate as deeply as possible into the mystical-religious universe of the Messiah, and when he has to convey the shock that grace is, or make the cosmos dance, one becomes dizzy.
Here ecstasy and beauty are mixed with violent clashes between the word of God and the deeds of man. Hyldig is not an ardent Catholic, but he is passionate about Messiaen's sensuous-religious, piano-technical boundary-crossing piano art, and after previously accompanying songs by Messiaen, among other things, he is out here with an album that should get international attention. Chords are fantastically well balanced, tones are tied together with perfection, and a fugue so wild that the last final note cannot be released, but must stay in the room until it is completely finished, this kind of thing is rare to experience. And very beautiful. The fine recording of the 20 musical looks was made in Our Saviour's Church. If you also want to meditate on the mystery of words turning into flesh and experience birds singing dizzying spherical songs, this is a chance you must seize. thomas.michelsen@pol.dk