Jamie Hitel is a native of England and former Director of Music of Waltham Abbey, having previously worked in Norway for three years. This recording is from his current church in Ohio, which has a large four-manual Wicks organ (opus 6320 no less!). The program comprises Messiaen's great cycle of 1939, Les Corps Glorieux and Franck's famous Choral No 1 in E.  The organ has a wide range of color and sounds pretty convincing in both works, especially the Messiaen.  The Messiaen is well played with strong character and the organ copes with the many unusual registrations demanded.  The struggle between life and death is well conveyed in the fourth movement and there is a real sense of joy in the sixth.  The whole piece feels like a 'performance.'  The Franck is fluent if brisk and there is some unusual 'soloing out' in the final line.  The booklet contains very full program notes, biography and a specification.

GMS

An intriguing disc. The coupling of Messiaen and the Belgian composer César Franck is an inspired one.  Messiaen's "Les Corps Glorieux" - The Glorified Bodies - is a heady, almost intoxicating statement of Roman Catholic mysticism.  Written when the composer was in his twenties, the piece is subtitled Seven Brief Visions of the Life of the Resurrected.  Jamie Hitel is fully committed and inside the musical sound-world.  Musically, the Franck complements it beautifully.

The first three movements centre around spiritual peace.  The first movement - "Subtilité des Corps Glorieux" - The Subtleness of the Glorified Bodies - as translated in the booklet, is pure monody.   Freed from earthly concerns, the liberated bodies can float freely, as indeed the melody twists and turns.  Immediately identifiable as Messiaen, the music¹s own hypnotic journey gives out the musical language horizontally: the ear is therefore fully attuned for the vertical sonorities of "Les Eaux de la Grâce" - The Waters of Grace.  This refers to the river of grace running through the Heavenly City, and this gentle polymodal vision is held at a restrained dynamic level, at once reverential yet holding within it the capacity to unleash spiritual ecstasy.

The same shadowy aura shines around "L¹Ange aux Parfums" - The Angel of the Incense.  This is music replete with half-voices, silvery and other-worldly.  The first three movements act in contrast to the "Combat de la Mort et de la Vie" - The Struggle between Death and Life, the longest section of Les Corps Glorieux.  The writing is intensely pictorial in the first part of this movement, a Messiaen battle scene, a struggle against the inevitability of Death.  Hitel delivers the fast-moving chords with consummate virtuosity.  Visceral and physically involving (it is like being pummeled for four minutes by blocks of sound), the contrasting and longer section radiates serenity.  This is extended peace, the harmonies almost unbearably tender.

The next two movements concentrate on various attributes of the glorified bodies.  "Force et Agilité des Corps Glorieux" - The Power and Agility of the Glorified Bodies - begins like a call-to-arms.  These beautiful angels are possessed of a strong backbone of grace.  Again monody is used, here with a supple rhythm that conveys the joy of movement.  The power of Messiaen¹s sensitivity to intervallic color is shown at its best in the sixth movement, "Joie et Clarté des Corps Glorieux" - The Joy and Radiance of the Glorified Bodies.  There is a definable contained ecstasy in the harmonies which makes this compelling.

The Mystery of the Holy Trinity - "Le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité" - is a concept that was close to the composer's heart.  Number symbolism (three, of course) is paramount here in this final section.  The music itself is delicate, almost preternaturally fragile (as the booklet notes say, "It seems to call us from beyond").  The meditational aspect of this movement almost seems to take the experience to a different plane.  Hitel's focused concentration is all one could ask for.

The recording on the new Lammas disc is fine and clear and the organ is obviously an instrument of some majesty.  I was not aware Akron, Ohio, was famous for anything other than founding Alcoholics Anonymous.  They obviously own a fine piece of organery, too.