Slurs In Transports De Joie

[kraammoz]

I posted the following query in the Organ Forum but didn't get much response, so here goes again here....

 

I'm hoping one of the more knowledgeable Messiaen players amongst you can help out with this Dumb Question....

 

Having stopped playing the organ 20+ years ago (organ exam trauma, change of career, left town, etc), I finally bought myself a respectable 2-manual Toaster and have been progressively dusting off my old sheet music.

 

One day, I'll get round to finding a teacher again and taking some classes but before I go embarrass myself in front of others, I'm doing abit of note-bashing.

 

I'm currently relearning the last significant piece I learnt before I stopped - Messiaen's Transport de Joie from L'Ascension. It's been surprising how many of the chords/running passages have fallen back under my fingers/feet (at speeds variable) but, for the life of me, I cannot recall how to articulate the slurs marked between the LH and RH chords in the following 2 passages:

 

Third bar (5/8) and fourth bar (2/4) of the Third section marked Vif (ie, the FFF one)

Tenth and eleventh bars(both 4/4) of the same section.

 

I do recall that in these passages, the top line "tune" in both hands should be legato whilst the underlying chords should be staccato/detached, but are the notes marked by slurs between the staves to be held over or detached? My teacher must have told me but I never wrote it on my copy *idiot me*.

 

 

Anyone care to enlighten me?

 

Cheers

 

Kraammoz

[Ian Ball]

I posted the following query in the Organ Forum but didn't get much response, so here goes again here....

 

I'm hoping one of the more knowledgeable Messiaen players amongst you can help out with this Dumb Question....

 

Having stopped playing the organ 20+ years ago (organ exam trauma, change of career, left town, etc), I finally bought myself a respectable 2-manual Toaster and have been progressively dusting off my old sheet music.

 

One day, I'll get round to finding a teacher again and taking some classes but before I go embarrass myself in front of others, I'm doing abit of note-bashing.

 

I'm currently relearning the last significant piece I learnt before I stopped - Messiaen's Transport de Joie from L'Ascension. It's been surprising how many of the chords/running passages have fallen back under my fingers/feet (at speeds variable) but, for the life of me, I cannot recall how to articulate the slurs marked between the LH and RH chords in the following 2 passages:

 

Third bar (5/8) and fourth bar (2/4) of the Third section marked Vif (ie, the FFF one)

Tenth and eleventh bars(both 4/4) of the same section.

 

I do recall that in these passages, the top line "tune" in both hands should be legato whilst the underlying chords should be staccato/detached, but are the notes marked by slurs between the staves to be held over or detached? My teacher must have told me but I never wrote it on my copy *idiot me*.

 

 

Anyone care to enlighten me?

 

Cheers

 

Kraammoz

I was taught that these notes should not be repeated by the RH (just as one might treat notes communes in a piece of Franck, Guilmant or Dupré), but released with the rest of the staccato chords. This ensures that the doubled legato melody here is a seamless legato.

 

Bonne chance!

 

IFB

[acc]

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