Messiaen immersion this weekend
If you're a Messiaen fan, this is a great weekend in Baltimore. If you haven't yet explored the composer's mystical, sensual, prismatic and totally incomparable music, this is the perfect opportunity to dive in.
Jonathan Moyers's months-long cycle of performing the complete Messiaen organ music, to honoe the composer's centennial, was alreadly scheduled to wrap up on Sunday with a recital, but the organist has managed to add on to that, creating a mini-Messiaen festival.
At 6:30 p.m. Saturday, he'll give a lecture about the composer at Second Presbyterian Church (4200 Saint Paul St.), leading into an 8 p.m. concert there that includes vocal works and the profound Quartet for the End of Time. (Tickets are $10 and $20.)
On Sunday, the action moves to the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen (5200 N. Charles St.), where Diane Luchese will talk about Messiaen's daunting organ work from the 1980s, Livre du Saint Sacrement, at 4 p.m. The Chandos Singers of the Handel Choir will give a prelude concert of Messiaen works at 5:15, and Moyer will then play the complete, 18-movement Livre du Saint Sacrement at 5:30 (free admission).
