Des Canyons aux Etoiules Vol. 2 [Nos 6-7]

Des Canyons Aux Étoiles – Part 2 is the second part of this twelve-movement orchestral work by Olivier Messiaen. It features the movements VI and VII.

This score was commissioned by Alice Tully for the celebration of the bicentenary of the USA Declaration of Independence, and the whole piece lasts between 90 and 100 minutes.

Messiaen got inspiration from sounds and colours and his travel to America, highlighted by the Bryce Canyon, very colourful, really influenced his composition.

Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) was a French organist and composer who was passionate about Ornithology andone of the most important composers of his century. Inspired by Japanese music, he had a very special way of composing and his work can be identified by its complexity, its diatonic aspect, its harmony with limited transposition, its colour and its additive rhythms. He composed many works related to ornithology and birdsong, including the Bird Catalogue in 7 volumes and the Treatise on rhythm, colour and ornithology in 7 volumes.