Note perfect ... The full score of Messiaen's St Francis of Assisi
If you hear only one thing this week, let it be this. Now, if you've no time for all six hours of Messiaen's only opera, St Francis of Assisi, you have to hear the final act. It's only a hour long, but you'll experience some of the most imaginative orchestral writing ever composed: the sounds Messiaen finds for St Francis's stigmata and his death and transfiguration are indelibly emblazoned on my brain after last night's Proms performance. It was an unforgettable experience for the couple of thousand who were there, who gave the Hague Philharmonic (really the Residentie Orkest with a different name), the Choir of Netherlands Opera and conductor Ingo Metzmacher the ecstatic reception they deserved.
Having heard the quietest orchestral playing in Lucerne, the final chord of St Francis was the loudest and most dazzling I've ever witnessed. Messiaen says that in this moment, "The light increases until it becomes blinding and unbearable". It was simply overwhelming in the hall: just as you thought it was impossible for the musicians to create any more sound, they reached a new level of intensity. After six hours, this was music as spiritual power.
One of the perks of presenting the Prom for Radio 3 is seeing the score of St Francis. Each scene of the eight in the opera has a separate volume, in what must be the most lavish - and heaviest - score for any opera ever written. It was worth the effort of lugging them around though. Following the score was like having access to Messiaen's private world of communication between him, St Francis, and his faith. St Francis's final words could be an epitaph for Messiaen's whole life: "Music and poetry have led me to Thee: by image, by symbol, and in default of Truth. Lord! Lord! ... dazzle me for ever by Thy excess of Truth". The end of St Francis was, truly, an excessive musical moment.
