Archives:

Audio-visual Archives

In 1987, Messiaen authorised me to create an audiovisual archive. From then on, I came to the Trinité organ galery every Sunday with my equipment. These video tapes are the only and unique archive of the composer live improvising on his organ during masses. Since his death I have tried several times to initiate the subject of this archival, and each time all exchange is refused. Will these records one day be available to future generations? I have few illusions...!!

An attempt was made to produce a simple audio version, but I was immediately confronted by categorical refusals, and by the external interventions of people (clearly motivated by personal/ego considerations) seeking to insinuate themselves into the process.

Since 1992, I have approached some asshole cultural authorities on several occasions concerning the safeguard of these audiovisual archives. Each time I am sent from service to service, address to address, office to office. Weary of such incompetence, I decided to evaquate this cultural heritage. What could be more simple? In 1993 one of the heads of the Culture Ministry confirmed to me that this unprecedented archive should be considered as historic state property...Bullshit !  But, since no one seems capable of making the least decision, I made one myself - not subject to appeal - to allow this historical heritage to go beyond our borders. It's childishly simple. These archives are now on foreign territory, and no one can oblige me to render them to the cultural authorities, since I am their owner. It is entirely probable that this material could end up in the hands of a rich Texas farmer, and be lost forever. Before coming to this point, certain people ought to have given the question more thought! Numerous elements of our French cultural heritage which have left the country in this way, will never return. Some may later wish to accuse me of hijacking historic patrimony, but it is impossible to prove this. I am perfectly aware that this tactic may seem unethical, but after all, our cultural authorities should have been a bit more attentive.

It would have been much more subtle, and above all more intelligent, to have thought of potential repercussions before calling. All those, whether involved or not, who try to  convince the concerned person to refuse all use or publication of  this « historic archive », have decidedly blundered. The day after this call, I took it upon myself to destroy several video tapes. These documents are forever lost to posterity. I have intentionally destroyed a part of our culture’s historical patrimony.

This is why I say once again: It would have been much more subtle, and above all more intelligent, to have thought of potential repercussions before refusing my ideas to create a DVD historic document for the posterity....

Those second-rate persons would have been better advised to reflect before jealously spewing forth their misery and frustrations...

It exist only three short improvisations filmed by a french TV chanel but this is nothing compare the fantastic archives I made during all these years

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Ialso have an unic audio-visual archive of Pierre Labric playing Saint-Ouen in Rouen. He played Vierne, Demessieux. I also received some messages asking my autorisation to publish them... for free, and I also refused. I have forward this archive to the Société Jeanne Demessieux.(non profit association) The association plans to publish a DVD.

A book

I am in the process of rewriting a text I first prepared in the '90s. In it I describe the almost 15 years I spent in collaboration with Olivier Messiaen. This text took the form of interviews and dialogues, but I have been advised to revise it and eliminate the "interview" approach. This will take time, but I hope to one day make this material available. It  relates all our Sunday morning exchanges concerning the sound universe of the organ, its strong and weak points. I also hope this work will eventually be translated, made accessible to the English-speaking world. 

After months and months of thinking, I refuse to consider all concerns about any autorisation. My book is written, the writing is done, perhaps I'll publish it under the form of talk, "dialogue". I just have to work on corrections.

I recomand:

"propos sur l'orgue"     by Olivier Messiaen, 1983, 1988  edited by M.Archimbaud

Second edition is coming on Falls 2008

"Olivier Messiaen"        by Peter Hill & Nigel Simeone, Fayard

Writen by Olivier Messiaen - 1980

Plans

Still in the realm of archives, I have about fifteen sound architecture plans for making new instruments. I have in fact more than 15, but some are not completely finished, since Messiaen died in the meantime. The « Tenerife » episode is well-known by now: Jean Guillou's specification for a concert-hall organ was unscrupulously, literally stolen; he wasn't even invited to play for the inauguration.

Because that, it is easy to understand why I closely guard these co-signed «Glandaz-Messiaen» plans. They may eventually be sold for certain foreign projects, but will never be shown in advance and will be inaccessible for posterity, specially for frenches. What a pity!

Messiaen and I discussed the principle of a transportable and modulable organ, composed of several cases: he rightly observed that, however it was constructed, this type of instrument would always pose tuning problems. Retuning the reeds would not suffice; the instrument must be entirely revoiced each time it is moved. This would entail many hours of work, and was an important disadvantage..

The plans themselves are conceived for instruments of all sizes, going from 15 to about 70 stops. I showed Messiaen the composition that Cavaillé-Coll had made for a very large organ projet at Saint Peter's in Roma. He found it fascinating, but proposed an entirely different idea. We closed off different stops and added others. I then asked a friend to type up this new disposition on a computer (not having one myself at the time).  the title page read « composition  conceived by O.Messiaen » and he signed it. I see today that the cultural authorities are not interested in plans of this type, and I mean to take them out of the country (flight of cultural inheritance yet again) in 2006. I do not schedule to take them back to France !

after a dinner at Jeanne's