These recordings represent the first comprehensive recording of the organ works of Betsy Jolas – one of the most idiosyncratic and fascinating voices in 20th and 21st century music. The French-American composer, a student of Olivier Messiaen, uniquely combines sonic refinement with conceptual rigor and a deep love of the organ.
The centerpiece of the program is the large-scale organ concert Musique d’Hiver, a work of visionary radicalness: without bar lines, without a common pulse, but full of inner tension and precisely controlled freedom. Like a stream through space and time, this "winter music" flows between orchestral impulses and delicate organ sounds – premiered in 1971 and still a reference work for experimental musical thought.
In addition, the solo works Musique de Jour and Leçons du Petit Jour, light-filled meditations on the beginnings of the day, bird songs, and the slow awakening of the world. Both pieces revolve around the note "g" – a quiet center from which Jolas creates lines, sounds, and utopias with the finest of touches. The recording is complemented by the Trois Études Campanaires, sounding bell studies, which gain a new dimension on the organ of St. Antonius Düsseldorf-Oberkassel with its extraordinary percussion registers.
The interpreter is the award-winning organist Angela Metzger, who brings Jolas' sound world to life with great sensitivity and technical precision. Musique d’Hiver She recorded with the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Titus Engel.
This publication is an invitation to listen, to marvel – and to pause in the first light of day.
Program
Betsy Jolas (* 1926)
[01] Musique d’Hiver for organ and chamber orchestra (1971) *
[02] Musique de Jour for organ (1975)
[03] Leçons du Petit Jour for organ with 2 or 3 keyboards (2007)
[04-06] Trois Études Campanaires for piano or keyboard carillon (1980) *
Total playing time: 57:29
Angela Metzger, organ
WDR Sinfonieorchester · Titus Engel, Conductor [01]
* World premiere recordings
Biographies
The French-American composer Betsy Jolas was born in Paris in 1926. She began her studies in the United States before returning to France to study at the Paris Conservatoire with Darius Milhaud, Simone Plé-Caussade, and Olivier Messiaen. From 1971 to 1974, she represented Messiaen at this institution, where she was appointed professor of analysis in 1975 and of composition in 1978. She also taught at several American universities, including Yale, Harvard, and Berkeley.
A prizewinner of the International Competition for Young Conductors in Besançon (1953), she received numerous awards, including those from the William and Noma Copley Foundation in Chicago (1954), the American Academy of Arts (1973) and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation (1974), as well as the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris (1981) and the Grand Prix de la SACEM (1982).
Her works, composed for a variety of ensembles, have been premiered at Domaine Musical, the Tanglewood Festival, the Holland Festival, and the Royan Festival, among others, and are now performed worldwide by artists such as Elżbieta Chojnacka, Kent Nagano, William Christie, Claude Helffer, and Kim Kashkashian. The world premiere of A Little Summer Suite by Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic. In 2019, Letters from Bachville by the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig under the direction of Andris Nelsons and in the 2022–2023 season The Latest by the Orchestre de Paris under the direction of Klaus Mäkelä and These beautiful years… by the London Symphony Orchestra under
Sir Simon Rattle premiered.
Her award-winning discography can be heard on the labels EMI, Adès, Erato, Barclay and CRI.
Angela Metzger performs internationally as a concert organist and soloist with orchestras such as the WDR Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. With the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne she has performed in the Cologne Philharmonic and the Elbphilharmonie. She regularly performs in concert halls such as the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Stavanger Konserthus, the Musashino Civic Cultural Hall Tokyo and the Royal Opera House Muscat and at festivals such as Toulouse les Orgues and Quincena Musical. Her repertoire ranges from the late Renaissance to the present day and has been documented in radio recordings and on several CDs. Angela Metzger has won awards at the international organ competitions in Bad Homburg, Tokyo, Wiesbaden and Wuppertal as well as at the ARD Competition in Munich and has received the Bayernwerk AG Culture Prize and the Bavarian Art Promotion Prize. She studied church music and organ at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich under Prof. Edgar Krapp and Prof. Bernhard Haas, for whom she served as acting professor in the winter semester of 2017/18. Since 2023, she has taught organ at the University of Protestant Church Music in Bayreuth.
angela-metzger.org
The WDR Symphony Orchestra is distinguished by its regional presence and national and international reputation. Its performances range from concert series at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall and partnerships with concert halls and festivals in the region to regular invitations to Dresden, Salzburg, Hamburg, the Rheingau Music Festival, and the Grafenegg Festival. The orchestra has also undertaken numerous tours through Asia, Europe, and America. The WDR Symphony Orchestra is present in TV productions, radio broadcasts, live streams, and its digital offerings. Regionally, the orchestra is committed to accessible communication: through its "Konzerte mit der Maus" (Concerts with the Mouse), DVD productions, concerts for schools, and innovative formats outside of large concert halls. Numerous CD productions complement the orchestra's spectrum. Until the 2024/25 season, the ensemble was under the direction of Cristian Măcelaru; in the 26/27 season, Marie Jacquot will take over as chief conductor.
www1.wdr.de
Titus angel has been Principal Conductor of the Basel Sinfonietta since the 2023/24 season. Guest conducting engagements have taken him to the Philharmonia Orchestra, SWR Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra,
Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Munich and Zurich Chamber Orchestras, Ensemble Modern, and Klangforum Wien. He regularly conducts at the opera houses in Stuttgart, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Basel, and Lyon, and was named Conductor of the Year by Opernwelt magazine in 2020. Appreciated for his expertise in historical performance practice as well as his precise conducting of complex contemporary projects, he can also regularly be heard conducting key works of the operatic literature. Titus Engel studied musicology and philosophy in Zurich and Berlin and learned his conducting craft in Dresden under Christian Kluttig. He has recorded numerous works for radio and CDs, is the initiator of the Academy of Music Theater Today, and has edited several books on contemporary opera.
www.titus-engel.net
Info
Catalog number: NEOS 12531
EAN: 4260063125317
