"A gigantic fresco, a kind of odyssey", that is how Bertrand Chamayou describes the piano masterwork Vingt Regards sur L'Enfant-Jésus by Olivier Messiaen. Written in 1944, it is a monumental, mystical and iridescent sequence of 20 glances or contemplations of the Christ Child. Messiaen once wrote: "The drama of my life is that I have written religious music for an audience that has no faith". Bertrand Chamayou finds that the Vingt Regards "is rather a mystical than a religious experience ... It evokes the same kind of awe as when you enter a beautiful cathedral or see a glorious sunset. You have the feeling that time stands still."
Chamayou performed the work for the first time in 2008, Messiaen's centennial year, but it has been part of his life since he was nine years old. "It was a revelation ... I think I can say that the Vingt Regards has played a role in shaping the way I play, the sound I produce and my approach as an interpreter."
As a supplement to this two-hour milestone of the repertoire, Chamayou has also recorded five short musical tributes to Messiaen, written in the years after his death in 1992. They are by Toru Takemitsu, Tristan Murail, György Kurtág, Jonathan Harvey and Anthony Cheung.
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