Archangel

Instrumentation

bass trb,2vn,va,vc (5 scores needed for performance)

Year

1977

Duration

12:00

"It's a severe concentrated work with apocalyptic overtones, opening with noble, lyrical declamation.  Toward the end, the trombone, muted, grows hoarse--more dark angel than archangel--and finally it sounds those pedal tones that Messiaen has made into a symbol of abyss...If I had to pick three more works to illustrate in small space and as vividly as possible the variety of his achievement, they might be the sonbre "Archangel." the glittering "Arabia Felix," and the high-spirited "On Alligators." Andrew Porter, The New Yorker