Sept haïkaï

Sept haïkaï was composed by Messiaen in 1962 after a trip to Japan while he was on honeymoon after marrying Yvonne Loriod. It was influenced by the sounds of Indian rhythms, Gagaku, the music of the Noh theatre, and the birdcalls of Japan, which he had first incorporated in Chronochromie.[1] Messiaen also used an underlying melodic-rhythmic structure similar to the isorhythms used by fourteenth century composers such as Vitry and Machaut.[2]

Sept haïkaï was dedicated to Loriod, Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, Yoritsune Matsudaira, Sadao Bekku, Mitsuaki Hayama, Fumi Yamaguchi, and "to the landscapes, to the music and to all the birds of Japan". It was premiered on 30 October 1963, conducted by Boulez with Loriod as piano soloist, at Domaine Musical.[3]

The piece is scored for solo piano and

• piccolo, flute, 2 oboes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, E♭ clarinet, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons
• trumpet, trombone
• triangle, Chinese cymbals, Turkish cymbals, gongs, bells, crotales, cencerros, xylophone, marimba
• 8 violins

Nara Park

1. Introduction
2. Le parc de Nara et les lanternes de pierre (Nara Park and the Lanterns of Stone)
3. Yamanaka cadenza ("Internal Mountain" Cadenza)
4. Gagaku
5. Miyajima et le torii dans le mer (Miyajima and the torii in the sea)
6. Les oiseaux de Karuizawa (The Birds of Karuizawa)
7. Coda