Title: Des canyons aux étoiles...
English title: From the Canyons to the Stars...
Genre: orchestral
Composition Date: 1971-1974
Publisher: Leduc (Paris)
Instrumentation: 4.3.4.3, 3.3.3.0, piano solo, glockenspiel, xylorimba, 5 percussion (incl. geophone), 6.0.3.3.1
Duration: ~100 minutes
Premiere: 20 November 1974, Alice Tully Hall, New York (Yvonne Loriod, piano; Musica Aeterna; Frederic Waldman, conductor)
Dedication:
Movements:
  1. Le désert [The desert]
  2. Les orioles [The orioles]
  3. Ce qui est écrit sur les étoiles [What is written in the stars]
  4. Le cossyphe d'Heuglin [The white-browed robin]
  5. Cedar Breaks et le don de crainte [Cedar Breaks and the gift of awe]
  6. Appel interstellaire [Interstellar call]
  7. Bryce Canyon et les rochers rouge-orange [Bryce Canyon and the orange-red rocks]
  8. Les ressucités et le chant de l'étoile Aldebaran [The resurrected and the song of the star Aldebaran]
  9. Le moquer polyglotte [The mockingbird]
  10. La grive des bois [The woodthrush]
  11. Omao, leiothrix, elapaio, shama [O'amo, leiothrix, elapaio, shama]
  12. Zion Park et la cité céleste [Zion Park and the celestial city]
Notes:
  • The xylorimba is a xylophone with an extended (usually 4 octave) range.
  • The Geophone, an instrument filled with lead pellets, was built for Messiaen (at a cost of 1200 francs) by Monsieur Larivière, an instrument maker. Messiaen supplied this instrument whenever Des canyons aux étoiles was performed.
  • The o'amo, leiothrix, elapaio and shama are all birds native to the Hawaiian Islands.
  • Cedar Breaks National Monument is a huge natural amphitheater located near Cedar City, Utah (USA). It is characterized by walls 2,000 feet high, groves of trees, and (during the summer) brilliant wild flowers.
  • Bryce Canyon, Cedar Breaks and Zion Canyon, in conjunction with the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, form the "Grand Circle" of tourist attractions in Arizona and Utah. Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod visited these locations 1 May - 10 May 1972.
Program notes: