Work: Harawi - chant d'amour et de mort, for soprano and piano

It was a rare opportunity: a chance to experience Olivier Messiaen’s Harawi , a song-cycle rarely-performed on account of its considerable demands on singer and pianist: most would consider very carefully before taking it on. Inspired by Wagner’s version of the Tristan and Isolde legend and its Love-Death (Liebestod) ending, it is the first of a trilogy.