BBC Proms - 2008 - Prom 32: BBC Singers

From the Royal Albert Hall, London. Presented by Suzy Klein. James O'Donnell puts the organ of the Royal Albert Hall through its paces in one of the landmarks of 20th-century repertoire for the instrument, Messiaen's Messe de la Pentecôte, which draws musical inspiration from birdsong and concludes with a shattering depiction of pentecostal tongues of fire engulfing the Apostles. Alongside it, sacred French music for the same church feast from an earlier tradition: a Renaissance mass by Pierre de Manchicourt, a composer who, though little known today, ended his life as master of the royal chapel of Philip II of Spain and who no less a figure than Orlando Lassus called a 'distinguished and excellent composer of music'. James O'Donnell (organ) BBC Singers Andrew Carwood (conductor) Olivier Messiaen: Messe de la Pentecôte interspersed with Pierre de Manchicourt: Missa Veni sancte spiritus.