These recordings are the first comprehensive recording of the organ works of Betsy Jolas – one of the most idiosyncratic and fascinating voices in 20th and 21st century music. The French-American composer, a student of Olivier Messiaen, combines tonal subtlety with conceptual rigor and a deep love for the organ in a unique way.
At the heart of the program is the large-scale organ concerto Musique d'Hiver, a work of visionary radicalism: without bar lines, without a common pulse, but full of inner tension and precisely controlled freedom. Like a stream flowing through space and time, this “winter music” moves between orchestral impulses and delicate organ sounds – premiered in 1971 and still a reference work for experimental musical thinking today.
In addition, the solo works Musique de Jour and Leçons du Petit Jour will be performed, light-filled meditations on the beginnings of the day, birdsong, and the slow awakening of the world. Both pieces revolve around the note “G” – a quiet center from which Jolas creates lines, sounds, and utopias with the finest of touches. The recording is complemented by the Trois Études Campanaires, resonant bell studies that take on a new dimension on the organ of St. Antonius Düsseldorf-Oberkassel with its extraordinary percussion registers.
The performer is the award-winning organist Angela Metzger, who brings Jolas' sound world to life with great sensitivity and technical precision. She recorded Musique d’Hiver with the WDR Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Titus Engel
This release is an invitation to listen, marvel, and pause in the first light of day.
Programme
Betsy Jolas (*1926)
[01] Musique d’Hiver for organ and chamber orchestra (1971) *
[02] Musique de Jour for organ (1975)
[03] Leçons du Petit Jour for an organ with 2 or 3 keyboards (2007)
[04–06] Trois Études Campanaires for piano or keyboard carillon (1980) *
Total duration: 57:29
Angela Metzger, organ
WDR Symphony Orchestra · Titus Engel, conductor [01]
* World premiere recordings
Biographies
The French-American composer Betsy Jolas was born in Paris in 1926. She began her training in the United States before returning to France to study at the Paris Conservatory with Darius Milhaud, Simone Plé-Caussade, and Olivier Messiaen. From 1971 to 1974, she replaced Messiaen at this institution, where she was appointed professor of analysis in 1975 and professor of composition in 1978. She also taught at several American universities, including Yale, Harvard, and Berkeley.
As a prize winner at the International Competition for Young Conductors in Besançon (1953), she received numerous awards, including from the William and Noma Copley Foundation in Chicago (1954), the American Academy of Arts (1973), and the Koussevitzky Music Foundation (1974), as well as the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris (1981) and the Grand Prix de la SACEM (1982).
Her works, composed for a wide variety of ensembles, have been premiered at Domaine Musical, the Tanglewood Festival, the Holland Festival, and the Royan Festival, among others, and are now performed by artists such as Elżbieta Chojnacka, Kent Nagano, William Christie, Claude Helffer, and others. premiered at Domaine Musical, the Tanglewood Festival, the Holland Festival, and the Royan Festival, and are now performed around the world by artists such as Elżbieta Chojnacka, Kent Nagano, William Christie, Claude Helffer, and Kim Kashkashian. In 2016, Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic premiered A Little Summer Suite. In 2019, Letters from Bachville was premiered by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra conducted by Andris Nelsons, and in the 2022–2023 season, The Latest will be premiered by the Orchestre de Paris conducted by Klaus Mäkelä and Ces belles années… by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.
Her award-winning discography can be heard on the EMI, Adès, Erato, Barclay, and CRI labels.
Angela Metzger performs internationally as a concert organist and soloist with orchestras such as the WDR Symphony Orchestra and the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. She has performed with the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall and the Elbphilharmonie. She regularly performs in concert halls such as the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Stavanger Konserthus, the Musashino Civic Cultural Hall Tokyo, and the Royal Opera House Muscat, as well as at festivals such as Toulouse les Orgues and Quincena Musical. Her repertoire ranges from the late Renaissance to the present day and is documented in radio recordings and on several CDs. Angela Metzger has won prizes at the international organ competitions in Bad Homburg, Tokyo, Wiesbaden, and Wuppertal, as well as at the ARD competition in Munich, and has received the Bavarian Culture Prize from Bayernwerk AG and the Bavarian Art Promotion Prize. She studied church music and organ at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich with Prof. Edgar Krapp and Prof. Bernhard Haas, for whom she took over as substitute professor in the winter semester 2017/18. Since 2023, she has been teaching organ at the University of Protestant Church Music in Bayreuth.
angela-metzger.org
The WDR Symphony Orchestra is distinguished by its regional presence and national and international reputation. Its performances range from concert series at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall and partnerships with concert halls and festivals in the region to regular invitations to Dresden, Salzburg, Hamburg, the Rheingau Music Festival, and the Grafenegg Festival. The orchestra has also undertaken numerous tours throughout Asia, Europe, and America. The WDR Symphony Orchestra is present in TV productions, radio broadcasts, livestreams, and its digital offerings. Regionally, the orchestra is committed to accessible communication: through its “Concerts with the Mouse,” DVD productions, concerts for schools, and innovative formats outside of large concert halls. Numerous CD productions complement the orchestra's repertoire. Until the 2024/25 season, the ensemble was under the baton of Cristian Măcelaru; in the 2026/27 season, Marie Jacquot will take over as principal conductor.
www1.wdr.de
Titus Engel has been Principal Conductor of the Basel Sinfonietta since the 2023/24 season. Guest conducting engagements have taken him to the Philharmonia Orchestra, SWR Symphony Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Munich and Zurich Chamber Orchestras, Ensemble Modern, and Klangforum Wien, among others. He regularly conducts at the opera houses in Stuttgart, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, Basel, and Lyon, and was named Conductor of the Year by Opernwelt magazine in 2020. Appreciated for his expertise in the field of historical performance practice as well as for his precise conducting of complex contemporary projects, he also regularly performs central works of the opera repertoire. Titus Engel studied musicology and philosophy in Zurich and Berlin and learned his conducting craft in Dresden with Christian Kluttig. He has recorded numerous works for radio and CD and is the initiator of the Akademie Musiktheater heute (Academy of Contemporary Music Theater) and editor of several books on contemporary opera.
www.titus-engel.net
More information
Catalogue number: NEOS 12531
EAN: 4260063125317
