Artistic excellence and striking repertoire have always been among the hallmarks of Hyperion Records. The company now, on the surface at least, is independent no longer, after being sold to the Universal Music Group. Apart from wider promotion and access, it’s far too soon to gauge what Hyperion’s future might bring. I just know that my Easter listening has been buoyed no end by one of the label’s newest releases, Messiaen’s Des canyons aux étoiles …
A colourful epic at the best of times, the sprawling work from the early 1970s emerges triply awesome in this bracingly vivid recording from Thierry Fischer and the excellent Utah Symphony—ideal performers for a work directly inspired by the American state’s rugged landscapes and birdsong. The wind machine solos might pall (the composer’s fault), but every note dazzles from the soloists who really matter: the pianist Jason Hardink and the wonderful horn player Stefan Dohr. Let’s hope that Hyperion itself follows the visionary work’s upward trajectory, from the canyons to the stars.