Quire of Cheahs presents Olivier Messiaen's meditative and beautiful "Oraison", taken from his "Fête des belles eaux". Written in 1937, the eight-movement work is scored for six ondes Martenots and was commissioned for the 1937 Paris Exhibition. It was written to accompany the movement of the fountains at the Exhibition.
The posthumously named "Oraison", an archaic and obsolete word in Middle English and Middle French meaning "prayer" or "mystical contemplation or communion", sets the main musical material from the fourth movement "L'eau". This was later adapted for cello and piano into the fifth movement "Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus" of his 1941 "Quatuor pour la fin du temps".
While "Oraison" was written to be performed by four ondes Martenots, several transcriptions have since been made for other instrumental combinations, taking their cue from Messiaen's own adaptation. Quire of Cheahs transcription, for solo voice and MIDI instruments, pays homage to the work's electronic roots while fusing it with the organic nature of the human voice.
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