Messiaen's Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jésus - four recordings

The Piano Maven with Jed Distler · Feb 3, 2026 · 17m · transcript

I;m launching a multi-episode discographical exploration of Messiaen's monumental piano cycle Vingt regards sur l'enfant Jésus, starting with four recordings dating from the late 60s through the late 80s.

So sorry that I kept pronouncing the pianist's name "Jean Rudolphe," when it's obviously "Jean-Rodolphe." My apologies!!!!!

Here are audio samples from the recordings under discussion:

Michel Béroff - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvd2zGk11ic

Peter Serkin - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlgD6cLyvj4

Anton Batagov - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30qcHdxnDRE

Jean-Rodolphe Kars -…