Thierry Fischer’s recent recording of Messiaen’s “Des canyons aux étoiles” with the Utah Symphony has been shortlisted for a Gramophone Award in the ORCHESTRAL category alongside recordings by the Berlin Philharmonic, Danish National Symphony, Sinfonia of London and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Gramophone writes about the recording:

The Utah Symphony has enjoyed something of a golden era under the direction of Thierry Fischer, and this latest release marks a relative departure given that previous Hyperion projects have been of 19th-century French repertoire. An apposite one, even so, as Des canyons aux étoiles … (1971‑74) was partly inspired by Messiaen’s visiting the canyon region of southern Utah and, as this recording was preceded by a performance the orchestra gave in that locale, the work (premiered in New York) might be said to have ‘come home’ in the fullest sense…

Richard Whitehouse