Olivier Messiaen is one of the foremost French composers of the second half of the 20^th century. The works of this broad-minded intellectual are dominated by religious themes. According to Messiaen’s music scholar Siglind Bruhn, “Messiaen perceived faith and piety as a gift from God and himself as a composer with a religious mission to fulfil.”

The three-movement symphonic score Les offrandes oubliées (The Forgotten Offerings) is not only the 22-year-old Messiaen’s first significant work for orchestra, but also the first of his works in which he expresses his piety through the orchestra. “Arms outstretched, afflicted unto death, you shed your blood on the cross. We have forgotten, sweet Jesus, how you love us. Driven onward by madness and forked tongues in breathless, uncontrolled and headlong flight, we have fallen into sin like a bottomless pit. It is here to be found, the unsullied table, the source of charitability, the feast of the poor, the well of holy sympathy, which is to us the very bread of life and love. We have forgotten, sweet Jesus, how you love us.” Movements of the triptych: La Croix (The Cross), Le Péché (The Sin), L’Eucharistie (The Eucharist).

The Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra is led by Jonathan Berman, one of the most prominent conductors of the young British generation. His performances in Germany, Great Britain, the USA, Italy and the Netherlands have earned him international acclaim.