Looking for a Piece of Newer Classical Music

Cafe Society
#1

Inspired by the successful search for Idle Thought’s song in another thread, I want to try my luck with a piece I heard a while back on a classical station that didn’t have a playlist up for me to check. So here goes:

 -The piece had probably a piano and choral focus, but it was VERY eerie; frankly the thing freaked me out.

 -The music probably lasted for about 30 minutes.

 - This is probably the best information I can give you guys, unless it's wrong:

 It was very late and I was trying to go to sleep, but I thought I heard the DJ mentioning Leonard Bernstein and that the music premiered in Paris in 1945 right after WWII, and that its sound was controversial.

Again, I was half asleep and I can’t seem to find anything related to any of the DJ’s facts on google, but I wrote some of this information down after hearing it so I hope it’s right.

Are there any classical aficionados who could help me find this piece?

#2

I couldn’t find a sample on-line, but could it have been Edgar Varèse’s Étude pour espace for two pianos, percussions and chorus, from 1947?

#3

I’ll check it out, but I think I distinctly heard the year 1945.

#4

Also, out of every site I’ve been to there are no albums with Etudes pour espace!

#5

Yes, it’s a minor work of his.

I think I might have a better match: Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine by Olivier Messiaen. It was written in 1944, premiered in 1945, and features a string orchestra, a piano, an ondes martenot, a celesta, percussions and a female chorus. It lasts about 30 minutes. What’s more, Leonard Bernstein recorded it:
http://www.leonardbernstein.com/disc_other.php?disc_other_php=&disc_other.php=&page=42

You can hear an excerpt here:
http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7063162&style=classical

#6

That’s the one! It’s odd because I put all the information that I said I remember hearing into google and couldn’t find anything about it. I can’t believe how quickly you found it. Thank you!