I'm still in a trance this morning from the overwhelming experience last night of hearing the complete Olivier Messiaen cycle "La Nativite du Seigneur" at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral here in Columbia, rendered brilliantly by their young organist Jared Johnson.

But it's difficult to remain on such an elevated spiritual plane throughout this holiday weekend, what with the all-too-earthly realities of frenzied last-minute shopping and planning for family visits and meals to be prepared and consumed. The simple joys of togetherness are, of course, also central to the holiday experience, regardless of one's own personal spiritual beliefs. The allure of those same joys seem best expressed to me in the two greatest American popular Christmas songs. For your holiday listening pleasure while MMM is on hiatus till next week, here they are, as sung by Judy and by Nat.

And as a bonus, the commercial and sacred aspects of Christmas come together here courtesy of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the geniuses behind "South Park." Happy Holidays.

This is the interior of Sainte-Trinite church in Paris. While creating a huge body of music that established him as one of the handful of most important composers of the twentieth century, Olivier Messiaen also managed to keep his "gig" as organist at this church for an amazing sixty years, until his death in 1992. The organ was always central to Messiaen's identity as a musician, especially as a musician whose creativity was inseparable from his devotion to his Catholic faith, to his God.

As we count down to Christmas Day, a wonderful opportunity has come to Columbia music-lovers this week: a chance to hear a landmark work for organ by Olivier Messiaen performed live in a special setting. Jared Johnson, organist and choirmaster for Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, will be performing Messiaen's hour-long work "La Nativite du Seigneur" this Thursday, Dec. 21, at Trinity. Johnson is a wonderful organist whose relatively recent arrival in Columbia has been a significant addition to the general cultural renaissance that seems to be taking place in this city. The spacious and stately grandeur of Trinity's interior will add, no doubt, to the magic and mystery so essential to Messiaen's music.

Jeffrey Day's piece in last Friday's "State" about Johnson and "La Nativite" can be read here. The work is early Messiaen (written in 1935, when he was still in his twenties) and was first played at Sainte-Trinite, pictured above. For a sneak preview of "La Nativite," here is a YouTube clip of Marie-Claire Alain performing a movement of the work. And, thanks again to the magic of YouTube, you can see the composer himself in this clip twiddling with the registration of the organ before beginning an improvisation. Jared Johnson's performance Thursday takes place at 7 PM; Trinity Cathedral is immediately across Sumter Street from the east side of the State Capitol, in downtown Columbia. More background on Messiaen's life and work can be found here.

...can sometimes get pretty interesting. Let's hope the one in which you participate this Christmas season doesn't have a finale like this one. (Hat tip to Alex Ross for the link.)

It's well-known here in Columbia that USC is making a big push to attract world-class faculty in areas like nanotechnology and other high-tech fields of research. It's less well-known that, in the last few years, the USC School of Music has managed to reel in some big fish of its own, making some outstanding hires and thus continuing to enhance its national profile. One of these prize "catches" is the bassoonist Peter Kolkay, who is new to the faculty this year and came to Columbia with an already dazzling resume. In 2002 Kolkay became the first bassoonist in the 51-year history of the Concert Artists Guild competition to receive a First Prize; two years later, he was the first bassoonist ever to receive the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant.

The honors continue for Kolkay; last week, the performing-rights organization BMI announced that he has been named the winner of the Carlos Surinach Award, given to an emerging artist in recognition of outstanding service to American music. Kolkay is a wonderful musician (we both performed a trio of Jo Kondo's in New York three years ago) and if you want to hear him live in Columbia, mark February 11th on your calendar now. That's the date of his debut faculty recital at the School of Music.

If the jangle of "Jingle Bells" and other Muzak'd carols in the mall are making you go bug-eyed (bug-eared?), clear your mind and feed it some hearty musical fare this week...Wednesday the 13th is another installment in the chamber music series at the Columbia Museum of Art, hosted by Charles Wadsworth. It's a stellar trio coming to town, violinist Chee-Yun, cellist Edward Arron, and pianist Christopher O'Riley. O'Riley, certainly a pianist of the first rank, has gotten a lot of attention for his recording and performing projects involving the music of Radiohead, Nick Drake, and the like. Otis Taylor interviewed O'Riley about those genre-busting endeavors in the "State" last week and you can read that here.

O'Riley's really significant accomplishment of recent years, to my mind, is serving as the adept host of the public radio series "From the Top." That show goes around the country seeking out bright young musical talent, gives their guests an opportunity to perform on nationwide radio and does it all in an unstuffy, sometimes amiably goofy format that seems designed in part to appeal to the same generation of listeners from which the performers are drawn. One would be hard-pressed to imagine another performing artist of O'Riley's abilities able to pull off the hosting gig as adroitly. Sadly, the show is not carried by any South Carolina station; however, WDAV 89.9 FM in Davidson, NC does broadcast the show, and it is apparently also available on XM Satellite Radio.

The Wednesday concert includes the ravishing Richard Strauss violin sonata (which has a monster piano part), as well as works by Debussy and Brahms. Show is at 7 PM. Check the link at the top for ticket info.