Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie

Andris Nelsons, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cécile Lartigau, Yuja Wang

Released on 06/12/2024 by Deutsche Grammophon (DG)
Main artists: Yuja Wang Cécile Lartigau Boston Symphony Orchestra Andris Nelsons
Genre: Classical

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Olivier Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie is among the most crowd-pleasing works of the 20th century; at the live performance from which this recording was taken, someone even broke into applause, Tchaikovsky Pathétique style, after the swinging fifth movement, "Joie du sang des étoiles" ("Joy of the Blood of the Stars"), but was shushed and edited out. But it's not often played; it's a mighty difficult work for the orchestra, the soloists, and perhaps most of all, the conductor, who has to keep in balance huge forces of many different kinds. Plus, the work requires an ondes martenot, and players of this early electronic instrument are not in abundant supply. Opinions differ about this performance when it was given live, and truth to tell there are more purely precise readings out there. But the Boston Symphony Orchestra has the measure of this 20th century French ode to joy -- it was the orchestra that originally commissioned the work -- and the basic uncanny energy the work needs is here. Conductor Andris Nelsons has everything under control, with the right relationships among the work's various forces. Kudos to pianist Yuja Wang, who could by this point in her career insist on more purely charismatic and soloistic tasks than the rather thankless piano part of this work, which is no piano concerto but rather a work that uses the piano as a kind of basic propulsion. Ondes martenot player Cécile Lartigau is elegant as her instrument wends its mystic way through the texture. But the main praise should to go Nelsons, who gets what this work is about and gives the listener the feeling of going on a very wild ride. This album was released digitally in late 2024, but a physical album is planned for 2025; it may be worth the wait to hear the performers' thoughts on the work, if indeed any are forthcoming.

© James Manheim /TiVo

Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie

Yuja Wang

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Turangalîla-Symphonie (Olivier Messiaen)

I. Introduction

00:06:33

Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra, MainArtist - Olivier Messiaen, Composer - Shawn Murphy, Producer, Engineer - Yuja Wang, Piano, MainArtist - Tim Martyn, MasteringEngineer, DigitalEditingEngineer - Andris Nelsons, Conductor, MainArtist - Robert Wolff, DigitalEditingEngineer - Rick Jacobsohn, MasteringSecondEngineer - Nick Squire, RecordingEngineer - Cécile Lartigau, MainArtist, OndesMartenot - Cole Barbour, RecordingSecondEngineer