Olivier Messiaen: Turangalīla Symphony [Import]

Olivier Messiaen (Composer), Riccardo Chailly (Conductor), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Orchestra), Jean-Yves Thibaudet (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Jean-Yves Thibaudet
• Orchestra: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
• Conductor: Riccardo Chailly
• Composer: Olivier Messiaen
• Audio CD (August 9, 1993)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Decca Import
• ASIN: B000004214
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #281,887 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A ravishing, cogent reading that vies for first place, October 5, 2010

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Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Olivier Messiaen: Turangalīla Symphony (Audio CD)

Messiaen is difficult to get right, I think, even though it is very easy to get the audience's attention, because his idiom is splashy and exotic. Even though I know that he is vastly admired by major conductors from Ozawa and Rattle, who signed on to Turanglila when quite young, to James Levine, who conducts many of his works in depth. Yet I get restless at all of this throwing around of sound that seems to have no deeper purpose or convincing emotional meaning. Here is a reading to make me a convert, however. Chailly seems to do everything right. His pacing is swift, his touch light. Nothing sounds turgid or bottom-heavy. But more than that, he organizes each episode in this very episodic work so that it makes sense, drawing together into cogent sections.

The contrast is really remarkable compared to even the best of his rivals. I never imagined that the faintly sleazy flavor of Messiaen's faux-Asian effects, combined with the sci-fi eeriness of th ondes mrtenot, could be overcome. In fact, Chailly is so conversant with the score that he assimilates even its strangest sounds into music you can take seriously (if I may be so bold) rather than swimming along in a warm bath of exoticism. There's power and propulsion here, and one see immediately why Chailly is also so good with Varese, whose music also hides under a veneer of sound-as-sound. In short, this is a spectacular reading, delivered in spectacular sound. I couldn't be more enthusiastic.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Second Strongest Turangalīla, January 26, 2009

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Thomas B. Dawkins (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Olivier Messiaen: Turangalīla Symphony (Audio CD)

This was my first recording of the Turangalīla-Symphonie and remains one that I put on frequently when I'm in the mood for the piece. I have come to prefer the Chung recording since French orchestras playing French music always have a somewhat different sound, especially in the woodwinds and brass, and I feel this probably represents Messiaen's wishes a bit more, plus having Yvonne Loriod at the piano (and her sister at the ondes Martenot) gives it another degree of connection to him. But Chailly's precision along with the excellent Congertgebouw is a cleaner account. The balance is also engineered differently and you can hear the soloists a bit more "in front" than other recordings.

As usual with Chailly, my only reservation is that perhaps it is TOO clean and sterile, lacking a little bit of the driving passion at moments that require it. I am one of the few people that I know who has seen this piece performed live (with Takashi Harada, actually) and the huge climaxes should be more earth-shattering on a recording.

Ozawa's recording has the necessary feeling, but the orchestra sounds overtaxed by what we must remember is extraordinarily difficult music for every player involved. Nagano's is overall very good but doesn't feel as idiomatic, though he is frequently excellent with Messiaen. Especially if you're looking to hear the eerie wailing of the ondes Martenot, go for this recording.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Messiaen Love Feast, October 15, 2010

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Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Olivier Messiaen: Turangalīla Symphony (Audio CD)

Experiencing Olivier Messiaen's mammoth Turangalīla-symphony, 'a work about love - human, physical, sexual love, the centerpiece of what the composer called "a trilogy on the myth of Tristan and Isolde," is an extraordinary experience. It is ten movements long, played without pause for 80 minutes, and drives audiences to ecstasy. That it is more often performed in this century that it was in the last (composed 1946 -48) is a testament to its unbridled ability to communicate honestly to our emotions. The vibrant young Gustavo Dudamel is currently conducting the work with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Disney Hall, capably bringing out all of the power of the work, ably assisted by Jean-Yves Thibaudet at the piano and Cynthia Millar at the ondes martenot. But this recording with Riccardo Chailly and the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam with Thibaudet again at the piano and Takashi Harada at the ondes martenot sets a new standard. Chailly and Messiaen seem bonded: Messiaen approaches music, whether orchestral, opera, chamber, or vocal, as a spiritual creation. Not that other composers do not enter this realm on occasion: Messiaen remains in the realm of nature, mysticism, spatial investigation and that most mysterious atmosphere of all - love. Chailly is able to render all of the exotic sounds in the score but he is one of the few conductors who searches - and finds - the spiritual core.

Every orchestra that performs this work must increase the percussion section and Chailly is generous in his obedience to Messiaen's demands. The orchestra plays spectacularly well. In other recordings (and actually in live performances also) the horrendously difficult piano role is too often buried in the excesses of the orchestration. Whoever engineered this recording allows the piano part to be far more radiant than on other recordings. It is simply a masterful performance of a glorious work. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, October 10