'The whole work is a song of love.'
The Turangalîla-Symphonie was Messiaen’s first major international commission, requested by Serge Koussevitzky for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
The piece was premiered in Boston in 1949 to a mixed reaction.
"The greatest music creates its own universe."
Esa-Pekka Salonen gives us his perspective on Turangalîla-Symphonie, including the first time he heard the piece, and how you conduct such a colossal work.
In addition to the piano and ondes martenot parts, Messiaen makes use of a huge orchestral percussion section.
Philharmonia Orchestra Principal percussionist David Corkhill takes us through all the instruments and explains Messiaen’s percussion writing.
Turangalîla is the centrepiece of a trilogy by Messiaen based on the legend of Tristan and Isolde. The piece is a joyous celebration of love, a theme that recurs throughout the work, as both carnal desire and tender idealistic love.
Other influences in Turangalîla clearly stem from Messiaen’s fascination with the exotic: the statue theme established in the introduction, evoking the oppression of ancient Mexican statues;
the complex rhythms influenced by the those found in Indian music and birdsong, one of the pervasive elements of Messiaen's life and work.
The title itself, a late addition to the work, also has exotic origins derived from the two Sanskrit words turanga and lîla, according to Messiaen referring to “life force, the game of creation, rhythm and movement”
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