Messiaen's overwhelming Turangalîla

For fifteen minutes, French composer Olivier Messiaen pulls out all the stops to illuminate cosmic love. Taking the legend of Tristan and Isolde as his starting point, he brings extremely sensual music that sounds as intoxicating as Wagner, but without singing and without drama. In doing so, Messiaen the pious Catholic stays away from the religious themes and bird songs with which he is usually associated.

Virtuoso and challenging

Because of the large share of solo piano, this ten-movement symphony at times comes across as a grand piano concerto. Messiaen creates all sorts of new timbres, thanks in part to the heavenly sound of the ondes Martenot, an early electronic instrument. The more than one hundred musicians of the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, including a dozen percussionists, can indulge in virtuosic parts and challenging interplay. Chief conductor Karina Canellakis follows in the footsteps of her illustrious countryman Leonard Bernstein, who in 1949 conducted the world premiere in the right direction, paving the way for the international success of the Turangalîla.