Word: turangalila
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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MESSIAEN: Turangalila-Symphonie; LUTOSLAWSKI: Les Espaces du Sommeil, Symphony No. 3. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra (Messiaen) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Lutoslawski...
Composed between 1946 and 1948, the Turangalila-Symphonie is a ten-movement, 80-minute showpiece for large orchestra, elemental in its power, yet seductive in its radiant beauty. The title derives from Sanskrit and roughly connotes "vitality" and "life," and thus gives some indication of both the piece's formidable substance and its stunning effect. Its thundering chord progressions and leaping, birdlike themes, its mixture of brutal dissonance and sunny consonance, make Turangalila-Symphonie one of the French composer's finest creations. It is difficult for both performer and listener, which may be why it is rarely played in concert...
Lintgen also draws the line at certain contemporary works, such as those of John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen. "That," says the doctor, "is not music." But he can spot such forbidding or lesser known compositions as Messiaen's Turangalila-Symphonie or Alan Hovhaness's Floating World "Ukiyo." "Those two were my best accomplishments," he says, "unless you count the time I recognized a recording of Beethoven's Fifth from across the room...