MESSIAEN Turangalîla Symphony
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Author:
Curtis Institute of Music
OLIVIER MESSIAEN Turangalîla Symphony
Curtis Symphony Orchestra
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
Di Wu ('05), piano
Thomas Bloch, ondes Martenot
Performed on Thursday, April 14, 2011
Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Philadelphia
Olivier Messiaen wrote his epic Turangalîla Symphony at a particularly fecund creative period in music history. Contemporary to this piece are works like Bernstein’s jazzy “Fancy Free,” Cage’s experimental “Sonatas and Interludes” for prepared piano, Boulez’s strident and atonal Second Piano Sonata, and Strauss’s lush and Romantic “Four Last Songs.” But while each of these other pieces can be charted and classified amongst mid-20th century artistic movements in music history, Messiaen’s work defies clear taxonomy.
Messiaen wove together many disparate influences to create a musical language all his own—one he more or less maintained through his entire artistic output. Building on the compositional techniques of his Impressionist predecess