TURANGALILA. Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Jonathan Nott

Repertoire

Olivier Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphonie (1946-1948) 80′

ARTISTS

Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano
Thomas Bloch, Martenot waves
Jonathan Nott, conductor
Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (OBC)

Programme

Leading figures in musical performance -conductor Jonathan Nott and French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard- come together to officiate an exceptional evening, with the programme of the greatly significant Turangalila, which Olivier Messiaen composed between 1946 and 1948. A symphonic poem commissioned by Serguei Kussevitski to be performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The infinite character of this long composition is obvious from its title: from Sanskrit, it means -in the words of Messiaen- “a love song and a hymn to joy, time, movement, rhythm, life and death”.

The composer, who acknowledged having used the myth of Tristan and Isolde to celebrate the mystic of a love generating life and death, used a number of certainly innovative orchestral resources, including the ondes Martenot (an electronic synthesiser invented by Maurice Martenot, which was played by his sister Yvonne during the early performances of the work). It is, therefore, a great chance to discover one of the most fascinating works of contemporary classical music.