How I Discovered...MESSIAEN
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- Опубліковано 15 кві 2023
- This was a real trip--both the music and my path through it. When you grow up listening to "normal" classical music, encountering Messiaen can come as something of a shock, and so it was. How did you first discover Messiaen? Come and share your story.
Funnily, I discovered Messiaen because a character in Futurama is named Turanga Leela, after the symphony.
Same! lmao
I discovered Messiaen, when I was a kid in the 1960s, at the Eglise de la Trinité in Paris where he was organist.
My discovery of Messiaen is one of my favorite musical experiences. I was dragged by grandma as a teenager to mass at the Church of the Holy Family while visiting NYC at Christmas. I knew the routine and got through it, waiting for the recessional, at which point, the organist busted into the final movement of La Nativité du Seigneur! I stood staring at the pipes for 10 minutes, having no idea what I was listening to. Those who stayed erupted into applause--pretty unusual for Catholic mass. It was a (musically) religious experience for a secular person. I spent nearly 20 years wondering what it was until I stumbled onto Turangalila and recognized the sound world. I picked up Latry's complete Messiaen organ works and wondered if I would find or recognize it there. When I did, there was no question--that was how strong an impression it made.
It was actually the Catholic element that drew me into Messiaen's music. A colleague of mine was giving her master's recital and played Première communion de la Vierge. As a Catholic pianist, I was enthralled by the composer's interest in depicting scenes from my faith, so I did more listening. I had only heard of Messiaen and actually happened to be in l'Eglise de la Sainte-Trinité in Paris where he was organist for many decades (I found out after the fact). I love his piano music, especially. My first encounter with Quatuor pour le fin du temps was about two months ago as I was page turning for my teacher who played the piano part. I found myself close to tears in the last movement. Beautiful music! I love Messiaen! Thanks for sharing your story, Mr. Hurwitz!
I actually discovered Messaien through a 'non-singy' choral work. I used to attend evensong twice a week at a local church in Nottingham. The usual reppetoire was Gibbons, Byrd, Tallis, Taverner... those English guys. One evening however, the anthem was Messaien's 'O Sacrum Convivium', a gorgeous little piece, whose weird harmonies I found utterly magical. The sense of eerie, slightly wonky magic is what keeps me coming back to his works again and again.
I was recommended Messiaen by my cello teacher. I was hooked by quartet for the end of time and fete de bels eaux. Love turanglîlna and the transfiguration of our lord Jesus christ, partially due to my devoted catholic faith.
no, no, no, no! Messiaen's vocal music is unsurpassed!!! The piece of the whole music history I have the most recordings of is Cinq rechants; having sung it (and O sacrum convivium) was one of the great moments of life.
That doesn't make it unsurpassed, but I'm happy that you love it and have enjoyed it so much!
@@DavesClassicalGuide Random things I find important/remarkable:
- Messiaen has a knack (or the temerity) to write in one part for quite extended sections (sometimes even a complete movement like L'abîme des oiseaux).
- his use of unpitched percussion and integrating them into the orchestral sound is marvelous
- listening to The seven angels with the seven trumpets (in Éclairs sur l'au delà) the first time was my most frightening musical experience (obviously intended to be like that)
In the mid 90s I was browsing at the Tower Records classical/laserdisk outlet on Sunset Blvd in West Hollywood (literally across the street & totally separate from the main Tower Records which housed everything else sold).
I was already enjoying the store’s piped music and thusly clutching Fritz Reiner’s CSO on RCA recording of Song of the Nightingale which also featured my (still) favorite version of Scheherazade on the same CD.
Later this interesting music came on: eerie, ethereal, glittering, haunting, playful, somber, titanic… along with what sounded like a giant swooping slide whistle. I thought “Copeland meets old school Star Trek?”…what IS this??
After the pulsing 5th movement, I stopped thumbing through the bins and went up to the counter to ask what it was. I had never heard the composer’s name before and I could’ve swore that the clerk said “tarantula”. It was the Chung version on DG. He also mentioned that the piece was to be performed next weekend by LA Phil/ Esa-Pekka at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. And that performance was a rarity - so I should attend.
Went to the concert which was fantastic. I remember sort of floating out of there when it was all over.🤩
Like most of the fringe repertoire composers, I discovered Messiaen by the "top 100 composers/pieces" type lists on UA-cam and on classical websites/forums. My first piece of Messiaen that I listened to was Quatour pour la fin du temps, I've been hooked ever since!
I absolutely love Messiaen. At one point I made a pilgrimage to the Eglise de la Trinité, and it was a great experience for me. I first discovered him by accident. A local shop (in a small town in Denmark, Europe) happened to have the Naxos recording of the "Catalogue d'oiseaux" played by Håkon Austbø. These days I have most of Messiaen's works on cd. Thank you for this video!
I, too, am "still discovering" Messiaen. But the story of how I "first" discovered his music may well raise an eyebrow or two. In this case, truth is stranger than fiction. It was 1975 and I had taken a year off betwen college and grad school to earn and save some money. During this year I worked (ahem!) with chickens I traveled around the state of Maine with a three-person crew that visited chicken farms and provided a service known as "de-beaking." I won't go into the details, except to say that I spent 8 to 12-hour days in chicken coops "manicuring" literally thousands of young chickens that would later become laying hens. Now the head of our outfit, the boss, always brought along his FM radio and during our work tuned into Maine Public Radio, which, in those days, played classical music for most of the day. I remember vividly, as if it was yesterday, the afternoon in question. We had de-beaked hundreds of chickens; hundreds more to go. The host of the classical music program announced Messiaen's "Turangalila Symphony" would be next (Previn recording on Angel. How could I ever forget it?). And so there we three sat, with the peeps and squawks of chickens in the background (and a certain pervasive smell . . ) while Tristan and Isolde slept on in the Garden of Love, and as the Ondes Martinot wailed and slithered, with the whole thing sounding like the soundtrack to a Class B Sci Fi movie. I can see the boss rolling his eyes to this day as this strange music unfolded. I found the music fascinating, but it took many years for me to return to Turangalila, and many more to acquaint myself with this amazing composer's blend of eroticism and mysticism. Minus the chickens, latterly, of course. And, believe it or not, this is how I discovered Messaien.
Whatever works!
Great story!
Love your story. It's too bad What's My Line was no longer on. The panel would never have guessed it.
I hope the birds were in sympathy with their dose of Messiaen, though they're not the birds he put into his music.
@@bbailey7818 Bailey, you make a good point: did Messiaen ever include CHICKENS in any of this "bird" works (de-beaked or otherwise?). He did Turkeys, I know. LR
@@bbailey7818 Thanks for your reply. I laughed at the prospect of a Messiaen score in which the peeps of chickens substitute for the usual birdsong. That year of "poultry servicing" as the job was called helped me pay my way for graduate study in theology, then later in philosophy, so I won't disparage it even thought it wasn't the most plesant line of work. Thankfully, my boss liked classical music not acid rock.
I hadn't done it until about a year ago..when trying to delve into the eerie,elusive fusion guitar style of guitarist extraordinaire ,the late British virtuoso Allan Holdsworth..it brought my playing to a whole new level..especially inserting non-chordal tones over major 7th chords
As a Cuban musician and English teacher..must admit maestro that ur educated,American English is first-rate...greetings from Havana.. And long live America!!!
L'Acension is how I discovered Messiaen. Not as complex as Turangalila but compelling nonetheless. He takes us on a journey to Heaven.
My freshman year at College in New York, I had a transistor radio on my window sill, tuned to a classical station. I had been a classical listener since about age 7, and was familiar with many "classical" 20th-century composers (Stravinsky, Bartok, Berg, etc.). One day, I turned on the radio, and Ozawa was conducting Turangalila from Toronto. I was mesmerized from the start, and have been mesmerized ever since. I must confess that my knowledge of his other works is limited. But the spectacular orchestration, and even vulgarity, of that symphony continues to captivate me. I wish I could see it performed live!
In the early 1970s I was listening to my favorite radio station in Washington DC WGMS (an all Classical station which was my favorite since about 1958) I caught the end of Messiaen's et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum . I was enchanted. Until then my favorite composer was Shostakovitch. Great Tam Tam!
My introduction to Messian is around 2016 or 17 via my German Teacher after moving to Hamburg from the UK. Her Husband was a former professer of acustic's at the Hamburg uni. He is also a electronic composer I wont name them though.
During many lessons we would talk about History or Arts and Music.
She then messioned two modern 20th Century Composers György Ligeti who once taut music at the Hamburg Music school and then Messian I too started with the very same Turangalila Symphonie. But I very quickly picked up the Complete recordings from Deutsche Gramaphone.something I am still working my way throug. Up until a few year back the Catholic Cathedral would place his Organ works for Christmas and Easter yeap hardcore religious filled music but still amazing even better because the Organ player was rated as one of the best players of his Organ Music in Europe. He as since retired during Covid.
We also took the challenge of his epic Saint François ď Assise only last Sunday gone at it opening night in Hamburg Elbe Philarmoni conducted by Kent Nagono my wife is Catholic though lasped but she knows all the ins and outs of the history. A great work and major feat to play live such a huge challenge we made it to the end .
Next up live is yeap Turangalila in Hamburg but at a different venue at least this one is only 85 minutes long after the 5 hrs of last Sunday.
All part of the International music festival here in Hamburg Germany.
So yeap I have my Germany Teacher to thank that we have become good freinds with since .
For me it was the Quartet for the End of Time. A friend got me that, plus two other CDs (the Bruckner 4 and the Sibelius 2) for my birthday decades ago.
In 1978 my brother shared with me his LP of the Previn/LSO performance of Turangaliia (on a surprisingly good domestic Angel pressing). We listened with great interest, and I found it very expressive and unique. When CD's became the rage in the early 1980's I purchased the Rattle /Birmingham recording of Turangalila, not as good as Previn but not bad, and a stunning disc of Messiaen organ works (including La Nativite Du Seigneur) performed by the late Jennifer Bate.
I gave away the Rattle Turangalila symphony and added (better) recordings by Chailly and Wit. Messiaen's music continues to fascinate, and I am continuing to explore his work.
On a Sunday afternoon in November, 1969, I heard Ozawa conduct Takemitsu's November Steps with the Cleveland Orchestra (same 2 soloists..shakuhachi and biwa..from his Toronto RCA recording). In 1971, I played wood-block and tam-tam in a rehearsal of Messiean's "Oiseaux Exotiques", conducted by Robert Marcellus at the Institute (the work was either cancelled or I was pink-slipped; I can't remember...but I didn't play the performance). But the music was intriguing.
IN 1977, I came across the Ozawa Turangalila LP-set (used) at the University of Maryland bookstore; I bought it mainly for the Takemitsu, but ultimately got around to the Messiaen. I was fascinated with the composer's detailed notes; a bit kooky and pretentious, but so damn' cool! Then I bought the great (and still the best) Previn/LSO Lp set, and then realized what a fabulous work it is. When my wife and I were in Paris in fall, '89, I actually went to the office/headquarters of Durand Publishers and bought an orchestral score of Turangalila, sort of memento/souvenir to myself. I've always enjoyed the man's music, and have often said that he was one composer who seemed to have no real, traceable antecedents in music...until I heard the later works of Koechlin, that is. But for me, it's all fascination and no repulsion..and those multiple Tam-tam parts ("Et Expecto"..which Marcellus also did at CIM) are always appreciated. LR
My freshman year of college (1976), one Sunday afternoon I turned on the classical station on my transistor radio in my dorm room, and what should be playing but the opening movement of the Turangalila Symphony. I had never heard Messiaen before, but at that point was quite conversant with 20th-century music. I was fascinated, and hooked from the start. I have been in love with the work ever since. PS: having been raised Catholic has never helped me approach his Catholic works, which normally I find off-putting.
As a percussionist, I found Messiaen through Exotic Birds. Then I listened to Turangalila, St. François, Quatuor, and l’Ascension and fell in love!
Exotic Birds/Oiseaux Exotiques is great, might be my favorite Messiaen ever
Imagine if Stokowski had orchestrated the Grosse Fuge for a Rite of Spring- sized orchestra. Hearing Joy of the Stars’ Blood might produce a not dissimilar aesthetic reaction. As a student in Chicago, I heard this piece by chance first on WFMT, the Ozawa performance, which was one of the few then available, and I immediately said, “Wow! I gotta get this piece!”
That was my first Messiaen recording as well. I think I was 16 or 17. I got it because of the Ondes Martenot.
My discovery of Messiaen was through a review of a live performance of the Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps, written by the local music critic who absolutely abhorred anything written after 1899. This was about 1975, and she absolutely blasted the piece, no melody, contemporary racket, no rhythm, etc etc. It wasn't long afterward that I found the Tashi recording at the record shop and OF COURSE I had to try the thing. And it was great!
And my introduction to the Turangalila was the same album you describe. November Steps was my intro to Takemitsu, another favorite!
Yes got the exact same LP! But Quartet for End of Time got me hooked, the music and the story.
Turangalila is awesome😊
I discovered Messiaen thru the two B's: Bernstein and Boulez. Bernstein's recording of Trois Petites coupled with Roussel's Third symphony on a Columbia LP and a Boulez Chicago broadcast from either '96 or '97 where he conducted L'ascension. And that started my purchasing all the Boulez recordings on compact disc plus a few with Chung.
I always felt the Turangalila Symphonie is best served when seeing it in concert. In fact, I recently watched a performance here on the Tube with Dudamel and Yuja Wang. The camera work is quite frenetic to match the composition. My first exposure to the symphony was in the late 70's with Previn and the LSO. I was numbingly facinated by what I heard.
My first memory of Messiaen was a blind buy of Vingt Regards played by Loriod, back in the early 70s. Maybe on MHS? I remember it so well, because shortly afterward (a few months?) Messiaen and Loriod made a local appearance, including Vingt Regards, and I scored a couple of tickets. One of the more memorable concerts of my younger years.
I discovered Messiaen about 20 years ago, when I was in grad school. I read an article about the "Quartet for the End of Time", and it sounded fascinating, so I picked up a recording (Tashi) at my local record shop. I can't say I enjoyed it right away, exactly, but I was intrigued. I think my next stop was the "Catalogue d'oiseaux" on Naxos; I can still remember riding the subway home with the box in my hands, wondering what I would find when I played it. I loved it! Then I was off to the races, and gradually acquired all of his piano music, his organ music, his orchestral music, and so on. I think I've got everything now.
Today Messiaen is a favourite composer of mine. I made a pilgrimage to his parish when I was in Paris, and heard the organ. I listen to his "Saint Francois" opera every year on or around the Feast of St. Francis in October, and I would dearly love to see it live before I die; I think it's the greatest opera of the 20th century. I also think his organ music is a major monument for the instrument. I have never warmed to the "Turangalila", but I enjoyed hearing the story of how it introduced you to his musical world. Thanks, Dave.
I discovered Messiaen on the flip side of my first record of Ligeti's 1st Book of Piano Etudes, which was a selection from the XX. Regards, played by Laurent-Aimard. Stunning!
It was 1970, at the Proms in London. The work was La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ. It really is a gigantic thing, more of a rite really, but I'm not with the metaphysical program. I was a sucker for the sublime and grandiose, still am actually. Loads of Tam Tam! But it was a wearying event. Still, I went to the stage door and saw Messiaen, which was kind of uplifting. There is a UA-cam of a later Proms performance which honestly I enjoy more than I remember liking the live performance. (Nearly two hours.) It's a sound world I can only inhabit occasionally, but there is a monumental intensity to it, oddly a kind of simplicity, which is alluring, and there is nobility in it.
I was introduced to Messiaen aged 15 by a classmate who put on a record of Cantéyodjayâ. I think the title was the only thing that stuck in my head. Aged 18 I took my dad to a performance of Et Exspecto in York Minster in England. He was impressed by the size of the tam tams, if nothing else. I would agree with Dave's verdict on Messiaen's writing for voice: La Transfiguration and Saint-Francois put me to sleep. I'd make an exception for Poemes pour Mi: there is a nice recording with Francoise Pollet under Boulez (I also heard her sing it live). Nowadays I go back mainly to the solo piano and organ pieces. One of those composers about whom it's safe to say 'Some of it's nice'.
the way I came to know Messiaen was when I was in the Conservatory and my pianist gave me a CD compilation of music he liked, and there was "Noël" from the Vingt Regards. He told me it was "cool". I listened it and I loved it. Of course I didn't give a crap about non retrogradable rhythms and all that stuff, the important thing was that there was some keyboard smashing!!
I was a precocious music teenager, on my own for a day in a college music library. 1974. Lo and behold: I came across the score to Chronochromie. My introduction to Messiaen--at his most complex. I still can't quite believe the time signature challenges. One of my favorite works ever since.
Makes a lot of sense Dave. Took me ages to get to most of Messiaen’s works (he wrote a lot!) and I still baulk at the later organ compendia and the transfiguration..
probably I heard the Quartet first, as they had the Barenboim et al lp of this in my school library.. I liked the abyss of the birds and the fureur bit, but I think I was probably unable to get much of it back then. Then later Turangalila (Previn I think) and I didn’t like that at all at first. Then probably the St Francis as they had scenes from this with Fischer-Dieskau on BBC radio in the early 80s. Was very impressed with all the mallet instruments there!
It has been gradual, encountering more and more of him. I remember getting fascinated by the Bird Catalogue at one time as much for the idea of the birds in their natural settings and his notes as for appreciating their musical sense.
I finally got the DG “Complete Messiaen” box, a great thing (mostly) - I’d have thought that’d be a good candidate for your “ripe for reissue “ series, as of course it gives you the whole range of him
You already talk about Turangalila Symphony as a Dave's FAve, (Antoni Wit on Naxos, yes is great great and cheap) we are waiting for
If I Could Choose Only One Work By...Messiaen
I purchased a season ticket for orchestra concerts at Gulbenkian, Lisbon. They did Transfiguration two weeks ago and I really enjoyed it. It was a special evening, since the conductor was Myung-Whun Chung, and this was a piece commissioned by Gulbenkian in the 60's.
I was happy to have prepared myself prior, though. It is not a piece that I would have enjoyed if I did not know who Messiaen was and what his music is like.
Same RCA Ozawa recording! BBC Radio 3 also broadcast Messiaen’s complete organ music in the 70s with Gillian Weir (not thar Collins Classics set though) around the same time and I was hooked.
Visions de l'Amen for 2 pianos, an RCA cassette by Peter Serkin and Yuji Takahashi. I bought it at a record shop in Lucky Plaza because it was on sale at half-price! Mind-blowing cosmic piano sounds! Later I heard several movements of Turangalila on a Radio France programme, and got sold!
I love organ music, and I like exotic, mysterious chord-changes. I knew Dame Gillian Weir was playing Messiaen so I investigated. As I was into early Tangerine Dream, I thought I heard some sort of correspondence between them and Messiaen - probably chance or coincidence but it helped to draw me in. I still have not plucked up the courage to listen to Turangalila!
I discovered Messiaen when I was looking for interesting piano scores in my university library (nearly 40 years ago now), and came across this big black book with the name MESSIAEN on the spine. I was intrigued by this strange name, and discovered Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jesus. I could only approximately play two or three of the movements, but the first recording I heard (by John Ogdon) blew me away. I'm very disappointed to hear that you didn't get on with La Transfiguration, as that is probably my absolute favourite piece of serious music (I hesitate to say "classical" because it is about as far from "normal" classical music as could be imagined). The chorales in that work are very beautiful -- in the second movement (Configuratum corpori claritatis suae) and the two Chorale movements (Chorale de la Sainte Montagne and Chorale de la Lumiere de Gloire). Also, don't forget the a cappella choral piece O Sacrum Convivium, which for me is one of the most beautiful choral pieces I've ever heard. Then there's the organ music -- don't you just love how the cathedral screams for mercy in the last two minutes of the first Meditation sur le Mystere de la Sainte Trinite? Forget heavy metal music -- Messiaen is far more hardcore than any heavy metal band you could imagine. People actually used to hear that stuff in church! And, the exquisite Chronochromie for large orchestra, where the birdsongs really started taking over. And, of course, what is perhaps Messiaen's true masterpiece: Des Canyons aux Etoiles. It's such a rich oeuvre, full of so many amazing and thrilling pieces.
I was in college. I heard a senior organ student play "Dieu parmi nous." I loved the rhythms.
Yours was exactly the way I discovered Messiaen except I borrowed the RCA recording from a friend who owned it. But as soon as I could I bought my own copy. I love Turangalila and have multiple recordings and live performances. The next thing I heard was Stokowski's recording of L'ascension which I liked but not as much as the symphony. I don't care for Messiaen's vocal writing either and have never had the urge to check out his four hour St. Francis.
I shook his hand in about 1976 at a concert given by his wife at Trinity College Dublin. A musical friend who was a devotee - now a composer - insisted i say hello.
Have you washed it since?
@@DavesClassicalGuide Unfortunately, in my weakness, I succumbed to social pressure and washed - but I made a habit of shaking hands with various great artists since then - the most rewarding of which was with Pina Bausch who was very easy and chatty after a hugely successful show.
She had the most satisfying choreography to The Rites of Spring of all I think - a touch of genius - Well worth taking a look at since you implied elsewhere that it doesn’t work particularly well as ballet music
Thank u for your humorous but very insightful take. Your journey in encountering Messiaen really made me laugh because of his style and your candid honesty again and it makes a lot of sense. I don't gravitate to him too much but always find his name in the air😉 and have masochistically challenged myself to some of his works due to other composers challenging works that became enjoyable even though that doesn't always happen😆. I genuinely enjoy listening to new musical language and first heard him on the way home after a late Saturday from work when they played avant-garde classical. its pure new sound kept me from switching stations even if it wasn't pleasurable. I bought a couple of cds at borders, and growing up in a very traditional Mexican household, my family didn't know what to make of the sounds coming from my room🤣. A friend called it Messi Messiaen🤣. It's still challenging and grows slower than other journeys. Maybe I'll like it maybe I won't. I always find something new In it that clicks in my head though.....anyway, it makes me realize how important these kinds of takes can be. More recent classical can be so challenging at times, and hard to find a discussion with someone about it, so again, thank you 🙏🫡 🐦🕊🦜🐦⬛🐦🐦
I've had a hard time getting used to the vocals of St François, as it sounds so programatic it gets cumbersome. At the same time it is what makes the overall work 'human', as opposed to the insanity of the orchestra and choir parts. It makes sense, even if I do not enjoy it all equally. Some sections are wonderful (the Saint's death, how all the brothers are characterized differently). Messiaen was undoubtedly smart
I guess my introduction to Messiaen was the recording of the Quartet for the End of Time with Tashi. I was as fascinated by the history of its composition as by the music! I really love the work, but in much better recordings. I have never really liked Richard Stoltzman’s clarinet tone. I prefer either the EMI with Wolfgang Meyer, Yvonne Loriod et al or the more recent one on Sony with Martin Frost et al. Anyway I didn’t come to Messiaen until I was in college. After the quartet it was the Turangalila Symphony. Of his vocal/choral works the short O sacrum convivium! is really beautiful and hard to get out of my head once hearing it.
I discovered Turangalila at the same age of you (even if for a few years I mispelled it Turangalia). I was interested in music and ornithology and just started playing flute so when I discovered the existence of a weird french ornithologist/composer I started looking for a cd that contained le merle noir and Turangalila, and possibly the quartet. I found a double cd that contained all 3 in a record store in my city and got obsessed with it, especially with Turangalila
Ps I just saw your review of that cd is not particularly enthusiastic. I have to say, I have listened to better versions of it but it was still good enough to catch my attention at the time of listening, even if that is probably the merit of Messiaen more than the performers
I'm kind of a latecomer to the vast majority of 20th century music, and I discovered Turangalila...last Friday. The Toronto Symphony is recording it, and having heard some raves about it from friends I trust, I decided to let my first hearing be a live one. I'm definitely going to not let that be my *only* one. I was mesmerized by the ondes Martinot, the percussion was just spectacular, and there are chords in that thing (including the ending one) that will blow anyone right out of their seat. I knew Messian by reputation more than by his actual music before, and now I don't, which is a wonderful thing.
I know you likely already know these works but based on the comment of Messiaen’s vocal music being “non-vocal” in character I’d point out:
1. Saint François d’Assise (of course)
2. Cinq Rechants for 12 singers
3. Harawi the song cycle
4. Trois Petites Liturgies
Just to complicate things :) the example given was La Transfiguration which I’d concede is certainly very syllabic and doctrinal in its presentation but I’d say that helps to highlight the liturgical nature of that piece. The examples I listed have their moments like that but in my view are decidedly more appealing vocally speaking…just some thoughts. Interesting video as always, Mr. Hurwitz!
While in college I was required to take a semester long course singing choral music that included Messiaen’s “O Sacrum Convivium.”
The first time I heard it I called it "O Sacrum Confusium", and I have hardly listened to Messiaen since.
Fascinating, and amusing, story about the Messaien "Tarantula" symphony [query: i could have sworn the notes identify the second theme softly in the clarinets as the flower theme, not the organ theme you indicate. No "biggie", as the saying goes, but any possibility your liner notes translated the French incorrectly? No, you yourself have indicated you speak French. Hmmm...]
Anyway, i have in the past been able to listen to library-borrowed LP recordings of versions by both Ozawa / TSO (the recording you mention) and Chung Myoung-Hoon / Orchestre de Bastille, while hearing it live in both Toronto (Andrew Davis / TSO) and Seoul (Chung / Seoul P.O.). The latter occasion is something i will likely never forget; Chung held the last note forever, and it is the single loudest chord i have ever heard in a concert hall...
Oh, what IS your favourite recommendation of the Turangalila? Have you done a repertoire talk on the piece? And if i recall correctly, you are very disappointed in the Kent Nagano / BPO recording, but do not go into details why. Would you be willing to divulge those details?^^
Not organ, "orchid."
@@DavesClassicalGuide Ah, that makes sense...
i think the word for someone who plays ondes martenot is "ondist"
I have a Turangalila Symphony by Roger Desormiere. Very bad sound. And sure I have the Ozawa one. I listen to it one a year,