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Olivier Messiaen falls squarely into that camp of avant- gardists that have used decidedly outrageous music to express profound, often ecumenical spiritual values. And the
Turangalîla Symphony is easily one of Messiaen's wildest, most sonically ecumenical works. This lengthy symphony's title comes from Sanskrit, joining the words for "time" and "play" very aptly, since the piece runs freely across time in both its density and stop-start jumpiness and in its mixture of post-modern technology and traditional symphonic practices. Messiaen juxtaposes like mad here, putting the electronic
ondes martenot up front with the piano while at various times forested trombone parts hash it out with crashing percussion and tonally tilted strings. Having scripted a mini-ensemble made up on pitched-percussion instruments within the orchestra, Messiaen sought to import a sound similar to a Balinese gamelan orchestra. The bright juts of bass and the cascading segments punctuated by the
ondes martenot ensure, though, that this is far more than a percussion piece. First performed in 1949 as the Cold War was setting in, the
Turangalîla is a fast-paced, intercontinental ride that foreshadowed Messiaen's even wilder explorations, as well as the inclusion of electronic instruments and non-Western chordal arrangements and instrumental arrays in large symphonies.
--Andrew Bartlett
