Turangalîla-Symphonie

Composed during 1946-48 and premiered in Boston on 2 December 1949, with Leonard Bernstein conducting, Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie is inspired by the myth of Tristan and Isolde, with emphasis on the interplay of love and death. This is the “lîla” aspect, with “turanga” implying the onward course of time. Featuring lavish percussion and the ondes Martenot electronic keyboard, the work only gradually came to prominence but is now regarded as seminal to 20th-century music. The “Introduction” features two recurrent ideas―the “statue theme” on trombones and tuba and then the “flower theme” on clarinets. The second, fourth, sixth and eighth movements centre on love: “Chant d’amour I” presents the “love theme” on strings with impulsive music on brass and percussion, then “Chant d’amour II” extends it in the context of more rhythmic ideas. Only in “Jardin du sommeil d’amour” (“Garden of Love’s Sleep”) is the entire theme heard raptly on strings with birdsong evocations on piano, with “Développement de l’amour” subsequently taking it to heights of unsustainable ecstasy. Of the third, seventh and ninth movements, “Turangalîla I” juxtaposes themes for each of the four orchestral sections; its unease intensified in “Turangalîla II” with angular brass and aggressive percussion, then made more intriguing as it superimposes variations of its initial woodwind idea. As to the fifth and tenth movements, “Joie du sang des étoiles” (“Joy of the Star’s Blood”) is an orgiastic dance, and “Final” channels aspects of the foregoing into a climactic unison statement of the “love theme”.