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Messiaen: Turangalila Symphony / Salonen, Crossley, Murail


Release Date: 04/20/2011 
Label:  Sony   Catalog #: 66281  
Composer:  Olivier Messiaen
Performer:  Tristan Murail,  Paul Crossley
Conductor:  Esa-Pekka Salonen
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Philharmonia Orchestra
Number of Discs: 1 
Recorded in: Stereo 
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This CD is reissued by ArkivMusic.

Notes and Editorial Reviews

Even if, like me, you prefer Messiaen's more abrasive later manner to the undeniably hypnotic sweetness and ecstatic exuberance of Turangalila, this performance is both a sonic spectacular and—as MEO's review of the LPs made clear—a powerful projection of the work's tensions and contrasts.

-- Gramophone [6/1987]
reviewing the original release, CBS 42271

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I suppose the music lover within takes precedence over the sound freak, but not by much. Delighted as I was at my editor's decision to revive the old "Classical Hall of Fame" slot, I was hard put to decide what to write about first, until it occurred to me, as a fair and sensible thing, to praise those discs I play Read more for pleasure between reviewing stints—the pauses that refresh, as it were.

Agreed, Turangalila's a flawed work—overlong, overblown, overacute, and, like so much of Messiaen's music, self-indulgent as only someone who fancies himself in touch with the Eternal can make it. But what a grand, fantastic-sounding thing it is! Salonen has taken Turangalila's measure most convincingly, and the Philharmonic plays it as well, it seems to me, as an orchestra can. Bud Graham's engineering wants special mention for its detail and clout, and if you've a playback system capable of delivering bodacious SPLs without imploding or crackling the glaze on your front teeth and bric-a-brac, you're dead wrong to ignore this glorious imperfection.

-- Mike Silverton, FANFARE [9/1991]
reviewing the original release, CBS 42271
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Works on This Recording

1. Turangalîla-Symphonie by Olivier Messiaen
Performer:  Tristan Murail (Ondes Martenot), Paul Crossley (Piano)
Conductor:  Esa-Pekka Salonen
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Philharmonia Orchestra
Period: 20th Century 
Written: 1946-1948; France 
 Date of Recording: 11/1985 

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