Hewitt, Lintu / Messiaen: Turangalila-Symphonie (2014)

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Hewitt, Lintu / Messiaen: Turangalila-Symphonie (2014)

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The Turangalîla-Symphonie is one of Messiaen’s stand-out masterpieces from the 1940s, and is well known for its large orchestral forces and prominent parts for both the piano and the rarer electro-acoustic ondes Martenot. Although hailed as one of the great milestones in 20th century classical music, Turangalîla is an approachable work, divided into ten discreet movements that depict themes of love, using recurrent musical images, motifs and reference points.

Angela Hewitt is one of today’s leading pianists and well known as one of the world’s foremost interpreters of Bach. Valérie Hartmann-Claverie is an expert ondes Martenot player and is regularly involved in premiering new works for this unique instrument and teaching it at the Paris Conservatoire National.

Hannu Lintu and the Finnish RSO are well known for their interpretations of 20th century composers. This disc follows on from their highly successful recording of Ligeti works (ODE 1213-2 Gramophone Editor’s Choice).

Composer: Olivier Messiaen
Performer: Angela Hewitt, Valerie Hartmann-Claverie
Conductor: Hannu Lintu
Orchestra/Ensemble: Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Reviews: Since its Boston premier – given by Leonard Bernstein in December 1949 – Messiaen's exotic and lavishly scored Turangalîla Symphony has received many fine recordings, including some with the imprimatur of the composer and some that additionally feature both Yvonne Loriod, the composer's wife playing the virtuoso piano part written for her, and Jeanne Loriod, her sister, performing the important part for the eerie sounding electronic instrument the ondes Martinot.

No performance or recording of this challenging work is likely to be undertaken without intensive rehearsal by the artists involved which is why I have yet to encounter a badly executed performance of it on disc. It is unlikely that, with over twenty recordings available on CD, any potential purchaser will have much difficulty in finding a performance to suit their own taste.

Nevertheless, leaving aside artistic considerations, Messiaen’s kaleidoscopic orchestration and complex juxtaposing of the various sections of his vast orchestral forces (that require a minimum of eight percussion players) call for a recording of exceptional sound quality, such as only SACD or Blu-ray can provide, in order that every manifestation of the composer's aural palette be made audible.

This new recording from Ondine is only the second of this sprawling work to appear as a multi-channel SACD. The first was the 1992 version from Riccardo Chailly and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra on Decca. This was re-mixed, for its release on SACD, from the edited master tapes by the producer Andrew Cornall and the recording engineer John Dunkerley to produce the multi-channel version. Though quite successful in many respects, the deployment of the surround channels is rather cautious and the sound of the PCM 48kz/16 bit recording on some players may be considered to be over bright. The Ondine disc is in 5.0 surround, but here the surround channels are used purely for ambient information, so the orchestra is presented in a normal concert layout as shown in a photograph in the liner notes. The recorded balance does favour the piano of Angela Hewitt and ondes Martinot of Valérie Hartmann-Claverie, but not excessively so.

Comparison of performances yield no clear preferences. Overall Lintu is slightly faster by a couple of minutes, but this means little, as Chailly is faster and more urgent in six of the work's ten movements. The biggest difference occurs in (VI) 'Jardin du Sommeil d'amour' where Lintu presses forward and Angela Hewitt's magical evocation of bird song makes a greater impression than does Thibaudet for Chailly.

In the final analysis, I still prefer the refinement and absolute precision of Chailly and the RCO to that of Lintu and his fine Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, but in truth it is a matter of swings and roundabouts. The greater availability (and cheaper price) of the Ondine disc may, for many, be the deciding factor.