Review: Messiaen - Turangalîla - Hamelin, Forget, Gimeno

This is an absolutely thrilling rendition of Messiaen’s mind-bending masterpiece about love. Normally this kind of recommendation would come towards the end of the review, but in this instance I wanted to put all my cards down right away. I own several excellent recordings of the work, led by Chailly, Chung, Nagano, Rattle, and Wit (the last my longtime primary recommendation). Perhaps because I came to it without preconceived expectations, the brilliant ecstasy of the reading captivated me each time I listened.

Purchase on Amazon

Toronto has recorded the work before, in the 1960s under its then Music Director Seiji Ozawa. Like this new performance, the reading has a primal quality that connects to the music’s emotional core, and the involvement of the Loriod sisters (Yvonne – the composer’s wife – on piano and Jeanne on ondes Martenot) perhaps gives it a special authority. Yet the level of technical accomplishment in the current Toronto orchestra is far higher, with fabulous playing from every department. Marc-André Hamelin is, as ever, simply brilliant, fully attuned to the music’s wildly divergent qualities, and Harmonia Mundi’s engineering is simply splendiferous.

I have not heard any of Gimeno’s previous recordings, something I will now rectify. He has a sure grasp of the work’s sprawling architecture and spiritual trajectory. The unmistakable chemistry between the orchestra and its music director adds an extra frisson to the recording’s energy. The reading is quick (a bit under 74 minutes), the fastest that I know. Yet it never feels rushed. Even in the wildly cacophonous fifth movement, which really moves, the playing has tremendous confidence and verve. It is basically a set of variations on one of the major themes that unifies the work, the “Statue” theme. When first introduced in the opening movement, it is brutal and fearsome, but here the continuously varying orchestration transforms it into dazzling exaltation. Harmonia Mundi’s engineering (and Gimeno’s expert balancing) creates an almost perfect mix of piano, a large percussion section, and ondes Martenot into the overall orchestral sound. This reading is an overwhelming riot of color.

Related Posts

A highlight of Chung’s reading (recorded in the presence of the composer, who described it as the finest reading of his work ever recorded to disc) is the mesmerizing tenderness of the following movement, “Jardin du sommeil d’amour” (Garden of Love’s Sleep). If Gimeno’s reading does not match the special potency of that reading, it comes close, and his Toronto players offer rich tone and impressive unanimity, in music meant to paint an image of the two lovers sleeping in one another’s arms.

Gimeno’s narrative control is particularly impressive in the eighth movement, which brings the four major themes (Statue, Flower, Chords, and Love) together. There are “three great explosions,” and Gimeno gauges each of them perfectly, ensuring they each have a distinct color and weight and emotional meaning.

It speaks well of Harmonia Mundi that it would inaugurate this new recording partnership with such a challenging work. I have never heard the work live, and part of the reason I have collected so many recordings is because I want to fully understand and appreciate this seminal work in Messiaen’s oeuvre. There are times I really love it, thinking that I have unlocked its many secrets – and there are others where I think I will never really understand it. Listening to this new recording over the last several days has reignited my love for it and has sparked my desire to explore and understand the piece more fully. That is surely a clear indication of a recording’s greatness.

Messiaen – Turangalîla-Symphonie
Marc-André Hamelin – Piano
Nathalie Forget – Ondes Martenot
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Gustavo Gimeno, Conductor
Harmonia Mundi, HMM905336

Purchase on Amazon