Messiaen's Turangalila Symphony

[Mark]

Has anyone played this? If so, any thoughts or comments?

[Chuck Jackson]

Great work, not very frequently performed because of it's length and odd instrumentation (who actually owns an ondes martinen). Typical Messian, lots of atmosphere, lots of soft, lots of loud. Get the Ozawa/Toronto recording. Messian is an aquired taste, one that many have spit out, unfortunately. Good luck. Oh yeah, the piece is a rental.

Chuck

[JB]

Has anyone played this? If so, any thoughts or comments?

A great work, something for everyone in it (the players, that is).

Great work, not very frequently performed because of it's length and odd instrumentation (who actually owns an ondes martinen). Typical Messian, lots of atmosphere, lots of soft, lots of loud. Get the Ozawa/Toronto recording. Messian is an aquired taste, one that many have spit out, unfortunately. Good luck. Oh yeah, the piece is a rental.

I second everything that Mr Jackson has said.

A few nice exposed tuba moments as well. Use contrabass. Study the part ahead of time (!!) to figure out the subdivisions and groupings in the odd meter bars ahead of time. Not really a work to read on the first rehearsal and have it together. Know for sure when you are to be with the trombones and when you are written differently.

Are you performing this piece somewhere in the near future? Where? With whom? Have fun; it is a hoot to play.

[tubafatness]

Great work, not very frequently performed because of it's length and odd instrumentation (who actually owns an ondes martinen). Typical Messian, lots of atmosphere, lots of soft, lots of loud. Get the Ozawa/Toronto recording. Messian is an aquired taste, one that many have spit out, unfortunately. Good luck. Oh yeah, the piece is a rental.

Chuck

I hate to be a stickler, but it's ondes martenot. The misspelling is understandable, though, given the obscurity of the instrument. Along with the Toronto recording, I also highly suggest taking a listen to the Berlin Philharmonic/Kent Nagano version. Of all the recordings I've heard of this piece, this recording is the clearest in my ears. I used to have a score, and from what I saw, there are a bunch of huge, fat chord bottoms to play. Definitely sounds like a contrabass piece. Have fun trying to find a pianist able to play the solo part. Messiaen seems to be one of those composers who are generally ignored by the music-listening crowd, yet is still very influential to music then and since.

[Mark]

I hate to be a stickler, but it's ondes martenot. The misspelling is understandable, though, given the obscurity of the instrument.

I hate to be even sticklier , but it's ondes Martenot. Martenot was the inventor.

BTW, for those interested in this instrument, watch this: http://pittsburghsymphony.blogs.com/ins ... ndeau.html. If you are a Trekkie, make sure you watch it to the end.

[Mark]

Get the Ozawa/Toronto recording.

I got it and a couple of others are on the way:

Antoni Wit/Polish Radio Orchestra
Simon Rattle/City of Birmingham Symphony

[Mark]

Have fun trying to find a pianist able to play the solo part.

Jay Gottlieb is playing the piano.

Thomas Bloch is playing the ondes Martenot.

[Mark]

Well, I guess we did good...

http://www.musicweb-international.com/S ... le0909.htm

[cambrook]

We just did this piece a few weeks ago, and I found that in our hall and with our section that it worked better on my Willson 3400. I started the week with my Rudy 5/4, and there are many sections that work best on contrabass, perhaps all depending on your situation. For me the extra clarity and "punch" of the big Eb was useful, particularly in the 5th and 10th movements.

It's a great piece to play, once the rhythmic stuff starts to gel with the orchestra it really grooves, and there are some lovely lyrical sections - especially the tacet 6th mvt.

Have fun!

[Mark]

I found that in our hall and with our section that it worked better on my Willson 3400.

I thought about using an F tuba; but our conductor wanted a lot of sound on the statue theme and I decided that the contrabass was the only way to keep up with the trombones.

[cambrook]

Good for you! We have very different trombone sections I'm sure your choice was the most valid in your situation.

The Willson 3400 is a big Eb and puts out quite a bit of sound, I couldn't imagine using an F or a small Eb. I even considered taking 2 tubas on stage and using the contrabass for the big chords etc, but the 3400 balanced fine and the conductor was happy not to have the contrabass sound - especially given the nationality of the composer.

[circusboy]

I hate to be even sticklier , but it's ondes Martenot. Martenot was the inventor.

Does that mean that if we're being our stickliest, we always need to write Sousaphone, Saxhorn and Saxophone (instead of sousaphone, saxhorn and squawky-bent-thing)?