Fervently religious, enthusiastically esoteric, provocatively innovative… Messiaen and his music challenge us with their very existence. While not every work by this composer has become widely accepted, his Turangalîla-Symphonie is arguably one of the few symphonic works of the 20th century to enter the mainstream classical music canon. Unlike most of Messiaen’s compositions, Turangalîla is inspired by the myth of Tristan and Isolde, and as Messiaen put it, “the whole work is a love song.” Composed between 1946 and 1948, the symphony was premiered December 2, 1949 under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. In contrast, Messiaen's L’ascension, an orchestral meditation on an important Roman Catholic holy day, reflects the typical themes of the majority of the composer's œuvre.

Photo: Kent Nagano © Felix Broede