Messiaen: Turangalîla Symphony

“Osborne copes faultlessly here, negotiating the bustle of the more intense movements with precision and smooth power, while the more reflective passages such as the "Jardin du Sommeil d'amour" are treated with fluid grace and understanding.” The Independent, 28th July 2012 ****

“The virtue of this studio recording is, paradoxically, that it doesn’t get carried away. The balance of instrumental sound is exemplary, without compromising atmosphere or momentum, and there are virtuoso contributions from Steven Osborne in the easily overlooked piano part and from Cynthia Millar” Financial Times, 11th August 2012 ****

“Mena doesn’t attempt to tone down the vulgarity or smooth the out the textures. He’s impetuous, excitable, the Bergen players managing to keep up with his swift tempi. There’s plenty of muscle on display, but the softer episodes are gorgeous...Osborne’s handling of the fiendish piano solo is effortless...Unmissable – this is already among the most uplifting discs you’ll hear all year.” The Arts Desk, 11th August 2012

“any performance must keep sight of the romantic, sometimes disturbing, core of the work. This is clearly understood in this performance from Juanjo Mena and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra...the essentials are there...[Osborne] brings authority to the piano cadenzas and poetry to the filigree passages, while the orchestra players are clearly having fun.” BBC Music Magazine, September 2012 ****

“A unity of vision between pianist and conductor helps make this Turangalila prevail where others are compromised...the concentrated meditative quality Mena and Osborne lend to the sixth movement rotates the symphony on its axis...No other conductor gets inside Messiaen's overlapping currents of cyclic time like Mena.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2012

“Mena has a tremendous grip on the score and a real sense of its epic sweep. That sense of sweep, however, is not at the expense of attention to detail; Mena clearly has every aspect of this score at his fingertips...the playing of the Bergen Philharmonic is first class.” MusicWeb International, August 2012

“Newly reissued, Previn's 1977 account dragged Turangalîla to mainstream attention. Previn excels at combing through Messiaen's thick layers, and the LSO are on fine form - am exhilarating souvenir from a golden period in British orchestral life.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2008

“Simon Rattle's 1986 account with the City of Birmingham Symphony never had the field to itself but is set an interpretative standard yet to be surpassed. Not only is the placing of piano (Peter Donohoe) and ondes martenot (Tristan Murail) ideal but the reading balances insight with a firm grasp of the formal interplay between movements.” Gramophone Magazine, December 2005

“I know, I know - this is exactly the sort of version a critic would choose, but the combination of the Berlin Philharmonic on top form and the expert fingers of Pierre Laurent-Aimard is irresistible. The deep, resonant recorded sound also helps.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2008

“Turangalîla is a difficult score, and to record it live is risky. Even when the orchestra is the Berlin Philharmonic? Yes, since the work is very far from the centre of their repertoire. Whether despite or because of that risk this is a splendidly exciting performance; more surprisingly it's also for the most part a very accurate and detailed one.
The textures and colours of the third movement are finely balanced, as they are even in the headlong exuberance of its successor. Although the precision of the seventh seems to understate its balefulness the complex textures and superimposed rhythms of the ninth are outstandingly clear and fascinating. The soloists are admirable; the extremes of the piano part, in particular, are just what Aimard is good at. There are one or two imprecisions of balance, but this is among the two or three best accounts of Turangalîla available.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010