Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.There are a couple of surprises here. The first is the presence of Yuja Wang as solo pianist. Although Olivier Messiaen described his Turangalîla-Symphonie as “almost a concerto for piano and orchestra”, the piano part is often just one element in the overwhelming tsunami of orchestral sound, so it does not attract many of the top-flight pianists accustomed to playing the core classics. The other is that this live recording is a digital-only release with no parallel physical product (LP or CD).The Turangalîla-Symphonie was commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra gave the premiere in 1949 under conductor Leonard Bernstein. The BSO’s archives include the handwritten manuscript, programme notes and letters from Messiaen giving instructions for the performance.It is a pleasure to hear the finesse that today’s Boston players bring to this complex work, which marks one of the high points in the orchestra’s history. Cogently paced under Andris Nelsons, this performance of the Turangalîla-Symphonie is as much about joyous leaping rhythms and chirruping birdsong as wallowing in religious or sensuous ecstasy — though that has its moments, too.Always a player of luminescent brilliance, Wang shines in the virtuosity of the solo piano part and gets a touch of extra prominence by being placed in the foreground. The live recording is less sumptuous than some earlier studio recordings, but its clarity allows the listener to pick out every glint of Messiaen’s kaleidoscopic orchestral canvas.★★★★☆‘Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie’ is released by DG
