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- 1 - 1 Script for NYP 16-33: Turangalila 2 (INSERT NATIONAL UNDERWRITING CREDIT #1) 3 (THEME MUSIC UP AND UNDER TO "X") 4 AB: And “this” week....(X) 5 (MUSIC) 6 AB: Composer-in-Residence Esa-Pekka Salonen leads 7 one of the best-loved scores by Olivier 8 Messiaen: the Turangalila-Symphony. 9 This is Alec Baldwin. Thanks very much for 10 joining us as the orchestra presents this work 11 for only the third time in its history. 12 Pianist Yuja Wang and Ondes-Martenot Valérie 13 Hartmann-Claverie will be our soloists in a 14 work the composer called a “song of love and a 15 hymn to joy.” Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts…The 16 New York Philharmonic This Week. 17 (BILLBOARD OUT, AMBIENCE UP AND UNDER) 18 (Actuality: (01-alan_01) 19 20 21 - 2 - 22 AB: Music Director Alan Gilbert with a few opening 23 remarks about the music of Messiaen. Mr. 24 Gilbert went on to praise Esa-Pekka Salonen as 25 one of the foremost interpreters of the piece 26 we hear on this broadcast: the Turangalila- 27 Symphony. 28 (ACTUALITY: 02-alan) 29 AB: Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen was 30 born December 10, 1908 in Avignon, France. For 31 those of you keeping score, that’s one day 32 before Elliott Carter—another giant of 33 contemporary music—was born right here, in 34 Manhattan. Messiaen left this world on April 35 27, 1992 at the age of 83. (Elliott Carter 36 would outlive him by 20 years, passing just one 37 month shy of his 104th birthday.) Actually, if 38 it hasn’t already been done by some ambitious 39 musicology student, one could probably right a 40 very good paper comparing and contrasting the 41 development of these two men. We’re not going 42 to do that right now, but one might argue that 43 both they and their music had more in common 44 than one might initially realize. 45 46 - 3 - 47 Messiaen grew up in a very literary family: his 48 father was an English teacher and translated 49 several of Shakespeare’s plays into French…and 50 his mother was a poet. A precocious child, 51 Messiaen was self-taught as a pianist before 52 beginning formal music studies and he entered 53 the famed Paris Conservetoire at age 11. His 54 teachers there included Paul Dukas for harmony 55 (perhaps best known in this country for The 56 Sorcerer’s Apprentice, though he also wrote a 57 very charming Symphony) and Marcel Dupré for 58 organ—one of the greatest exponents of that 59 instrument of all time. (Messiaen was no 60 slouch himself and was installed as the 61 organist at La Trinité at just 22 years of 62 age.) 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 - 4 - 70 Messiaen also began his first forays into 71 composition while still very young. Early 72 influences included Ravel and Debussy and 73 perhaps due to his parents’ love of words, he 74 became attracted to opera. While still a 75 child, he even started a collection of opera 76 scores—and would ask for additions to it for 77 birthdays and holidays. The composer recalled 78 that getting a copy of Debussy’s opera, Pelleas 79 and Melisande was one of the most defining 80 moments in his life. 81 Messiaen never strayed too far from the Paris 82 Conservatory. He left as a student in 1930 and 83 returned as a teacher in 1941, where he 84 remained until his retirement in 1978. Notable 85 amongst his pupils were Pierre Boulez, 86 Karlheinz Stockhausen, Quincey Jones, and his 87 wife, Yvonne Loriod, who for many years was the 88 only person that played Turangalila—often with 89 her sister, Jeanne on the Ondes Martenot. More 90 on that in just a bit. 91 92 93 - 5 - 94 AB: Messiaen is one of the most original voices in 95 all of music. He certainly doesn’t fit into 96 the mold of his contemporaries, but neither is 97 he in any way a pastiche of his French 98 predecessors. Mr. Salonen summed him up this 99 way: 100 (CLIP) 101 [tell anecdote about raiding his apartment?] 102 AB: So now we get to the music at hand: 103 The Turangalîla Symphony was commissioned by 104 Serge Koussevitzky and the Boston Symphony 105 Orchestra in the mid-1940's As the story goes, 106 Koussevitzy told Messiaen quote, “'Write me the 107 work you want to, in the style you want, as 108 long as you want, with the instrumental 109 formation you want…” In other words, he 110 basically gave the composer carte blanche. This 111 that was an attractive enough offer to persuade 112 Messiaen to accept one of his first commissions 113 as a composer. It was Leonard Bernstein who 114 led the Boston Symphony in the work’s premiere 115 in December, 1949 with the composer’s wife, 116 Yvonne Loriod as piano soloist. - 6 - 117 Despite the Bernstein connection, Turangalila 118 didn’t turn up at the Philharmonic until it was 119 mounted for the composer’s 80th birthday in 120 1988. Esa-Pekka Salonen was there: 121 (ACTUALITY: EPS) 122 Turangalila has only been given one other time— 123 in 2000, when Hans Vonk conducted it as part of 124 the Lincoln Center Festival. 125 Turangalîla is a Sanskrit word. In program 126 notes prepared for the premiere of the work, 127 the composer wrote the following about the 128 title to his symphony: quote “Like all words 129 belonging to ancient Eastern languages, 130 [Turangalîla] is very rich in meaning. Lola 131 literally means play, but play in the sense of 132 divine action on the cosmos...the play of 133 creation, of destruction and reconstruction, 134 the play of life and death. Lîla is also Love. 135 Turanga is Time–the time which runs like a 136 galloping horse...time which slips like sand 137 through the hourglass. Turanga is also 138 movement and rhythm. Turangalîla, then, 139 signifies at one and the same time, a love 140 song, a hymn to joy, time, movement, rhythm, 141 life, and death.” - 7 - 142 The Turangalîla Symphony calls for an enormous 143 orchestra and a most unusual array of 144 instruments; in addition to augmented, 145 traditional forces, the score also calls for 146 Basque drums, a Chinese cymbal, celesta, 147 glockenspiel, temple blocks, and tam-tam. The 148 work also calls for two soloists: piano and 149 Ondes Martenot. 150 Of the piano part, Messiaen wrote, quote “The 151 piano part is of such importance and its 152 execution demands such extraordinary virtuosity 153 that one might say the Turangalîla Symphony is 154 almost a concerto for piano and orchestra. 155 Long and brilliant cadenzas in the different 156 movements draw together the elements of 157 development and form part of the overall 158 design.” 159 160 161 162 163 164 - 8 - 165 As mentioned, Messiaen also included a solo 166 part for the Ondes Martenot–an early monophonic 167 electronic instrument invented in Paris around 168 1928. Sometimes called the ondes musicales, it 169 is one of the most successful electronic 170 musical instruments developed before the 171 synthesizer. The 7 octave range of the 172 instrument and its unique texture appealed to 173 the experimental nature of many composers in 174 the 20th century, including Edgar Varese, 175 Darius Milhaud and Artur Honegger. In his 176 opera based on St. Francis of Assisi, Messiaen 177 wrote parts for THREE Ondes-Martenot. 178 The Turangalîla symphony has four cyclical 179 themes or motifs that recur, in one way or 180 another, throughout the ten-movement score. 181 These can be roughly divided as the statue 182 theme, the flower theme, the theme of love, and 183 a chord progression: 184 [EXAMPLE] 185 Two of these themes are introduced in the 186 symphony’s opening movement, titled, 187 “Introduction.” The statue theme is in thirds 188 and is carried primarily by the trombones: 189 [EXCERPT] - 9 - 190 AB: This eventually gives way to the clarinets for 191 the much gentler, “flower theme.” 192 [EXCERPT] 193 AB: The second movement is marked, “Chant d’amour” 194 or “song of love.” As with the statue theme, 195 you’ll hear this love theme many times 196 throughout the piece; here, you’ll notice it in 197 the other-worldy voice of the Ondes Martenot: 198 [EXCERPT] 199 AB: From here, we have Turangalîla 1 and a second 200 “Song of love” before coming to the fifth 201 movement, which is labeled, “Joy of the Stars’ 202 Blood” Joy is very apt description of what we 203 hear at the start of the movement: 204 [EXCERPT] 205 …later our old pal the statue theme returns, 206 and you’ll hear it both in the piano part and 207 in the orchestra in this next excerpt: 208 [EXCERPT] 209 210 - 10 - 211 Next, we hear the “Garden of Love’s Sleep” and 212 Turangalîla 2—the shortest and arguable most 213 dramatic movement in the score. Here’s just a 214 taste: 215 [EXCERPT] 216 AB: In “Development of Love,” we again encounter 217 the love theme in all its glory, framed by the 218 chord theme and the statue theme at the 219 introduction and coda. Here’s a small section 220 towards the end of the movement where several 221 things are happening at once: 222 [EXCERPT] 223 We then move on through Turangalîla 3, and on 224 to the Finale, which ends in a quite ecstatic 225 manner, largely centered on development around 226 the love theme: 227 [EXCERPT] 228 229 230 231 - 11 - 232 We leave off the pre-concert portion of this 233 broadcast with a few more words of the 234 composer.