Saturday Evening March 15, 1975 at 8:00 Carneqie Hall J 974 1975 SEASON \*J NEW YORK The Carnegie Hall Corporation presents the Boston Symphony Orchestra NINETY-FOURTH SEASON 1974-7 5 SEIJI OZAWA, Music Director and Conductor COLIN DAVIS, Principal Guest Conductor OLIVIER MESSIAEN Turangalila-Syntphonie for Piano, Ondes Martenot and Orchestra I. Introduction Modere, un peu vif II. Chant d ' amour 1 Modere, lourd III. Turangalila 1 Presque lent, reveur IV. Chant d'amour 2 Bien modere V. Joie du sang des etoiles Un peu vif, joyeux et passione INTERMISSION VI. Jardin du sommeil d' Amour Tres modere, tres tendre VII. Turangalila 2 Piano solo un peu vif; orchestre modere VIII. Developpement de 1 ' amour Bien modere IX. Turangalila 3 Modere X. Final Modere, avec une grande joie YVONNE LORIOD Piano JEANNE LORIOD Ondes Martenot The Boston Symphony Orchestra records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon Baldwin Piano Deutsche Grammophon and RCA Records Turangalila-Symphonie for Piano, Ondes Martenot and Orchestra/Olivier Messiaen The Turangalila-Symphonie was commissioned from me by Serge Koussevitzky for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I wrote and orches- trated it between 17th July, 1946, and 29th November, 1948. The world first performance was given on 2nd December, 1949, in Boston (U.S.A.) Symphony Hall by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Leonard Bernstein. The piano solo part was played by Yvonne Loriod, who has played it in nearly every performance of the work, whoever the conductor or wherever it was given. Turangalila (pronounced with an accent and prolongation of sound on the last two syllables) is a Sanscrit word. Like all words belong- ing to the ancient oriental languages, it is very rich in meaning. Lila literally signifies "play", but "play" in the sense of divine action in the cosmos, the "play" of creation, the "play" of destruc- tion, of reconstruction, the "play" of life and death. Lila also means love. Turanga is time that runs, like a galloping horse, time that flows like the sand in an hour-glass. Turanga is movement and rhythm, so Turangalila means all this at once: a song of love, hymn to joy, time, movement, rhythm, life and death. The Turangalila-Symphonie is a song of love. The Turangalila- Symphonie is a hymn of joy, joy as conceived by one who has only glimpsed it in the midst of misfortune, that is to say, a superhuman joy - overflowing, dazzling and unbounded. Love is presented here in a similar aspect: a love that is fatal, irresistible, transcending all, suppressing all that lies outside it, as symbolized by the love- philtre of Tristan and Isolde. The Turangalila-Symphonie is a song of love, and a hymn to joy. It is also a vast counterpoint of rhythms. In particular it uses two rhythmic devices which were innovations at the time of its first per- formance: "non-retrograde rhythms" and "rhythmic identities". Over and above numerous themes pertaining to each of its ten movements, the Turangalila-Symphonie involves four cyclic themes to be found fairly generally throughout the work. The first cyclic theme, in ponderous thirds and nearly always played by the trombones fortissimo, has the heavy and frightening bru- tality of ancient Mexican monuments. It has always evoked for me some terrible and fatal statue. I call it the "statue-theme". The second cyclic theme, entrusted to the caressing clarinets pianissimo, is in two voices, like two eyes that duplicate each other. The mental picture of a flower is here the nearest: the tender orchid, the decor- ative fuchsia, the red gladiolus, the all too lithe convolvulus. The third cyclic theme is the most important of all: the "theme of love". The fourth cyclic theme is a simple succession of chords. More than a theme, it is an excuse for various sonorous backgrounds. The orchestral composition of Turangalila is monumental and also of the greatest variety. As well as the traditional woodwinds and strings, there must be mentioned the brass, keyboard and percussion instruments. The brass are numerous and are much used. The themes are often entrusted to the trombones, horns and trumpets - the upper register of the small trumpet in D gives brilliance to the orchestra- tion and adds a further notch to the fortissimo. The keyboard instru- ments - glockenspiel, celesta and vibraphone, combined with the piano . solo and metallic percussion, form a small orchestra in the heart of the large one; its sonority and the part it plays are reminiscent of the Balinese gamelan. The percussion, fourteen in number, emerge from their usual role of seasoning the music: they perform counterpoints of durations and true rhythmic themes. Finally, two solo instruments are superimposed on the rest: the solo piano and the Ondes Martenot. The piano solo part is of such importance and its performance requires such extraordinary virtuosity that it might be said that the Turangalila-Symphonie is almost a concerto for piano and orchestra. Long and brilliant cadenzas inserted in the different movements link together elements of the development and form part of the work's construction The Ondes Martenot also plays a big part. It is noticed by everyone when, at climactic points, its expressive and high-pitched voice dominates the fortissimo. But it is also used in the lower register and quietly. I have made use of three special diffusers: l'Espace (giving a distant effect), la Palme (sympathetic vibrations) and le Metallique (each sound has the corresponding metallic resonance of a gong placed in the diffuser) The Turangalila-Symphonie has passed its hundredth performance. The composer wishes to draw attention to some memorable interpreta- tions which he had the luck to hear: the fourth performance, at Aix- en-Provence under Roger Desormiere. Several performances in Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy by Hans Rosbaud and Rudolf Albert. The seventy-second performance, in Tokyo (Japan) by Seiji Ozawa. Two per- formances in Sofia (Bulgaria) by Constantin Iliev. A recent perform- ance in Zagreb (Yugoslavia) by Zivojin Zdravkovic. And, finally, a magnificent performance in the Theatre des Champs-Ely sees in Paris on 20th January, 1959, under Manuel Rosenthal. Olivier Messiaen (translated by Felix Aprahamian ) Program notes copyright 1975 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra Inc. SEIJI OZAWA Upon his appointment as Music Director in the fall of 1973, Seiji Ozawa became the thirteenth person to head the Boston Symphony Orches- tra since its founding in 1881. He succeeds such historic figures as Pierre Monteux, Serge Koussevitzky and Charles Munch. Prior to his appointment he was for one year the Orchestra's Music Adviser, and had appeared on numerous occasions as guest conductor of the Orchestra. Born in Hoten, Manchuria, in 1935, he graduated from the Toho School of Music in Tokyo, winning first prizes in composition and conducting. He then went to Europe, where he won first prize at the International Competition of Conducting at Besancon, France. One of the judges was the late Charles Munch, then Music Director of the Boston Symphony, whose invitation to Tanglewood was the beginning of Mr. Ozawa* s assoc- iation with the Orchestra. Appointed one of the New York Philharmon- ic's assistant conductors at the beginning of the 1961-62 season, he directed that orchestra several times, though it was with the San Francisco Symphony, during the same season, that he made his first full-length professional concert appearance in North America. Begin- ning in the summer of 1964, he was for five seasons Music Director of the Ravinia Festival, and at the start of the 1965-66 season, he . became Music Director of the Toronto Symphony, a post he relinquished after four seasons in order to devote his time to guest conducting. During the summer of 1969, he conducted opera for the first time, Cosi fan tutte at Salzburg, and served also as principal guest conductor of the Ravinia Festival. That fall he opened the New York Philharmonic season and later appeared as guest conductor with L'Orchestre de Paris, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic. In 1970, Mr. Ozawa was made Artistic Director of the Berkshire Music Festival, and in December of that year he began his inaugural season as Conductor and Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. He holds the position of Music Director and Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra concurrently with his posts at Tangle- wood and in San Francisco. He has made several recordings with the Boston Symphony Orchestra on the Deutsche Grammophon label, among them Berlioz" Symphonie fantastique and La Damnation de Faust, and (with Christoph Eschenbach) Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5. He and the Boston Symphony Orchestra are currently recording Ravel's complete orchestral works YVONNE LORIOD Yvonne Loriod, born in Houilles, near Paris, is a graduate of the Paris Conservatory, where she studied piano with Lazare Levy and com- position with Olivier Messiaen. As a student at the Conservatory, she was awarded seven first prizes, and the recordings she has made since that time have earned her the Grand Prix du Disque eight times . Mme Loriod has concertized extensively in Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, Africa and the United States. She last appeared with the Boston Symphony as the piano soloist in the world premiere of the Turangalila-Symphonie Particularly well known as an interpreter of contemporary music, Mme. Loriod has appeared as piano soloist in nearly all of the performances of the Symphonie that have been given since 1949. JEANNE LORIOD Jeanne Loriod began her musical studies at an early age, as was the case with her sister and co-soloist in this performance, Yvonne Loriod. At 18 she became a pupil of Maurice Martenot, creator of the Ondes Martenot.