MARCH 1996
A JOY THAT TRANSCENDS UNDERSTANDING
"The Turangalîla-Symphonie," Olivier Messiaen
wrote of his
composition, "is a love song . . . a hymn to joy . . . a joy that is
superhuman, overflowing, blinding, unlimited. Love is present here in the same
manner: this is a love that is fatal, irresistible, transcending everything . .
. a love such as is symbolized by the philtre of
Tristan and Yseult." These lines explain better than fumbling translations the
import of the elusive Sanskrit title. The first to navigate the music's
stupendous seas was the Dionysian Leonard Bernstein, who must have reveled in
its pounding swells and scented calms. That was with the Boston Symphony
Orchestra, in 1949, and if the eighty-minute Technicolor rhapsody has yet to
become a repertoire standard, the composer did live to hear it some 200 times
around the world. Shortly before his death, in 1992, at the age of
eighty-three, he experienced Myung-Whun Chung's account with the Orchestre de
la Bastille (recorded by Deutsche Grammophon) and pronounced it definitive. His
approval shines bright on Chung's ongoing exploration of the Messiaen canon,
but should not eclipse the achievement of other Messiaen disciples, prime
among them Esa-Pekka Salonen, who recorded a resplendent account of the
Turangalîla with
London's Philharmonia Orchestra in 1986 (on CD from CBS Masterworks) and will
revisit the score next month with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which he has
molded into one of the most thrilling symphonic ensembles of our time (April
4-6; 213-365-3500).
Messiaen and his chosen conductor Chung
Photo: courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon
The New York-based Orpheus Chamber Orchestra plays
without a conductor and gets
world-class results, but you knew that. Not so many seasons ago these
distinctions generated copious media coverage and caused the ensemble's annual
series at Carnegie Hall to sell out. But in this been-there-done-that age the
Orpheus story seems to be losing a bit
of its glow. Attendance at the Carnegie Hall series
is a shade less good. Reviews around the world, though mostly golden, have
become predictable. In short, Orpheus is starting to be taken for granted,
which is not the fate its artists deserve. Of course, like all orchestra
players,
Orpheans must subordinate individuality to the artistic purpose of the group.
But unlike most, Orpheans reserve to themselves the burden of defining that
purpose and working it out through the cumbersome, exasperating medium of
participatory democracy. This method precludes routine. If the story of Orpheus
is by now a twice-told tale, the self-renewing splendor of its performances
grows deeper and more radiant, as this month's American tour should prove
afresh to audiences in Columbia and Kansas City, Missouri; Naples and West Palm
Beach, Florida; Chicago; and New York City (both Carnegie Hall and Town Hall).
The repertoire runs from Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, and Mozart to Tchaikovsky,
Sibelius, and Mahler, with the world premiere of Lee Hyla's Trans extending the
line
up to the minute. Listeners at home have an Orpheus discography to choose from
that is no less far-ranging. Good places to start include the revelatory
accounts of Vivaldi's thrice-familiar Four Seasons and the still-elusive
modernist masterpieces of Charles Ives (Deutsche Grammophon).
Orpheus deserves more
Photo: Christian Steiner
It is probably safe to say that no one on
this planet has delved deeper into the
mysteries of choral singing than Robert Shaw. The honors that have come to him
over a long career have been legion. Perhaps none honors him more than the
annual choral workshop established for Shaw by Carnegie Hall: an intensive
week-long total immersion for choral professionals, culminating in towering
performances of masterworks of the choral literature (documentary videotapes
are available). Infinitely exacting, Shaw ruthlessly breaks music down to its
elements of pitch, rhythm, articulation, and dynamics, each of which he
polishes to perfection before effecting the grand synthesis (which even the
Olympian maestro Arturo Toscanini found astonishing). Shaw's sixth workshop, in
January, was given over to Verdi's awesome Requiem. On April 2 Shaw will return
to Carnegie Hall with the Atlanta Symphony Chamber Chorus for Bach's St.
Matthew Passion; on May 2, two days into his eightieth year, he will lead his
own ensemble, the Robert Shaw Chamber Singers, in Rachmaninov's otherworldly
Vespers at New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine. (For tickets and
videotapes call 212-247-7800.)
Robert Shaw
Photo: courtesy of Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
