Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Steven Osborne, Cynthia Millar

Programme:
Bizet - Symphony in C
Messiaen - Turangalila-Symphonie

Bizet's Symphony in C was written when he was studying at the Paris Conservatoire under the composer Charles Gounod; it was evidently a student assignment that was never performed in his lifetime.

The four movement work remained undiscovered for 80 years, found only when the manuscript was donated to the Paris Conservatoire by composer Reynaldo Hahn. It was heavily influenced by the two symphonies of Bizet's teacher, Gounod, which in turn owe to the music of Schubert and Mozart.

Messiaen was commissioned by Sergey Koussevitzky to compose a piece without restrictions to instrumentation or length for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He created this collosal ten movement work, which makes use of the ondes martinot - an early electronic instrument. Along with the song cycles Harawi and Cinq Rechants, Turangalîla is the second of a three-work cycle inspired by the 'Tristan' myth.

The title is derived from Sanskrit and collectively means love song, and hymn to joy, time, movement, rhythm, life, and death. Turangalila is also a study in contrasts: melismatic contrapuntal textures contrast with sustaining, block-like sonorities; loud and empowering orchestral sound contrast with passages of near inaudibility; dense chromaticism with the major mode; mystery with ecstasy; and brightness with darkness.