Simone Young and the Berlin Philharmonic: Love is in the air

What a fascinating personality: Olivier Messiaen started his career as an angry young man, his first orchestral piece “Le tombeau resplendissant” was a eulogy for his own youth – composed at the age of 23. Later, the fervently devout Catholic became a bird call collector, immersed himself in the musical traditions of Asia, wrote an opera about Francis of Assisi and organ meditations on the birth of the Lord.

In the middle of his oeuvre stands out as a monolith the “Turangalila” symphony, premiered in Boston in 1949 by Leonard Bernstein, a kind of Ayers Rock of 20th century music. The Australian conductor Simone Young has now requested the work for her performance with the Berlin Philharmonic. Messiaen wanted to compose a celebration of love, both human and mystical-religious, “superhuman, overflowing, dazzling, unlimited” – and that is exactly what can actually be experienced on Thursday in the Philharmonie.

You have to hear, see and feel this work

Listening to the “Turangalila” symphony is a must-see to appreciate all of its pretentious, overwhelming grandiosity. And you have to feel them, expose yourself to the tsunami-like sound waves that constantly flood the hall.

Hundreds of professionals toil here in the service of joie de vivre, the stage is packed to the last square centimetre. Simone Young is framed by two women, the new Philharmonic concertmaster, Vineta Sareika-Völkner, and Cynthia Millar, who operates the ondes martenot, a pioneering electronic instrument whose synthetic tones can be brutally penetrating but also psychedelic-sugary.

Next to the grand piano, which Cédric Tiberghien plays with great concentration, there are two celesta boxes, i.e. bell-pianos, whose delicate tones are just as important for the overall effect as the countless percussionists at the back of the orchestra.

The power of love, even the destructive one, becomes an event here – and the Philharmoniker deliver a stormy tour de force under Young’s commanding direction, virtuosically exhausting the acoustic extremes into the regions of the ecstatic. Sometimes it’s hard on the edge of noise-kitsch, then everything is finely tuned out again before the sweetest string sound exudes again, in over-the-top Technicolor. A full body experience.