OBC's earned majority with 'Turangalîla'

First of all, a call to our symphonic audience. And it is that there are works that demand to fill auditoriums. This is the case of the Turangalîla Symphony that Olivier Messiaen wrote between 1946 and 1948 and which premiered in Boston in 1949 under the baton of Leonard Bernstein. A call to attention, then, given the low attendance at L’Auditori (at least on Friday night; it is also performed this Saturday). Because the piece by the French composer, a hallmark of 20th-century symphonism, is a fundamental work for understanding 20th-century music. Ten years ago, when Gustavo Dudamel conducted it at the Palau de la Música, it sparked much more interest and the tickets, if memory serves me correctly, sold out. What mattered more at that moment, the work or the media-savvy conductor? Perhaps the latter.But in the case at hand, which is the performance of Messiaen's work this weekend, it was our leading orchestra. And, furthermore, conducted by Jonathan Nott, the conductor who from next season will occupy the principal podium of the Liceu orchestra.When it was still the Barcelona City Orchestra, the city's orchestra performed Messiaen's singular piece in 1985. I suppose it must have passed without much fanfare, but now its programming constitutes —or should have constituted— a singular event to which there should have been a greater turnout. Because programming Turangalîla implies believing in an orchestra's maturity and in a validation exam to assess the ensemble's potential. And also, of course, the virtuosity of a baton that must guide the musicians through the paths, margins, and shortcuts of a work that is both labyrinthine and fascinating.And it must be said that Jonathan Nott has done a great job in the symphony's conducting design. Good intentions and, in general, good results in some particularly brilliant sections (brass) and with the collaboration of two exceptional soloists: Pierre-Laurent Aimard (piano) and Thomas Bloch (Ondes Martenot). Moreover, works like this also represent another coming of age: that of the space where they are performed. And the acoustic remodeling of L'Auditori has finally contributed to the remarkable quality of this version of Messiaen's piece.In summary, and based on the fact that a score like this has required a great deal of work, I reiterate that it is a shame that some of our audience has stayed home.