October 2- 8, 2003
musicpicks
Philadelphia Orchestra
classical
Our new maestro undertakes some heavy lifting this weekend. With the aid of the young French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Christoph Eschenbach and the orchestra play Olivier Messiaen's sprawling, maddening, enthralling Turangalīla symphony of 1946. As usual with this composer, the work is a mixture of the most advanced non-Western rhythmic impulses and a sentimentality not far from the Paris music hall of the Little Sparrow. Helping to link the work to Messiaen's interest in Balinese music will be the Gamelan Semara Santi of Swarthmore, I Ketut Suadin and Thomas Whitman, directors. Then, Oct. 9-11, the orchestra plays the "L'Ascension" of 1932, a marvelous work imbued with Messiaen's profound French-Roman Catholicism. Maestro Eschenbach caps it all off on the 12th, with pianist Tzimon Barto performing Messiaen's deeply committed "Visions de l'Amen" for two pianos, in a chamber concert with orchestra members.
Thu.-Sat., Oct. 2-4, 8 p.m., $25-$110, Kimmel Center, 260 S. Broad St., 215-893-1999.
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