Messiaen's Turangalila-Symphonie: An Informal Analysis (Mvt. VII -- Turangalila 2)

The seventh movement, entitled Turangalila 2, is the shortest of the piece. It is also the most intense and terrifying of the 10 movements. Structurally, it is a series of contrasting events and is highly fragmented. For convenience, we will divide the movement into nine parts.

A map of the seventh movement with rehearsal numbers for reference. Click on image to enlarge.

PART 1 (Through Rehearsal No. 1)

The movement opens up with a solo piano playing a more aggressive rendition of the gentle birdsong heard in the previous movement.

PART 2 (Rehearsal Nos. 1-2)

Messiaen says that this section was directly inspired by Edgar Allen Poe's story The Pit and the Pendulum. The ondes-Martinot plays a slowly descending scale in its upper register and trombones/tuba play a slowly ascending scale in their lower registers, giving the feeling of the walls slowly closing in on the prisoner.

During this, the rest of the orchestra plays a series sixteenth notes in a Klangfarbenmelodie setting. Klangfarbenmelodie (tr. sound color melody) is a term devised by the 20th-century Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg. It refers to a melody constructed with different timbres instead of just different pitches.

PART 3 (Rehearsal Nos. 2-3)

During part 3, only six percussionists play in three pairs. Woodblock is paired with bass drum (this is the most prominent pair), triangle is paired with maracas, and Turkish cymbal is paired with Chinese cymbal. Each of the three pairs plays a different tala, but one player in the pair reads it from left-to-right and the other in the pair reads it from right-to-left (retrograde). Click here to see a map of part 3.

PART 4 (Rehearsal Nos. 3-6)

Part 4 consists of a cello solo accompanied by birdsong in the piano and woodwinds. Vibraphone and cymbal have a repeated rhythm with 8 sixteenth notes added on each iteration -- an example of rhythmic augmentation.

PART 5 (Rehearsal Nos. 6-7)

This part is an exact retrograde of part 2 (i.e. it is part 2 read backwards).

PART 6 (Rehearsal Nos. 7-9)

This part is among the most complex in the symphony and is a compilation of several of Messiaen's rhythmic compositional techniques. Similarly to part 2 of the first movement, Messiaen layers several processes, resulting in a very dense and chaotic sound whose aesthetics are much closer to Skrillex than to, say, Beethoven. Click here to see a map of part 6.

Cell 1: Flute, Piccolo, & Celesta

Cell 1 is a five-measure long sequence of sixteenth notes. This was actually heard previously in the third movement (entitled Turangalila 1) and a variation will appear in the ninth movement (entitled Turangalila 3).

A combination of flute, piccolo, and celesta. Click on image to enlarge.

Cell 2: Solo Piano

The solo piano plays a series of three chords in a right/left hand rhythmic canon consisting of the Ragavardhana-Candrakala-Lakskmica juxtaposition. The left hand lags behind the right hand by four sixteenth notes.

A right/left hand rhythmic canon with the Ragavardhana-Candrakala-Lakskmica juxtaposition. Click on image to enlarge.

Cell 3: The "Chord Theme"

This is probably the most interesting of all cells in this section. Messiaen assigns each of the four chords from the "Chord Theme" to different groups of instruments.

The four seven-note chords which make up the "Chord Theme".

• Chord 1: 1st trumpet, violins, violas, cellos, small cymbal (up 1 octave)
• Chord 2: 2 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 3 horns, Chinese cymbal (down 1 octave)
• Chord 3: 2 oboes, violins, violas, cellos, suspended cymbal
• Chord 4: Bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, 4th horn, 3 trombones, tuba, ondes-Martinot, gong (down 2 octaves)

Referring to the graphical analysis we can see that chords 3 and 4 remain in their locations. However, chords 1 and 2 "approach" chord 3 by one 16th-note on each iteration until the first three chords sound simultaneously. Click here for a visual representation of this cell.

Cell 4: Vibraphone & Glockenspiel

Vibraphone plays the same thing that they had in part 4. Glockenspiel plays it in rhythmic canon, lagging behind the vibraphone by an eighth note.

Cell 5: Temple Blocks & Maracas

This cell consists of three sixteenth-notes played by the temple blocks followed by a trill played by the maracas. The initial value of the maracas trill is 16 sixteenth-notes and it decreases by 1 sixteenth-note on each iteration (rhythmic diminution). Click here for a diagram.

Cell 6: Side Drum

The side drum repeats a tala three times. Each cycle has a duration of 46 sixteenth notes.

Cell 7: Bass, Bass Drum, & Triangle

Here we have two scales of chromatic durations playing against each other. The triangle expands from a value of 1 sixteenth note to a value of 16 sixteenth notes. Meanwhile, the bass and bass drum contract from a value of 16 sixteenth notes to a value of 1 sixteenth note. In fact, part 6 ends when the bass and bass drum have reached the end of their scale.

PART 7 (Rehearsal Nos. 9-10)

Part 6 is immediately cut off by solo piano in a return of the birdsong heard at the beginning.

PART 8 (Rehearsal Nos. 10-12)

A series of dramatic gestures thrown about the orchestra. The "Statue Theme" makes an appearance. A fast, descending scale of cluster chords in the piano followed by an enormous gong crescendo leads into part 9.

Piano cluster chords as heard at 22 seconds in the audio clip above.

PART 9 (Rehearsal No. 12 to End)

Part 9 is a combination of parts 2 and 3. Messiaen has altered part 2 by adding violins to accompany the ondes-Martinot's descending scale. He begins the "Klangfarbenmelodie" as he does in part 2, but halfway through the part (four measures in) he reverses it so that this layer is a palindrome about the barline separating the third and fourth measures of the part. At the same time, he also has the six percussionists play what they had in part 3. The movement ends with a "lightning and thunder" effect -- a flicker of grace notes played in the upper register of the piano followed by a booming strike of the bass drum.

The palindrome in the "Klangfarbenmelodie" layer of part 9. Click on image to enlarge.

Note: In this movement, all audio recordings either ones that I generated using Finale or from Riccardo Chailly's recording of the piece with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. I've been using Hannu Lintu's recording for most audio clips, but I think that Chailly does a slightly better job with the 7th movement.