Since I hear a lot of people (professors, performers, composers, etc.) having a hard time pronouncing some complicated French composers’ names, I decided to modestly record myself and post the sound clips on this blog as a series.
The one that suffers most, I think, is Olivier Messiaen. The combination of three vowels and an -n is actually quite unusual in French, so don’t feel bad if you’re not 100% sure of the pronunciation.
Link to MP3 – Olivier Messiaen | Buy Olivier Messiaen sheet music!
And now, two minutes of Turangalîla in HD:
Olivier Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie
Sir Simon Rattle, conductor · Berliner Philharmoniker
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano · Tristan Murail, ondes Martenot
Recorded at the Berlin Philharmonie, 11 September 2008.
Check out the entire French Composers’ Names series or suggest one we haven’t covered on Twitter at @icareifulisten.