There is much to admire...The rich palette of Tamara Stefanovich’s vivacious pianism is a constant asset, while Thomas Bloch’s ondes martenot swoops and swirls are finely judged to illumine rather than dominate the texture. The Nationaltheaterorchester Mannheim and their British conductor, Alexander Soddy, certainly know their way around the minutiae of Messiaen’s score. However, they struggle to convey the ebb and flow underneath the music’s often fragmentary surface.

The Turangalîla discography is now so extensive that any addition needs to offer something distinctive. Recorded live in Mannheim, this newcomer has much going for it and not least, in Tamara Stefanovich, a pianist doing full justice to the intricacy of music whose tumultuous cadenza-like passages are rendered with assurance...Soddy’s disciplined and cumulative approach is worth hearing and will likely prove one to live with.