Messiaen's music is almost performer-proof. I say this not to be critical, nor to damn this mostly excellent interpretation with faint praise. It's just that when the subject of the work is God, expressed largely through rhythm, fixed harmonic aggregates, birdcalls, and suchlike, it's all going to come out sounding okay and pretty much the same no matter what the players do, so long as they achieve a superior level of accuracy. Certainly Simon Rattle does more than most to characterize this, the composer's last work. For the record, the title means "Illuminations of the Beyond". The piece is not about a tasty, chocolate-frosted, cream-filled pastry, however enticingly French that sounds, though if your pronunciation isn't quite up to snuff you can call it "Eclairs and lah-dee-da" and everyone will know what you mean.

Rattle does some interesting things here. He's extremely fast in "The Seven Angels with Seven Trumpets", and shockingly, swiftly sensual in the concluding "Christ, Light of Paradise". Indeed, he knocks about four minutes off Cambreling's view of this movement (Hänssler), and some listeners may well love the yummy results. Others might find it a bit too "Hollywood", given the purported subject matter. Either way, the Berlin Philharmonic sounds about a million times better here than it did in Kent Nagano's dreadful Turangalila-symphonie for Warner, though I still find the low brass and percussion lacking in sheer power and richness of tone. But then, that's how this orchestra sounds.

Sonically, EMI's production is a touch dry, but otherwise it's very good with a solid bass response and plenty of detail on the jubilantly twittering woodwinds. There have been at least five recordings of this work; all of them are basically very good, and this one is no exception. I'm sure that God approves.

--David Hurwitz