Music: New Discs Offer Sound Trips

MESSIAEN: Turangalila-Symphonie; LUTOSLAWSKI: Les Espaces du Sommeil, Symphony No. 3. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra (Messiaen) and the Los Angeles Philharmonic (Lutoslawski) (CBS).

Composed between 1946 and 1948, the Turangalila-Symphonie is a ten-movement, 80-minute showpiece for large orchestra, elemental in its power, yet seductive in its radiant beauty. The title derives from Sanskrit and roughly connotes "vitality" and "life," and thus gives some indication of both the piece's formidable substance and its stunning effect. Its thundering chord progressions and leaping, birdlike themes, its mixture of brutal dissonance and sunny consonance, make Turangalila-Symphonie one of the French composer's finest creations. It is difficult for both performer and listener, which may be why it is rarely played in concert. It does, however, offer a splendid workout for a CD player. Finnish Conductor Salonen, 28, leads an assured performance that serves notice of his arrival as an important young maestro. Two atmospheric works by Poland's Witold Lutoslawski also reflect his ear for sonorities.

DVORAK: Symphony No. 9 in E Minor (from the "New World"). Christoph von Dohnanyi conducting the Cleveland Orchestra (London). Out of the media spotlight, Dohnanyi has been quietly restoring the full luster of the Cleveland Orchestra since he succeeded Lorin Maazel in 1984. Rich, detailed and burnished, this handsome "New World" Symphony shows why the Cleveland under its German-born leader is now the best-sounding orchestra in the country. Pass the word.

MOZART: Don Giovanni. Samuel Ramey, Don Giovanni; Ferruccio Furlanetto, Leporello; Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Donna Anna; Agnes Baltsa, Donna Elvira; Kathleen Battle, Zerlina; Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic (Deutsche Grammophon). Salzburg Recital. Soprano Kathleen Battle, Pianist James Levine (DG).

Karajan and Mozart were both born in Salzburg, but that seems to be about all they have in common. Karajan's readings of his countryman's ineffable music have always been heavy and rhythmically sluggish, bereft of joy or bounce. His new recording, a warm-up for his production of the opera in Salzburg this spring and summer, never comes to fiery, diabolical life. It wastes the . talents of Ramey and Battle, and features an excruciating performance by Tomowa-Sintow as the hectoring, humorless Donna Anna. Far more harmonious is Battle's recording from her 1984 recital at Karajan's Salzburg Festival. The material is her familiar mix of early English songs by Purcell and Handel, German lieder, French chansons, and spirituals, but she sings with such crystalline vocalism and beguiling elan that it becomes irresistible. Levine's elegant pianism is a model of the accompanist's art.