Souvenirs d’oiseaux

Featuring

Roderick Chadwick
Olivier Messiaen
Sadie Harrison
Julian Anderson
Betsy Jolas
Claude Debussy

Edvard Grieg

Did you know?

1/6

Compositional Technique

In "Catalogue d'oiseaux," Messiaen stretches birdsong beyond its natural duration while maintaining rhythmic fidelity, allowing melodies to be adapted to instruments and emulating birds' rhythmic precision.

Performer Biography

Roderick Chadwick, the pianist on this album, published a book on Messiaen's "Catalogue d'oiseaux" and was an artistic advisor for the Royal Academy of Music's Messiaen centenary celebrations.

Compositional Technique

Messiaen's "Catalogue d'oiseaux" often depicts specific times of day, with pieces illustrating particular hours or charting the passing of time through chordal refrains and bird calls.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Throughout Messiaen's "Catalogue d'oiseaux," sound and color are intrinsically linked, with some birds' songs described as an "emanation" of their plumage, reflecting Messiaen's synaesthetic mind.

Composer's Artistic Vision

Olivier Messiaen, a composer, rhythmician, and ornithologist, dedicated his "Catalogue d'oiseaux" to his winged models and to the pianist Yvonne Loriod.

Composer Biography

Betsy Jolas, a composer featured on this album, was a student of Olivier Messiaen in the 1940s and later became his assistant and successor as Professor of Analysis and Composition at the Paris Conservatoire.