Messiaen: Catalogue d'oiseaux

The globally acclaimed pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard caused a sensation with his recording of Olivier Messiaen's "Catalogue d'Oiseaux" upon its initial release in 2018. This long-out-of-print album now returns to the market in an affordable stereo reissue. Aimard was closely connected with the composer himself and his wife Yvonne Loriod, for whom Messiaen wrote the Catalogue, a major hymn to nature by a man who never ceased to marvel at the astonishing beauty of landscapes or the magic of birdsong. With his Catalogue, Messiaen attempted to "accurately reproduce the typical birdsong of a region, surrounded by its neighbors from the same habitat, as well as the form of the song at various times of day and night", which suggests an almost scientific approach to his subjects. The idea of "reproduction" may have been of central importance to Messiaen's conception of the Catalogue, but in the finished work we hear a great composer at work, a master of innovative structures who finds an astonishing range of piano sonorities. Thanks to Aimard's ability to evoke this colorful work, his interpretation has become an absolute reference recording. This release received numerous awards, including an annual award from the German Schallplattenkritik.