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Piano Classics

Messiaen: Catalogue d'Oiseaux / Longobardi

$36.99

Details

Composer
MESSIAEN, OLIVIER
Artist
Ciro Longobardi
Format
CD
Label
Piano Classics
Released
Mar 15, 2019
Catalog #
PCL10155
UPC
5029365101554

About

The Catalogue d’Oiseaux of Olivier Messiaen forms an extraordinary and varied tribute to the landscape and bird-life of France, and to its composer’s powers of invention as he explored and developed innovations in harmony, melody and rhythm at a time when all the elements of music were in flux and up for grabs. The 13 compositions of the Catalogue are very different from one other, in length, form and intent. L’alouette lulu is a kind of antiphonal poem. La chouette hulotte boldly maps out territory for experimentation. Le chocard des alpes and Le buse variable are mostly articulated by shouts, where we are close to noise. The material is often raw and dissonant, but Messiaen often uses what are traditionally blocks of dissonance to create consonance. There are pieces full of melody – Le loriot or La bouscarle – and songs rich in timbre but not saturated with color like La merle de roche. He liked to convey the impression that he composed music in isolation from the world around him, inspired first and foremost by God and by the birds whom he called God’s musicians. The Italian pianist Ciro Longobardi has made a specialty of 20th and 21st-century music. He won a major piano prize at the crucible of European modernism in music, Darmstadt – only the second Italian pianist to do so – and he has given Italian premieres of significant works by the likes of Ives, Kurtág and Xenakis. With both an assured technique and a sympathetic grasp of the idioms of the great music of our own time, he is well placed to make an outstanding contribution to the rich history of the Catalogue d’Oiseaux on record.

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REVIEW:

Throughout the cycle Messiaen produces richly intricate music that should be listened to actively – do something else whilst you listen, and you miss out on aspects of the music. This is where Ciro Longobardi does well, his performance makes you listen, through its diverse use of dynamics and the expert use of silences. His playing is concise and bright and is best listened to with the accompanying booklet, in which his notes on the music expertly set the scene. It is a long time since I listened to Yvonne Loriod’s recording of the Catalogue d’Oiseaux, so I cannot make a comparison with the premiere artist. However, in comparison with the recording of Anatol Ugorski for DG (474 3452), this somewhat quicker interpretation stands up well, with Ugorski sounding a little too relaxed now, especially when compared with the wonderful performance of Pierre-Laurent Aimard (PTC5186670). For me personally, Aimard would be my preferred recording, he has the knack of sounding relaxed even when the music is not, but this new performance from Longobardi is not far behind, he is confident in the more challenging parts whilst as already stated his use of dynamics in the slower, quieter passages, as well as his adherence to the silences is excellent. The recorded piano sound is very good, whilst the booklet notes set the scene well, making this a worthy alternative to the Pierre-Laurent Aimard recording.

– MusicWeb International

Tracklist 13 tracks

  1. 1 No. 1. Le Chocard des Alpes (Alpine Chough) 07:54
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 1. Le Chocard des Alpes (Alpine Chough)
    Duration
    07:54
    Composer
    Olivier Messiaen
    Performer
    Ciro Longobardi
  2. 2 No. 2. Le Loriot (Golden Oriole) 08:07
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 2. Le Loriot (Golden Oriole)
    Duration
    08:07
    Composer
    Olivier Messiaen
    Performer
    Ciro Longobardi
  3. 3 No. 3. Le Merle bleu (Blue Rock Thrush) 12:51
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 3. Le Merle bleu (Blue Rock Thrush)
    Duration
    12:51
    Composer
    Olivier Messiaen
    Performer
    Ciro Longobardi
  4. 4 No. 4. Le Traquet Stapazin (Black-eared Wheatear) 14:00
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 4. Le Traquet Stapazin (Black-eared Wheatear)
    Duration
    14:00
    Composer
    Olivier Messiaen
    Performer
    Ciro Longobardi
  5. 5 No. 5. La Chouette Hulotte (Tawny Owl) 07:25
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 5. La Chouette Hulotte (Tawny Owl)
    Duration
    07:25
    Composer
    Olivier Messiaen
    Performer
    Ciro Longobardi
  6. 6 No. 6. L'Alouette-lulu (Wood Lark) 06:47
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 6. L'Alouette-lulu (Wood Lark)
    Duration
    06:47
    Composer
    Olivier Messiaen
    Performer
    Ciro Longobardi
  7. 7 No. 7. La Rousserolle Effarvatte (Reed Warbler) 28:49
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 7. La Rousserolle Effarvatte (Reed Warbler)
    Duration
    28:49
    Composer
    Olivier Messiaen
    Performer
    Ciro Longobardi
  8. 8 No. 8. L'Alouette Calandrelle (Short-toed Lark) 05:15
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 8. L'Alouette Calandrelle (Short-toed Lark)
    Duration
    05:15
    Composer
    Olivier Messiaen
    Performer
    Ciro Longobardi
  9. 9 No. 9. La Bouscarle (Cetti's Warbler) 10:20
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 9. La Bouscarle (Cetti's Warbler)
    Duration
    10:20
    Composer
    Olivier Messiaen
    Performer
    Ciro Longobardi
  10. 10 No. 10. Le Merle de roche (Rock Thrush) 18:15
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 10. Le Merle de roche (Rock Thrush)
    Duration
    18:15
    Composer
    Olivier Messiaen
    Performer
    Ciro Longobardi
  11. 11 No. 11. La Buse variable (Buzzard) 09:46
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 11. La Buse variable (Buzzard)
    Duration
    09:46
    Composer
    Olivier Messiaen
    Performer
    Ciro Longobardi
  12. 12 No. 12. La Traquet rieur (Black Wheatear) 08:30
    Track
    12
    Title
    No. 12. La Traquet rieur (Black Wheatear)
    Duration
    08:30
    Composer
    Olivier Messiaen
    Performer
    Ciro Longobardi
  13. 13 No. 13. Le Courlis cendre (Curlew) 10:04
    Track
    13
    Title
    No. 13. Le Courlis cendre (Curlew)
    Duration
    10:04
    Composer
    Olivier Messiaen
    Performer
    Ciro Longobardi