Olivier Messian #9. Whether or not it is serialism, in his compositions the bird theme is obvious anyhow.
Messiaen composed some music for piano, but maybe the most important from this period is obviously his increasing use of bird rhythms and techniques. In the early 1950s, fascinated by ornithology and the fantastic vocal skills of many birds, he composes his ‘Le Merle Noir’ for a competition at the French conservatory. The orchestral work ‘Réveil des Oiseaux’ (The Awakening of the Birds) from the same year, is the first piece which is almost entirely based on bird song and rhythms. According to Messiaen himself it’s based on his nocturnal observations in the French Jura, where he often stayed because his wife Claire stayed in a sanatorium nearby.
Ornithologists agree that Messiaen is the best observer ever of bird song and bird techniques of all composers who ever used the bird theme. More than that, his observations were better than those of most ornithologists, at least according to the known British music critic Paul Griffith.
• Cantéyodjayâ, pour piano (1948)
• Quatre études de rythme, pour piano (1949)
• Réveil des oiseaux, pour piano solo et grand orchestra (1952)
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