Catalogue d’Oiseaux Pierre-Laurent Aimard

• Olivier Messiaen (1908 - 1992): Catalogue d’oiseaux, I/42:
• 1 Catalogue d’oiseaux, I/42: No. 1, Le chocard des alpes 09:27
• 2 Catalogue d’oiseaux, I/42: No. 2, Le loriot 08:06
• 3 Catalogue d’oiseaux, I/42: No. 3, Le merle bleu 12:59
• 4 Catalogue d’oiseaux, I/42: No. 4, Le traquet stapazin 14:05
• 5 Catalogue d’oiseaux, I/42: No. 5, La chouette hulotte 07:54
• 6 Catalogue d’oiseaux, I/42: No. 6, L’alouette lulu 06:47
• 7 Catalogue d’oiseaux, I/42: No. 7, La rousserolle effarvatte 31:37
• 8 Catalogue d’oiseaux, I/42: No. 8, L’alouette calandrelle 05:12
• 9 Catalogue d’oiseaux, I/42: No. 9, La bouscarle 10:25
• 10 Catalogue d’oiseaux, I/42: No. 10, Le merle de roche 17:24
• 11 Catalogue d’oiseaux, I/42: No. 11, La buse variable 09:14
• 12 Catalogue d’oiseaux, I/42: No. 12, Le traquet rieur 07:50
• 13 Catalogue d’oiseaux, I/42: No. 13, Le courlis cendré 09:15
• Total Runtime 02:30:15

Info for Catalogue d’Oiseaux

Renowned French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard kicks off his exclusive engagement to PENTATONE with a recording of Olivier Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux (1956-1958). The pianist had intimate ties to the composer himself and his wife, Yvonne Loriod, for whom Messiaen wrote the Catalogue. Praised by The Guardian as “one of the best Messiaen interpreters around,“ this is Aimard’s first recording of Messiaen’s most extensive, demanding and colourful piano composition.

Due to its radical naturalism, the Catalogue d’Oiseaux is exceptional within the repertoire for solo piano. It is the grand hymn to nature from a man who never ceased to marvel at the stupefying beauty of landscapes or the magic of bird song.

With his Catalogue, Messiaen tried – in his own words – “to render exactly the typical birdsong of a region, surrounded by its neighbours from the same habitat, as well as the form of song at different hours of the day and night,” suggesting an almost scientific approach to his subjects. The idea of ‘reproduction’ may have been central to Messiaen’s conception of the Catalogue d’Oiseaux, 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.

In a world that is increasingly being destroyed by man, Aimard views this cycle as “a musical refuge that resonates with an audience ever more concerned, expanded and affected.”

Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano

Pierre-Laurent Aimard
Widely acclaimed as a key figure in the music of our time and as a uniquely significant interpreter of piano repertoire from every age, Pierre-Laurent Aimard enjoys an internationally celebrated career.

Each season he performs worldwide with major orchestras under conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Vladimir Jurowski, Peter Eötvös, Sir Simon Rattle and Esa-Pekka Salonen. He has created, directed and performed in a number of residencies, including projects at Carnegie Hall, New York's Lincoln Center, Berlin's Philharmonie, Cité de la Musique in Paris, Tanglewood Festival and London's Southbank Centre. Currently Aimard is Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival where he has impressed audiences and critics alike with his innovative programming.

Current and future highlights include solo recitals in London, New York, Chicago, Paris, Tokyo, Vienna, Beijing and Amsterdam. Concerto appearances include performances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. In autumn 2014 he joins the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks to give the world premiere of a Piano Concerto by Sir Harrison Birtwistle, with further performances in Porto, London and Boston. In spring 2015 he undertakes a recital tour with Tamara Stefanovich, playing all of Pierre Boulez’s completed works for piano in celebration of the composer’s 90th birthday.

Aimard has had close collaborations with many leading composers including Kurtág, Stockhausen, Carter, Boulez and Benjamin and had a long association with György Ligeti, recording his complete works for piano. Most recently he performed Elliott Carter’s last piece: Epigrams for piano, cello and violin, which was written for him.

Through professorships at the Hochschule Köln and Conservatoire de Paris, as well as concert-lectures and workshops worldwide, he sheds an inspiring and very personal light on music of all periods. In 2005 he was the recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Instrumentalist Award and was named “Instrumentalist of the Year” by Musical America in 2007. In 2015 he launches a major online resource in collaboration with Klavier-Festival Ruhr and Vincent Meyer, centred on the performance and teaching of Ligeti’s piano music featuring masterclasses and performances of the Etudes and other works.

Aimard now records exclusively for Deutsche Grammophon. His first DG release, Bach's Art of Fugue, received both the Diapason d'Or and Choc du Monde de la Musique awards, debuted at No.1 on Billboard's classical chart and topped iTunes’ classical album download chart. In recent years Aimard’s recordings have been honoured with many prestigious awards . A new recording of Bach’s Wohl Tempered Klavier Book 1was released in summer 2014.

Born in Lyon in 1957, Pierre-Laurent Aimard studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Yvonne Loriod and in London with Maria Curcio. He was appointed Ensemble intercontemporain's first solo pianist by Pierre Boulez.

Booklet for Catalogue d’Oiseaux