Recorded on October 11, 2008.
Pianist and writer
Peter Hill, who studied with the great French composer
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), discusses and performs a selection of his mentor’s birdsong-inspired works— some of the most colorful and virtuoso piano music of the twentieth century. The concert traces the development of the composer’s music from the early
Préludes (1929) through the spectacular evocations of the birds and landscapes of France in the
Catalogue d'oiseaux (1956–58), to the later grace and wit of the
Petites Esquisses d'oiseaux (1985).
