Today’s Music by Today’s Composers.
Birds Sing
Why do birds sing? Anyhow, for some composers the singing of birds was an inspiration for their work. Today we listen to some examples, both of works in which the singing of birds was translated to a musical instrument and of works in which recordings of singing birds was incorporated.
1 – Olivier Messiaen. Catalogue d’oiseaux: ‘Traquet rieur’; ‘Courlis cendré.’ Rolf Hind, piano.
2 – Einojuhani Rautavaara. Cantus Arcticus. Royal Scottish National Orchestra led by Hannu Lintu.
3 – Hollis Taylor. Bird-esk. James Cuddeford en Hollis Taylor, violin. Erkki Veltheim, viola. Daniel Yeadon, cello.
4 – Emily Doolittle. Weather Songs: ‘La Neige.’ Ensemble Non Sequitur. Emily Aegen, soprano.
