Oiseaux exotiques
Oiseaux exotiques (Exotic birds) is a piece for piano and small orchestra by Olivier Messiaen. It was written between 5 October 1953 and 3 January 1956 and was commissioned by Pierre Boulez. It is dedicated to the pianist Yvonne Loriod, who later became the composer's wife.[1]
Premiere
This piece was first performed at the Théâtre du Petit Marigny by Yvonne Loriod and the ensemble Domaine musical, conducted by Rudolf Alberth.
Orchestral setting
Piano, piccolo, 2 flutes, oboe, 2 B♭ clarinets, clarinet in E-flat, bass clarinet, bassoon, 2 French horns, trumpet, and 6 percussionists playing glockenspiel, xylophone, chimes, cowbell, three gongs, snare drum, tam-tam, temple blocks, and wood block.
The work
The birdsongs in this piece are from Asia and the Americas: the southern hill myna, the golden-fronted leafbird, the Baltimore oriole, the greater prairie chicken, the northern mockingbird, the catbird, the Indian robin, the white-crested laughingthrush, the american robin (entrusted to the two clarinets), the Swainson's thrush, the hermit thrush, the red-whiskered bulbul and the wood thrush.
Hindu rhythms
Decî-Tâlas of ancient India, Cârngadeva system: Nihcankalîla, Gajalîla, Laksmîca, Caccarî, Candrakâla, Dhenkî, Gajajhampa, and karnâtic theory: Matsya-Sankirna, Triputa-Miśra, Matsya-Tiśra, Atatâla-Cundh.
Greek rhythms
Composed feet by the metre: Typistlo-Epitrite; verses by the metre: lambelegiac, logaedic verses: Asclepiad, Saphique, Glyconic, Aristophanian, Phalaean, Peregrinean.
Duration
The piece lasts about 16 minutes.
Recording
Michael Thompson (French horn), London Sinfonietta (Orchestra), Paul Crossley (piano) (+ Des Canyons aux étoiles..., Couleurs de la Cité céleste) CBS Records, 1989, Angelin Chang (piano) and Cleveland Chamber Symphony) New European Recordings, won the 2007 GRAMMY for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra).
See also
References
- ^ Aspen Music Festival program notes
External links
- "Oiseaux exotiques" (work details) (in French and English). IRCAM.
- Oiseaux exotiques (video) on YouTube, ensemble oktopus für musik der moderne, piano solo: Markus Bellheim [de], conductor: Konstantia Gourzi
- Oiseaux exotiques at Discogs
- v
- t
- e
- Saint François d'Assise (1975–83)
- L'Ascension (1932–33)
- Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine (1943–44)
- Turangalîla-Symphonie (1946–48)
- Oiseaux exotiques (1955–56)
- Chronochromie (1959–60)
- Sept haïkaï (1962)
- Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum (1964)
- La Transfiguration de Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ (1965–69)
- Des Canyons aux étoiles... (1971–74)
- Éclairs sur l'au-delà... (1988–92)
- Concert à quatre (1990–91)
- Thème et variations (1932)
- Fête des belles eaux (1937)
- Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1940–41)
- Le Merle noir (1952)
- Feuillets inédits (2001)
- Le Banquet Céleste (1928)
- Offrande au Saint Sacrement (ca. 1928)
- Prélude (ca. 1929)
- Diptyque (1930)
- Apparition de l'église éternelle (1932)
- La Nativité du Seigneur (1935)
- Les Corps glorieux (1939)
- Messe de la Pentecôte (1949–50)
- Livre d'orgue (1951–52)
- Verset pour la fête de la Dédicace (1960)
- Monodie (1963)
- Méditations sur le Mystère de la Sainte Trinité (1969)
- Le Livre du Saint-Sacrement (1984)
- Préludes (1928–29)
- Visions de l'Amen (1943)
- Vingt Regards sur l'enfant-Jésus (1944)
- Cantéyodjayâ (1949)
- Quatre Études de rythme (1949–50)
- Réveil des Oiseaux (1953)
- Catalogue d'oiseaux (1956–58)
- La Fauvette des jardins (1970)
- Petites esquisses d'oiseaux (1985)
- O sacrum convivium! (1937)
- Poèmes pour Mi (1936–37)
- Chants de Terre et de Ciel (1938)
- Harawi (1944)
- Claire Delbos (first wife)
- Yvonne Loriod (second wife)