The “little bird sketches” are six very short pieces. They are at once very similar and very different from each other. They are similar in harmonic style, with their development of complex sonorities and ever-changing colours : blues, reds, oranges, purples, “chords with transposed inversions” dominating. The “chords with contracted resonance” and the “chords of the chromatic total" add to this their own more violent or more subtle colours. On the other hand, since every bird has its own aesthetic, the melodic and rhythmic movement varies from one piece to another. The three pieces dedicated to the robin include chains of arpeggi, descending almost in glissandi, followed by slow notes and by more carefully-drawn figures. The blackbird sings a few sunlit verses, rather triumphantly. The song-thrush makes herself heard with incantatory repetitions. Then the skylark, in conclusion, with its sizzling volubility, turns round about a high-pitched dominant, from time to time punctuated by two loud, slow notes, the whole sequence matching the bird’s flight-cycle. The pianistic writing is very carefully worked-out.
The work, written in 1985, is dedicated to Yvonne Loriod.
Olivier Messiaen (from the booklet) Tanslated by John Underwood
Yvonne Loriod
Plays
Olivier Messiaen
(1908-1992)
Tracks
Petites Esquisses d'oiseaux
(1985)
1 Le Rouge-gorge 2:20
2 Le Merle noir 2:08
3 Le Rouge-gorge 2:28
4 La Grue musicienne 2:18
5 Le Rouge-gorge 2:48
6 L'Alouette des champs 1:53
Huit Préludes
(1928-1929)
7 La Colombe 1:57
8 Chant d'extase dans un paysage triste 6:32
9 Le Nombre léger 1:36
10 Instants défunts 3:44
11 Les Sons impalpables du rêve 3:39
12 Cloches d'angoisse et larmes d'adieu 8:01
13 Plainte calme 2:24
14 Un reflet dans le vent 5:12
Quatre Etudes de rythme
(1949-1950)
15 Île de feu I 2:01
16 Mode de valeurs et d'intensités 3:26
17 Neumes rythmiques 7:15
18 Île de feu II 4:19
*
Yvonne Loriod - p
Recorded at Eglise Notre-Dame du Liban, Paris ; January 1968 [# 7-18] ; & October 1987 [# 1-6]