Olivier Messiaen

Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, widely regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century. He found birdsong fascinating, believed birds to be the greatest musicians, and considered himself as much an ornithologist as a composer. He notated bird songs worldwide and incorporated birdsong transcriptions into most of his music.

LIVE AT THE CONCERTGEBOUW  "... In the 1970s Einojuhani Rautavaara traveled to the arctic regions of his homeland Finland and recorded birdsong. He incorporated these tape recordings in his orchestral work Cantus Arcticus, subtitled Concerto for birds and orchestra. And even in these inhospitable regions larks and swans are making music, as you will hear.
Rautavaara composed Cantus Arcticus in 1972 on the occasion of the first doctoral degree ceremony at the University of Oulo in Finland. It quickly established itself as the composer’s best-known work..."[RNW-host Hans Haffmans]
 
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
Robin Ticciati, conductor
Eugene Ugorski, violin


Einojuhani Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus
Igor Stravinsky: Violin Concerto in D major
Jean Sibelius: Symphony no. 5 in Es major op. 82
 

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