László Borbély Olivier Messiaen: Catalogue D'oiseaux (2020)

"Whether it is necessary, or even right, to follow conventions (the beaten track) when recording music, for example, or whether the performer can claim the right to show the listener the world he lives in, the world he knows best, with all its beauty and its countless oddities, even risks? Should he let the listener into his own territory, that is, into a strange and individual dimension that the audience may not have known existed until now? Nowadays, a carefully crafted recording gives the listener the illusion of a world believed to be flawless, a care that is fundamentally designed to cater to the perfectionism of the audience. A 'different' kind of care is therefore needed, one that can breathe life into even a recording. Our intention in making this record was therefore to create the most natural, realistically transcendent material possible, capable of speaking to the audience." (Szabolcs Szilágyi)

Every pianist in his dream plays Rachmaninoff. Playing Rachmaninoff is part of being a pianist. When I play Rachmaninoff, I may find even greater satisfaction in being part of the ongoing adventure of pianism. When I play Rachmaninoff, my fingers dream, not me. I have chosen one for the album from an uncapturable plethora of Preludes and Etude-images. My selection is purely an intuitive selection of a single illuminating moment. László Borbély

“Poulenc’s piano works, like his other works, have always captivated me, both with their unrelenting honesty and their fearless formal certainty. Poulenc is brilliant at taking his listeners from one emotion to another, often without any transition. Poulenc’s language is often glibly described as ‘light’ even by the musical public. But this view is only correct to the extent that one can objectively observe his personal life from within the palpable proximity of danger. This ‘predatory’ gaze pervades the French composer’s work. The unvarnished honesty of Poulenc’s music, which brilliantly blends tradition and progression, makes it astonishingly direct for all of us.”

The seven "books" of Olivier Messiaen's enormous "Catalogue d'oiseaux (Catalogue of Birds)" were composed between 1956 and 1958. In all, they encompass two and a half hours of some of the most beautifully evocative music for solo piano ever penned. Peter Hill's epic survey of the complete piano music of Olivier Messiaen splits this particular cycle over three volumes, with the first three books being presented here. (For the other volumes see " Catalogue d'oiseaux, Books 4-6 ", " Catalogue d'oiseaux Book 7 ". This CD is also available as part of the Peter Hill's complete " Catalogue d'oiseaux " set and also within the " Messiaen - Complete Piano Works ".

Messiaen's Catalog of Birds for piano is one of the wonders of modern music, a work apart from schools, movement, intellectual constructions, and programmatic declarations concerning the future of music. Perhaps the engaging, enigmatic, spellbinding nature of this music proceeds from Messiaen's unique source of inspiration: birdsong. Non-human, the source of Messiaen's music is nevertheless not alien since Messiaen celebrates the sounds of nature, which he, as a devout Catholic, experiences as a divine creation. It's difficult to imagine a better interpreter of Messiaen's powerful visions than pianist Anatol Ugorski, who plunges himself into Messiaen's spiritual universe with the passionate abandon of a devoted seeker.