The best classical music inspired by the summer.Hideki Nagano (piano), Gareth Hulse (oboe) & Sound Intermedia (live electronics), Paul Archibald (trumpet) & Sound Intermedia (live electronics), Tim Gill (cello) & Sound Intermedia (live electronics), London Sinfonietta/David Atherton It opens with recorded birdsong, which is used in dialogue with the piano and chamber orchestra, echoing Rautavaara.īut Harvey’s use of electronic instruments (the pianist is also in charge of the birdsong samples on synthesiser) adds another dimension to the composition, as the calls are gradually transformed over the piece’s half-hour stretch. In some ways, his Bird Concerto with Pianosong makes a contemporary companion piece to Rautavaara’s Cantus Arcticus. ‘Indigo bunting, orchard oriole, golden crowned sparrow – these are some of the 40 colourful Californian birds whose songs and cries sparked the ignition of this work as I started it in the brilliant light of California,’ explained the British composer Jonathan Harvey. Jonathan Harvey: Bird Concerto with Pianosong (2003) Laura Mikkola (piano), Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Hannu LintuĤ. The bird calls are juxtaposed with a lush orchestral score. Listening to it is like stepping into an avian paradise, with the melancholy song of the shore larks as unforgettable as the migrating whooper swans. The Finnish composer headed off on a field trip to near the Arctic Circle (hence the title) and to the marshlands of Liminka in Northern Finland to record the calls of a whole host of birds. Why imitate birds in music when you can use the real thing? Rautavaara’s ‘concerto for birds and orchestra’, as it’s subtitled, uses taped birdsong throughout, taking Respighi’s idea one step further. The best classical music inspired by autumn.Read our reviews of the latest Respighi recordingsįind out more about Respighi and his works And if the chirpy Hen movement (La gallina) sounds familiar, that might be because it’s based on the same Rameau harpsichord work ( The Hen, or La poule) that inspired Saint-Saëns for his ‘Hens and cockerels’ movement in Carnival of the Animals. The five-movement work also features a dove (La colomba), with a heartfelt oboe melody inspired by Jacques de Gallot, and the familiar call of the Cuckoo (Il Cucù). The best recordings of Respighi’s Pines of Rome.And the song of the nightingale also puts in an appearance in his neo-classical suite, The Birds, in which birdsong meets Baroque, as written for a 20th-century orchestra. Respighi: The Birds (Gli uccelli) (1928)Ī real-life nightingale, well, a recording of it at least, appears in Respighi‘s 1924 Pines of Rome. How birds and animals have inspired classical musicĢ.
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