Divine Art announces Part 2 of the Messiaen Catalogue d’Oiseaux series

English pianist Roderick Chadwick is having an incredibly busy time in various recording locations and in January he will be recording the second volume of a series which presents Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux coupled with works which are linked either in style or subject matter. This follows the well-received issue in October 2020 of the first volume, entitled ‘La Mer Bleue’ which included Book 1 of the Catalogue.

This double album is a continuation of Chadwick’s journey through Messiaen’s Catalogue d’oiseaux, programming it alongside an array of solo piano works that share its themes, atmospheres and inspirations. The latest issue features Books 2 through 5, including the cycle’s great centrepiece ‘La rousserolle effarvatte’ (The Reed Warbler), which evokes the sights and sounds of the Sologne region across a full day’s span.

The theme of the release is “night and day”, explored further by Messiaen in the atmospheric nocturnes of Book 3 (Tawny Owl and Woodlark), and the intense heat of a Provencal afternoon in The Short-toed Lark. Also featured is the first recording of Julian Anderson’s Sensation, a six-movement suite first heard at the Aldeburgh Festival in 2016 – with movements such as ‘Nuits’, ‘Alba’ and ‘She Hears’, a touching opener dedicated to Imogen Holst. Betsy Jolas’ Chanson d’Approche brings together Messiaen-like melodies with chant-style material in a typically fluid tapestry.

Roderick Chadwick has already recorded solo works by Sadie Harrison, and here he gives us a new account of her Lunae (4 Nocturnes), pieces that encompass love, starscapes, nightingales and medieval psalmody in her distinctively wide-ranging style. Well-loved miniatures by Grieg and Debussy complete the offering.

Originally the album was due to be recorded in August but noisy building works forced a delay and relocation and recording will now take place at City University, London in January 2022 with a prospective release date around July.

Roderick Chadwick is a pianist, teacher and writer on music. He has performed some of the most challenging works for the instrument, including Lachenmann’s Serynade at the inaugural London Contemporary Music Festival, and the first complete performance of Jeremy Dale Roberts’ Tombeau since its 1969 premiere at the hands of Stephen Kovacevich. He collaborates with some of the UK’s most adventurous musicians, with previous recordings for Divine Art/Métier including music by Michael Finnissy and David Gorton with members of the Kreutzer Quartet, and Mihailo Trandafilovski, Mozart and Ole Bull with violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved. Other recordings to date include Stockhausen’s Mantra with Mark Knoop and Newton Armstrong – which was described as ‘a real contender’ by Gramophone magazine – and works by Gloria Coates, Sadie Harrison and Alex Hills. Most recently he recorded the first two of Edward Cowie’s superb sets of birdsong-inspired music: “Bird Portraits” (with violinist Peter Sheppard Skærved) and “Where Song was Born” (with flautist Sara Minelli).

Roderick is a member of ensembles CHROMA and Plus-Minus, performing with them at festivals such as Huddersfield, ltima (Oslo) and the 2019 Warsaw Autumn Festival. His first performance on BBC Radio 3 was at the age of 14 (the Britten Gemini Variations live from the Aldeburgh Festival), and broadcasts since have included solo works by Laurence Crane, Richard Barrett and Will Gregory. In 2018 Roderick published Messiaen’s ‘Catalogue d’oiseaux’, from Conception to Performance, co-authored with Peter Hill. He is a regular performer of Messiaen’s works, including the entire Catalogue d’oiseaux and La Fauvette des jardins in a single concert event. In 2008 he was artistic advisor to the Royal Academy of Music for their part in the Southbank Centre’s Messiaen centenary festival.

He attended Chetham’s School in Manchester in the 1980s, studying with Heather Slade-Lipkin, and later moved to London to learn with Hamish Milne. He lives in South London and is Reader in Music at the Royal Academy of Music.

What pictures tell… (DDA 21240)

Works

Catalogue d’oiseaux (Olivier Messiaen):

Livre II – Le Traquet stapazin
Livre III – La Chouette hulotte
Livre III – L’Alouette lulu
Livre IV – La rousserolle effervatte
Livre V – L’Alouette calandrelle
Livre V – La Bouscarle

Lunae: Four Nocturnes (Sadie Harrison)
Sensation (Julian Anderson)
Préludes, Book 1 – Nos IV, V & XII (Claude Debussy)
Chanson d’approche (Betsy Jolas)

Lyric Pieces (Edvard Grieg):