Roderick Chadwick and Peter Hill give a detailed account of the evolution of Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue d'oiseaux for piano solo, from its initial conception in the Black Forest in 1953 to its completion and premiere in the Parisian 'Concerts du Domaine Musical' at the end of the decade. Through close examination of the composer's birdsong cahiers they demonstrate how Messiaen translated nature into music in a way that had a major impact on his later work. They also consider issues of performance, and Messiaen's artistic relationship with his dedicatee and wife-to-be, Yvonne Loriod, including the significance of her two recordings of the cycle. This book illuminates the Catalogue from a variety of angles: its historical significance, as a study of how mimicry of nature can be transformed into music of mesmeric originality, and as a guide that offers a wealth of fresh insights to listeners and performers.

Roderick Chadwick is Reader in Music at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and is an experienced performer of Messiaen's work. He has also produced critically acclaimed recordings of works by Stockhausen, Gloria Coates and Finnissy amongst others, and his writing has been included in Messiaen Perspectives 2 (2013). Peter Hill is Professor Emeritus at the University of Sheffield, and his recording of Messiaen's complete piano works won praise from critics as well as from the composer himself. In 2005, he published a ground breaking biography, Messiaen, and in 2008 his work on Messiaen was recognized with the award of the annual prize for musical scholarship by the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris.