Olivier Messiaen’s "Catalogue of Birds (Catalogue d’Oiseaux)"

Presented on the occasion of The Biggest Week in Birding, the Toledo area’s annual celebration of the great bird migration, ten pianists from across America tackle one of the 20th century’s most challenging works for solo piano, Olivier Messiaen’s three-hour Catalogue of Birds (written between 1956 and 1958), which the composer wrote as 13 pieces contained within seven “books” all inspired by the songs of European birds. The ten performers are Vicky Chow, David Friend, Jason Hardink, Jeff Manchur, Laura Melton, Robert Satterlee, Robert Shannon, Haewon Song, Stephanie Titus, and Thomas Rosenkranz (who organized the pianists).