As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Sunday 1 October 2017

Why Birds Sing, Royal Festival Hall, London, review: birdsong-inspired compositions meet recordings of the real thing


Works by Messiaen, Brett Dean and Beethoven share the bill with exotic birdsong from America, Hawaii and Thailand
    
On paper, the Aurora Orchestra's birdsong extravaganza sounded painfully contrived: birdsong-inspired works by Messiaen and Brett Dean, interspersed with recordings of the real thing plus written commentaries, all rounded off by Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, and with Ligeti's Poème Symphonique (for a hundred metronomes) thrown in as a bonus.

In the event, the Ligeti was a cock-up, but everything else went swimmingly, from the recorded call of the Northern Cardinal at the outset, to the flute and clarinet bird-calls in the Beethoven.

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