A Morning in 1953

A sound installation, created in collaboration with Joanna Malinowska. This 8-channel work is based on Réveil des Oiseaux (Awakening of Birds), a composition for piano and orchestra by the legendary Modernist composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1982). Premiering in 1953, Messiaen’s piece is claimed to be the result of a painstaking transcription of the songs of 38 different species of birds. A morning in 1953 (Messiaen Reversed, Birds Released) attempts to reverse and undo this original transcription process. With the help of sound engineer Katarzyna Figat, the artists re-create and re-construct the original score, removing the man-made sounds and replacing them with the actual bird calls of the species Messiaen treated as his “prototypes.” Drawing from the extensive animal media archive at Cornell’s Macaulay Library, this project is a form of sonic montage that faithfully follows the notation by Messiaen yet turns his original concept on its head.