AWAKENING OF BIRDS

A morning in 1953 (Messiaen Reversed, Birds Released) is an 8-channel sound installation based on Réveil des Oiseaux - a composition for piano and orchestra by the legendary Modernist composer Olivier Messiaen (1908-1982). Premiered in 1953, the piece is claimed to be the fruit of painstaking transcription of 38 species of birds.

Working together with the sound engineer, Katarzyna Figat, the artists re-create and re- construct the original score by removing (most of) the man-made sounds and using bird calls of the species Messiaen treated as his “prototypes” from the collection of Macaulay Library.

Sound engineering and transcription by KatarzynaFigat 8-channel sound installation 2022