For the Birds

[TerraEpon]

Just listening to the orchestral version of Ravel's Ma Merel'Oye, and there's some clear bird sounds in the Petit Poucet movement.

[chill319]

Likewise, no mistaking the bird calls with which Enescu's masterful 'Impressions d'enfance' is replete.

[Marcus]

Olivier Mesiaen had a liking for  birds:
Reveil des oiseaux for (Piano & orchestra), and Couleurs de la cite celeste (for Large Orchestra with imitations of two birds from N.Z. & one from Brazil), Oiseaux exotiques (for Piano, 2 wind instruments,Xylophone,Celesta &
Percusion), Catalogue d'oiseaux (for Organ), plus other shorter works.
Marcus.

[Jonathan]

There is also Liszt's First Legend - St. François d'Assise - La Prédication aux oiseaux (S175 no.1) which contains a lot of birdsong imitation.  The orchestral version works especially well.

[M. Henriksen]

A new addition to the steadily growing list of birds in music:

Alphons Diepenbrock: The Birds Overture (composed 1917). A lot of imitated bird calls in this work, especially the middle section with flute-solo.

Morten

[DennisS]

Another suggestion - Eimar Englund symphony no 2 "The Blackbird" - very enjoyable!

Cheers
Dennis

[Peter1953]

And what about Sergei Bortkiewicz, with his Étude d'oiseaux, op. 4 no. 2 from Impressions, six character pieces for piano solo. A very sparkling, short piece lasting only one and a half minutes, with several bird imitations of which I only can identify the call of a cuckoo.

____

Another addition is Vöglein (Little Bird) by Grieg (Lyric Pieces, Band 3, op. 43 no. 4).

[minacciosa]

Henry Hadley's Symphony No.5 "Connecticut" uses birdcalls in its second movement. The three movement work seeks to describe the state of Connecticut at various periods of its history, and the second movement is marked Pastorale, "1765". (The other movements are "1635", which describes the first settlers, their hardships and conflicts with Native Americans, and "1935", which describes the hustle and bustle of the state in its modern age at the time of composition. The composer names the birds as they are used, and I must say that after looking up and hearing the actual birdsongs themselves, Hadley did a phenomenal job of notating and recreating them.

[semloh]

Henry Hadley's Symphony No.5 "Connecticut" uses birdcalls in its second movement. ......

Wow! It sounds like you have a recording of Hadley's 5th! If so, is it possible to upload it - please? I only know of the Naxos disc of his 4th....

He is definitely an unsung composers whose works I would love to hear! 

[Christopher]

Alexander Alexandrovich Alabiev (1787-1851) -  "Nightingale" ("Solovey" in Russian) is for coloratura soprano, and is an extremely popular piece in Russia, though maybe an unsung elsewhere.  Russian sopranos belt it out to prove their abilities! This is a good example - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dh5gohpKNVA&feature=related - sung by Georgian soprano Lamara Chkonia.  Many others on youtube as well.

Didn't Leopold Mozart use birdsong in his Toy Symphony?

And there's a great piece by an Estonian composer, Veljo Tormis (b.1930) called Swan Flight.

[alberto]

The first set of Gianfrancesco Malipiero "Impressioni dal Vero" (recent Naxos recording) contains three pieces titled:
The blackcap, the woodpecker, the scops owl: for me truly marvellous and very personal music.

[JimL]

Probably the most famous birdcalls in the repertory: 2nd movement of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony, where you have that brief woodwind cadenza wherein you hear (IIRC) a yellowhammer(?) a nightingale and, of course, a cukoo.

[Jimfin]

The opening scene (after the Prologue) of "Paul Bunyan" has definite birdsong effects

[Paul Barasi]

If you want to pick up birds it's hard to find where not to go: Rott's symphony has its ducks and his prodigy Mahler his birdsong, cuckoos and calls aplenty (such as M1:1 and M7).  Wagner's Siegfried has his birdsong and Lohengrin his swan as Tchaikovsky and Sibelius do too. Oskar Sala has his Hitcockian bird noises, Sullivan his tom-tit, Delius his lark, Shchedrin his seagull, Kodoly his peacock, and Stravinsky even a firebird. ... There's absolutely no end to it.

[JimL]

Don't hate me please: RVW - The Lark Ascending.