Catalogue d'oiseaux László Borbély

• Oliver Messiaen (1908 - 1992): Première Livre:
• 1 Messiaen: Première Livre No.1: Le Chocard des Alpes (Alpine Chough) 09:54
• 2 Messiaen: Première Livre No.2: Le Loriot (Golden Oriole) 08:22
• 3 Messiaen: Première Livre No.3: Le Merle bleu (Blue Rock Thrush) 12:57
• Deuxième Livre:
• 4 Messiaen: Deuxième Livre: Le Traquet Stapazin (Black-eared Wheatear) 14:42
• Troisième Livre:
• 5 Messiaen: Troisième Livre: No.1 La Chouette Hulotte (Tawny Owl) 07:51
• 6 Messiaen: Troisième Livre: No.2 L'Alouette Lulu (Wood Lark) 07:29
• Quatrième Livre:
• 7 Messiaen: Quatrième Livre: La Rousserolle Effarvatte (Reed Warbler) 29:01
• Cinquième Livre:
• 8 Messiaen: Cinquième Livre: No.1 L'Alouette Calandrelle (Short-toed Lark) 05:22
• 9 Messiaen: Cinquième Livre: No.2 La Bouscarle (Cetti's Warbler) 11:21
• Sixième Livre:
• 10 Messiaen: Sixième Livre: Le Merle de roche (Rock Thrush) 17:27
• Septième Livre:
• 11 Messiaen: Septième Livre: No.1 La Buse variable (Buzzard) 10:49
• 12 Messiaen: Septième Livre: No.2 Le Traquet rieur (Black Wheatear) 07:10
• 13 Messiaen: Septième Livre: No.3 Le Courlis cendré (Curlew) 09:52
• Total Runtime 02:32:17

Info for Catalogue d'oiseaux

Everything is real. Olivier Messiaen’s piano cycle, Catalogue d'oiseaux (Catalogue of Birds), besides being one of the monumental creations of modern music, is one of the greatest 'cathedrals' among works ever composed for the piano (or any keyboard instrument).

For a pianist like me the interpretation of such a complex masterwork is a special event. It is an extreme undertaking in the mental, spiritual and physical sense alike. The structural complexity of the work, however, never becomes disturbing, considering that the 'complexity' of this music results in the continuous extension of the horizon in the listener, who then becomes part of a sounding coordinate system himself. This complexity is a flash of Order, where Time itself, similarly to Salvador Dalí’s melting clocks, expands. 'Tout est vrai (Everything is real)' we read in the author’s preface to the first recording of this work. Messiaen, who collected the song of birds from all corners of the world, notated them in the minutest possible detail in his works as literal quotations. For him this was the only possible way compatible with his religious conviction, and 'Tout est vrai' symbolically means that it is not he but God who is the creator of his works. The composer can only be the means, a medium.

I can only write about this work with the greatest admiration. It has transformed my identity as a pianist and this transformation is going on to this day. My first meeting with Messiaen turned my whole life away from its earlier direction in the blink of an eye. The reason may be that Messiaen knows what only the truly greatest know: that each element of his music builds up an individual dimension, a sounding, colourful aura around the given notes, similarly to the haloes in Italian Renaissance paintings which almost 'tip out' of the plane of the canvas.

Messiaen often chooses 'impalpable' as a performance direction. It is no accident; in his works we enter the visible and tangible transcendent through the intangibility of the invisible. We are faced here with something which is seemingly incompatible with our existence.

László Borbély, piano

László Borbély
was born in 1984. In 2007 he got his diploma with honours (Master of Music in Performance and Teaching) then his doctoral degree (Doctor of Liberal Arts) at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music Budapest, where he is an assistant professor of Piano Faculty.

He played concerts at international festivals such Collegium Musicum Pommersfelden (Germany), Encuentro de Música y Academia de Santander (Spain), International Holland Music Sessions in Bergen (The Netherlands), TCU/Cliburn Institute in Fort Worth (USA), FestivaLiszt in Grottammare (Italy), Liszt Festival in Raiding (Austria), Liszt Festival in Bayreuth (Germany), International Bartók Festival Ankara (Turkey), International Conservatory Week Festival Saint Petersburg (Russia), Festival der Klänge in Vienna (Austria), CAFe Budapest Festival, Budapest Spring Festival, Day of Listening (Budapest), Tiszadob Piano Festival (Hungary), Beethoven Festival Martonvásár (Hungary), Arcus Temporum Festival Pannonhalma (Hungary) and International Bartók Festival Szombathely (Hungary).

He won numerous prizes at national and international competitions. He won 2nd Prize and a special prize for the best performance of the set piece at the EPTA International Piano Competition in Osijek (Croatia) in 2001. In the same year, he won the Great Prize of the national competition of secondary music schools in Békés-Tarhos. In 2002, he won the Yamaha Scholarship Award and also two 2nd and one 3rd prizes in different divisions of the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition where he won two special prizes too: prize for the „most artistic performance” and a special prize of the American Liszt Society. In 2003 he got the special prize of the Hungarian Ministry of Cultural Heritage at the national competition of the Hungarian Radio. Next Year he was first prizewinner at the Andor Földes national competition. In 2005 he won „Educational Award” at the London International Piano Competition. In 2006 he was 2nd prizewinner at the International Liszt-Bartók Piano Competition in Budapest where he got also a special prize of Budapest City. In 2009 he won 3rd prize and four special prizes at the National Haydn-Mendelssohn Piano Competition of the Hungarian Radio. He got the Annie Fischer Performers’ Scholarship three times (in 2008, 2009 and 2010). In 2009 he got „Junior Prima Prize”one of the most prestigious prize given for young artists.

He had lessons with Dmitrij Bashkirov, Gábor Csalog, Christopher Elton, Noel Flores, Péter Frankl, Márta Gulyás, Jan-Marisse Huizing, Zoltán Kocsis, György Kurtág, Claudio-Martinez Mehner, Piotr Paleczny, Murray Perrahia, Menahem Pressler, Ferenc Rados, Livia Rév, András Schiff, Tamás Ungár, Elisso Virsaladze, Mikhail Voskresensky, Tamás Vásáry and Rita Wagner.

He played concerts with prestigious artists such Zoltán Kocsis and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, Péter Csaba (violin), Barnabás Kelemen (violin), Lajos Lencsés (oboe), Alessandro Carbonare (clarinet), Lajos Rozmán (clarinet), Judit Rajk (voice), etc.

He has recitals regularly in Hungary and other countries too.

He made recordings for Hungarian Radio and TRT Ankara. His first solo CD released in 2016 (edited by: Bayer Music Group)

He took master classes in Geneve (Switzerland), Würzburg (Germany), Tbilisi (Georgia) and gave podium-lectures in Izmir (Turkey) and Saint Petersburg (Russia).

He is member of Metrum Ensemble.

Booklet for Catalogue d'oiseaux