Olivier Messiaen - Complete Piano Works (Ciro Longobardi)

Information

Composer: Olivier Messiaen

• Vingt regards sur l'enfant-Jésus
• Petites esquisses d'oiseaux
• Catalogue d'oiseaux
• 8 Préludes
• Fantaisie Burlesque
• Pièce Pour Le Tombeau De Paul Dukas
• Rondeau
• Cantéyodjayâ
• 4 Études De Rythme
• La Fauvette Des Jardins

Ciro Longobardi, piano

Date: 2025

Label: Brilliant Classics

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Ciro Longobardi’s complete recording of Olivier Messiaen’s piano music, now issued in full for the first time, has been widely acclaimed, with Fanfare magazine praising it as “a lush, intricate success.” The collection spans Messiaen’s early Debussyan Préludes (1928–29) to the late Petites Esquisses d’Oiseaux (1985), capturing the evolution of his distinctive idiom. Highlights include the late-1950s Catalogue d’Oiseaux, notable for its unique ending in darkness, and the emotionally profound Vingt Regards from World War II. Longobardi, a prizewinner at the 1994 International Gaudeamus Competition, brings three decades of performance experience to the set, which includes his own reflections alongside Messiaen’s programme notes, offering insight into the composer’s vivid, transcendent musical world.

Ciro Longobardi is an acclaimed Italian pianist, recognized as finalist and best pianist at the 1994 Gaudeamus Competition in Rotterdam and recipient of the Kranichsteiner Musikpreis at Darmstadt. He has performed at leading festivals and venues worldwide, including Milano Musica, Ravenna Festival, Biennale di Venezia, Salzburg Festival, INA GRM Paris, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, collaborating with prominent orchestras and ensembles. Longobardi has recorded for labels such as Stradivarius, Limen, Mode Records, and Kairos, earning critical acclaim including a 5-star Diapason rating and the 2019 Abbiati Record Award for his complete recording of Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux. He is pianist of Ensemble Prometeo, co-founder and artistic coordinator of Dissonanzen, and teaches at the Conservatory “G. Martucci” in Salerno.