The beauty, complexity and science of bird song is the inspiration for all my music. As John Cage said, 'Music is everywhere once you decide to pay attention to it'. MiE Fielding
"The birds are the opposite of time. They represent our longing for light, for stars, for rainbows, and for jubilant song"
Olivier Messiaen
"First and foremost one is setting out to produce an emotional response in the listener. So the challenge was to construct a composition that would convey a message. In this case the message is pretty bleak. The UK has lost some 73 Million Birds since 1970 and is now one of the most biodiversity poor countries on planet earth.So I knew that I would be dealing with dissonance'
I then thought about how I could present this from the bird's point of view - using their voice if you like. But I did not want to 'humanise' them in any way by trying to convert their natural voice to something that was foreign to them and invented by man - ie music - especially Western 12 tone music. Something that has been attempted by many others in the past. Messiaen for example with Catalogue d'oiseaux , written as a celebration of bird life. Unlike Messiaen, I wanted to write a composition that reflects the current situation.The idea goes back to an unforgettable incident in the 1990's when I took the late playright Tom Hadaway to experience a dawn chorus, something that Tom had never heard.
At 5AM we headed for RSPB Church Wood reserve near the village of Hegerley, Buckinhamshire. Any early morning bird song that there may of been was simply drowned out by the quite deafening noise of motorway traffic on the nearby M40. So the memory of that morning became my inspiration and starting point..."
Perhaps the most celebrated of these works is Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue d'oiseaux , a work for piano composed of thirteen pieces, written between October 1956 and September 1958 and devoted to birds and his second wife Yvonne Loriod.
However Bird vocalization (calls and other sounds) can be extremely complex as some species can produce two notes at once by controlling the two sides of the trachea independently , a polyphonic sonic complexity that remains beyond the capabilities of the humble piano.
Using his own vast library of recorded bird songs and calls, MiE Fielding's Aves Elektron brings this experiment with nature right up to date with a stark and enigmatic electronic sound art landscape produced solely from bird sound samples taking the listener on a journey that charts the catastrophic decline of Britain's wild birds. 360 degree audio and should be enjoyed using headphones.
Above Centre: Catalogue d'oiseaux Olivier Messiaen.
Above Right: MiE Fielding AVES ELEKTRON:Death of the Nightingale book and CD (In production estimated April 2024 Ref VOERT CD45457. There will also be a series of sound installations of this work and accompanying film. Details and dates to be announced.
