“The 2008 Duet for piano and orchestra preceded the composition of that opera, and its sequence of sparely scored, crisply focused episodes now seems a clearing of the musical decks for the work to come, concentrating on dramatic essentials rather than exploiting the virtuosity of Pierre-Laurent Aimard, for whom it was written, and who contributed the Messiaen too – a typically brilliant account of Le Merle Bleu (The Blue Rock Thrush) from the Catalogue d’Oiseaux.” –The Guardian