'Listen to the birds; they are great masters!’ was the advice Paul Dukas gave his student Olivier Messiaen.

Messiaen took the advice to heart: he amassed an impressive collection of birdsong from around the world. In Oiseaux Exotiques, he brings together 48 birds from Asia, North and South America: impossible to do in the real world, but enchanting in that of Messiaen.

Stravinsky’s Le chant du Rossignol also lets exotic nature triumph: the song of the lively nightingale from Andersen’s fairy tale wins out – ultimately – over its mechanical counterpart.