Why Birds Sing, Royal Festival Hall, London, review: birdsong-inspired compositions meet recordings of the real thing

Works by Messiaen, Brett Dean and Beethoven share the bill with exotic birdsong from America, Hawaii and Thailand

The Aurora Orchestra took flight with works by Messiaen, Brett Dean and Beethoven (Nick Rutter)

On paper, the Aurora Orchestra’s birdsong extravaganza sounded painfully contrived: birdsong-inspired works by Messiaen and Brett Dean, interspersed with recordings of the real thing plus written commentaries, all rounded off by Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony, and with Ligeti’s Poème Symphonique (for a hundred metronomes) thrown in as a bonus.

In the event, the Ligeti was a cock-up but everything else went swimmingly, from the recorded call of the Northern Cardinal at the outset, to the flute and clarinet bird calls in the Beethoven.

First we heard from six exotic birds from America, Hawaii and Thailand – with beautifully-drawn graphics – then came Messiaen’s careful description of the avian stars of his Oiseaux exotiques before that work itself was played, with Pierre-Laurent Aimard (who better?) officiating as pianist while the Auroras under Nicholas Collon soared, swooped and dived in close formation and with crisp clarity.

Dean’s own Pastoral Symphony, prefaced by his verbal elegy for disappearing wildlife, started out oddly tentative but its slathered, impasto layering of sound generated a powerful momentum. But why encourage the audience to melt away before the last two or three metronomes had fallen silent at the end of the Ligeti? That is the point of the piece. Finally, the Beethoven was played with lovely freshness, amid bold lighting changes which worked a treat.