"The great Natalie Dessay, a legendary nightingale, encounters the trills of a truly unique bird singer, Johnny Rasse, who brings with him the sounds of migration from the Bay of the Somme.

As both arbiter and fleeting sky, the piano of Shani Diluka, who devised the programme, surrounds this original dialogue — a meeting of love, poetry, but also humour and hope. The calls of chaffinches, blackbirds, warblers and gulls, voiced by Johnny Rasse, respond to the soundscapes of Grieg, Brahms, Berg, Ravel, and others — from French mélodie to 21st-century works, all composed in tribute to birds. These are like painted scenes we pass through, echoed and enriched by the poetry of Lamartine, Verlaine and Prévert.

From silver moonlight to clear dawn, birds have always been our ancient companions. They came before us — and yet they vanish, little by little, each day.

A moment of grace, on a quiet Sunday morning, to listen more closely — and to preserve them."

by Shani Diluka