Le Merle Noir – The Blackbird – was composed in March 1952 as the test piece for the flute class at the Paris Conservatoire. Messiaen took the opportunity to make an important stylistic departure in this work: it was the first of his pieces to attempt a detailed depiction of a specific named bird. The first performances – in June 1952 – were given at the flute concours by the most promising members of Gaston Crunelle’s flute class that year. One of them was the British flautist Alexander Murray, who shared his memories of the piece in with the present writer:

“We saw it for the first time four weeks before the concours and then dissected it four times a week with Gaston Crunelle … Noël Lee, a pupil of Nadia Boulanger, was our accompanist, and was present daily for the last week. He had analysed the last section and demonstrated the rhythmic permutations – which did not make life easier. However, his utter reliability made memorising less of a problem. We all played from memory. … I was awarded a premier prix (I think the first British student to be so lucky). Messiaen was present in class at least once, as I remember, and of course at the concours.”

Nigel Simeone © 2012