La Fauvette Passerinette: A Messiaen premiere with birds, landscapes and homages

In 2012, leading pianist and Messiaen scholar Peter Hill made a remarkable discovery among the composer's papers: several pages of tightly written manuscript from 1961, constituting a near-complete and hitherto unknown work for piano. Hill was able to fill in some missing dynamics and articulations by consulting Messiaen's birdsong notebooks, and gave the work's first public performance in the autumn of 2013.

Here, then, he follows his acclaimed Bach recordings for Delphian with a return to the music in which he first made his reputation, setting this glittering addition to Messiaen's piano output in the context both of the composer's own earlier work and of music by the many younger composers on whom Messiaen was a profound influence - from Stockhausen and Takemitsu to George Benjamin, who like Hill himself worked closely with the composer in the years before his death.

One of the leading British pianists of his generation, Peter Hill worked with Messiaen between 1986 and 1991 while recording the composer's complete piano works. The series was described by the New York Times as "one of the most impressive solo recording projects of recent years", and won Messiaen's endorsement: "Beautiful technique, a true poet: I am a passionate admirer of Peter Hill's playing." His research on Messiaen continues and a book on 'Catalogue d'oiseaux' is in preparation.

Hill's recordings for Delphian of Bach's 'The Well-Tempered Clavier' - two volumes, each comprising 2 CDs - have received outstanding reviews: Book 2 (Delphian DCD34101) was CD of the Week on BBC Radio 3.