Rameau: Suite in E Minor - IV. Le rappel des oiseaux Mishka Rushdie Momen (piano) Filmed at St Silas the Martyr, Kentish Town, London, United Kingdom Read more and order the CD: https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA68484 *** The Suite in E Minor is taken from Rameau's second book of Pièces de clavecin, written in 1724. It is a strikingly original and inventive suite, with a wonderful sense of completeness and structural cohesion across its nine movements. The first half of the piece comprises dance movements, beginning with a noble, eloquent allemande, followed by a more fiery, though still elegant, courante. The two gigues en rondeau (the first melancholy, the second buoyant) seem rather distant from the original Scottish or Irish ‘jig’. Instead, they combine Italian and French influences: slurred equal notes from Italy, rondeau structure and ornamentation from France. Often translated as ‘the conference of the birds’, ‘Le rappel des oiseaux’ is an extraordinary, onomatopoeic character piece. It vividly depicts a conversation between two birds which becomes more and more excitable and emphatic, rousing (I like to imagine) all the birds in the forest. Originally a folk dance, the rigaudon became popular in the court of Louis XIV—the minor and tonic major pair here capture its hopping steps. Maurice Ravel would return to this dance in his homage in Baroque forms, Le Tombeau de Couperin. Mishka Rushdie Momen © 2026 *** Follow Mishka Rushdie Momen: Facebook - @mishkarushdiemomen X - @mishkapianist Instagram - @mishkamomen Follow Hyperion: Instagram / Facebook / X / Bluesky - @hyperionrecords #mishkarushdiemomen #hyperion #rameau #hallofmirrors