Aimard has been widely praised for his visionary performances of Messiaen’s radiant piano music. Tonight he evokes the birds, animals, flowers and landscape of the remarkable Le Traquet Stapazin (The Black Wheatear), an avian portrait that charts a whole day in the French countryside through birdsong and the sounds of nature. In his Kontakte (‘Contacts’), Stockhausen harnessed early electronic technology in a thrilling exploration of rhythm, sound and space, pitting electronics against piano against percussion and sending music spinning through space.

This concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3 at a future date.