Few are better acquainted [with the Catalogue] than Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and this set is clearly a long-pondered act of love…Needless to say, Aimard possesses the necessary dazzling virtuosity, but also the exceptionally broad palette of colour and timbral precision. In his hands, the opening of the gorgeous nocturne ‘L’Alouette lulu’ is a masterclass in balance.

Aimard’s interpretations are anything but tame. His dynamic range is formidable, his voicing of chords scrupulously faithful, his clarity unimpeachable. It’s hard to imagine the textures having greater impact or precision, or the continuity and discontinuity being projected with greater concentration…Not a single sound emerges with indifference.

The 13 pieces could hardly be realised better than by Aimard.

As Aimard demonstrates vividly, the Catalogue is one of the greatest, and most original, of all 20th-century keyboard works...There’s a virtuosic fierceness to some of the writing...The recordings capture all that dexterity, and every nuance of the wonderfully varied keyboard colour that Aimard brings to the piano writing.

As the set reveals time and again, Aimard has long digested and internalized Messiaen’s colorful keyboard syntax. The pianist voices and balances extended sequences of chords with the utmost clarity and specificity. Minute variations in rhythmic asymmetry are scrupulously articulated, while Aimard never shortchanges the music’s frequent moments of silence. He also brings impressive timbral and characterful variety to low-register passagework that can sound muddy or indistinct in the wrong hands. Cases in point include Messiaen’s playful evocation of mating mallards in Le Merle de roche’s opening pages, and Le Loriot’s slow-motion chords that contrast with lively high-register dialogues depicting Garden Warblers.