New album by Professor Arlene Sierra praised by leading music critics worldwide

Birds and Insects, a new CD of piano music by Professor Arlene Sierra, has received critical acclaim from international publications including Gramophone and International Piano.

Professor Sierra’s music often explores ideas from the natural world, addressing the subjects of landscape, evolutionary biology, and the sounds, processes and behaviour of birds and insects.

Arranged into three books, Sierra's Birds and Insects comprises 15 movements composed across a twenty-year period. The three books are performed by pianists Steven Beck (Books 1 and 2) and Sarah Cahill (Book 3), with liner notes by Dr David Beard. The album is the fourth in Bridge Records' ongoing Arlene Sierra series.

Selections from Birds and Insects have been broadcast internationally and performed across the USA, New Zealand, Europe, and around Britain, most recently in London by Australian-born pianist Zubin Kanga.

Other soloists who have championed the works include Hsiang Tu, Xenia Pestova-Bennett, Kathleen Supové, and Clare Hammond.

Critic Nigel Simeone (International Piano) described the collection as "fascinating, sometimes strange and often striking... bewitching”, while Richard Whitehouse (Gramophone) called it “a potent mix... unpredictable and engrossing.” James Manheim, (AllMusic.com) declared "This is rigorously modern music that is directly appealing, something that is no small accomplishment."