I don't like most 20th century and modern music.  This is probably due to
lack exposure.  When I have the money, I usually buy Baroque and Classical
CD's, with a sprinkling or Romantic and Modern.  I do try to keep an open
mind, however.  So when, a few months ago, a List member recommended a three
CD Naxos recording of Messaien's "Catalogue d'oiseaux" and "Petites
esquisses d'oiseaux" (8.553532-34), I figured, what the hey, I'll give it a
shot.  I was happily surprised at how much I enjoyed the recording.

I guess that one of the things that holds me back from listening to  modern
music is that I like the beginning to the end, logical sequence I find in
Baroque and Classical music.  Messiaen's music is anything but.  Ian
commented:

>I don't judge "structural integrity" in technical terms, but by the sense
>I get of a coherent logic in a piece - a central core and everything else
>fitting and making sense around it.  A kind of inevitable "right-ness"
>about the way the music hangs together.

This is close to how I feel when I listen to the music.  Although not a
"birder," I've always loved the songs and calls of birds, especially the
caroling of robins in Spring and Summer mornings.  When I hear birds
singing, I feel that I've come into the concert hall after the performance
has begun, but do not feel as if I've missed anything.

In the informative booklet that comes with the Naxos discs, the author
mentions that Messiaen "turned what had been an absorbing interest (since
the age of fifteen) into an exhaustive, in-depth study" and became "a
well-respected ornithological expert." He liked to call birds "the greatest
musicians on our planet," and tried in this music to to make an exact
transposition of what he heard, "but on a more human scale."

So, I would think that in any discussion of his music, Messiaen's solo
piano work should be included.

Ron Chaplin