Peter Varley wrote:

>Where are Messiaen's advocates?
>
>I find Messiaen's music boring.  OK, there are other composers whose music
>I find boring, but they aren't played anywhere near so frequently.  The
>music I find especially boring is the Catalogue des Oiseaux (sp?)....

Peter, here is your man!  I love Messiaens music!  Really, all of it,
especially the Catalogue, which is for me one of the greatest piano solo
works around (especially when Anatol Ugarski is playing).  It took me a
while to get into his music, but I am conviced that Messiaen is one of the
few really important composers of this century, if not ever.  Now why do
I like his music? I never really thought about it.  For me its enough that
I like it, that I have pleasure while listening.  I do not think its
necessary for anybody to explain why he likes some music or why he does
not like it.  Now why do I think his music is important? Messiaen has a
unique style, that can be easily identified.  His compositional approach,
including natural *melodies* is/was very original as is/was his way of
orchestration, especially his strong emphasis on woodwinds and brass.  He
developed further serial composition and showed that also with this method
beatiful music is possible.  He was an important teacher and influenced
many younger composers.  I am neither a scholar nor a musician, thus maybe
I a not perfectly right, but I do not think I am totally wrong!

Achim Breilibg