I think of Messiaen, perhaps, as a guilty pleasure. As a younger man, I was quite taken with his music and his approach. I listened to it often. That was defused as much as anything by the more linear development of Tournemire, and the sheer repetition of Messiaen's sound blocks. Also, of course, I went directly to the Indian music myself.
Nonetheless, I still admire some of Messiaen's rhythmic-harmonic ideas. His piano pieces encapsulate most of his style, because in spite of the orchestral coloring elsewhere, the music always seems worked out on keyboard. The series of bird pieces is literally an encyclopedia of rhythmic-harmonic ideas, although I don't find much "nature" in it. A fine recording, one of a few:
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Todd M. McComb 1 December 1996