Boulez performs Messiaen: Poèmes pour Mi, Sept Haikai, etc.
Messiaen (1908-1992) is one of the more important figures in  contemporary music. He was the first French composer to surpass the reputations  of Debussy and Ravel and take French music into the 20th century.Poémes pour  Mi(1937) is a cycle of nine songs that take in both tonal and atonal  elements--an extraordinary success.Le Réveil des oiseaux(1953) is a  pointillistic exercise of somewhat harsher chromaticism than his earlier work. A  parallel consistency is found in hisSept Haïkaï(1962) where he attempts  to capture the sound of birds in a Japanese garden. Messiaen, Lutoslawski,  Ligeti--these guys were true pioneers.--Paul Cook