Is Messiaen’s music timeless... or does it just seem to go on a long time?
Damian Thompson asked this on the centenary of Messiaen’s birth a week ago Wednesday. To answer the question, last night I went to Redeemer, Bryn Mawr and heard the sometime sub-organist of St Paul’s Cathedral perform La Nativité de Seigneur.

I say... timeless.

So dissonant, so loud, so avant-garde, so... Catholic.

I understand the Lefebvrists in France rock out to this in church after Mass.

Redeemer BTW is a marvellous Victorian Gothic building, rood screen, reredos and all, obviously suited for Catholic worship even though the place has never been Anglo-Catholic.