It's been said that Messiaen's later work is nothing more than a rehashing of his early ground-breaking work such as the Turangalîla Symphony. But one listen to this--his final composition written between 1987 and 1991--will change a lot of people's minds. Deeply introspective and highly spiritual, Eclairs eloquently sums up everything Messiaen strove to attain in his long career; statements don't come more mature than this one. There's bits and pieces from all his major statements: 48 different bird calls, clanging percussion, dissonant polychromatic horn sections, all played by a large, rich orchestra. The piece has one foot on earth and the other in heaven--it's at once a description of the sounds of the forest (literally transcribed) and the sounds of heaven (one section is called "The Seven Angels With Seven Trumpets"). All the sounds mingle at once in a way that articulates a complete sonic and philosophical cosmology. The final sections, entitled "The Way To The Invisible" and "Christ, Light Of Paradise", give a new meaning to spirituality in modern music. If you're interested in the either spiritual work of Arvo Pärt or Henryk Górecki or the experimental work of Boulez and Stockhausen, you'll find the roots of all their endeavours here on this disc. --Kenneth Goldsmith