‘Messiaen’s free-spirited outlook, as much as his enchanted modernism, made him a magnet for adventurous young composers, who saw him as the Sartre of the music world, a symbol of artistic authenticity.’

Adam Shatz on the 20th-century French composer: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n03/adam-shatz/wash-out-your-ears