The miracle is that Messiaen's music created experiences of such radiant complexity from a religious faith of apparent naivety. No other music of the 20th century explored spirituality with more directness and unflinching humanity than his. The paradox is that his works are so thrillingly sensual, from the voluptuous exoticism of the Turangalîla Symphony to the orgiastic splendour of La Transfiguration. There is austerity, too, but above all, there is song. He brought the music of the birds into our aural orbit. His opera, St Francis, is a cosmic song of the spirit, infused with a kaleidoscope of avian inspiration.
In celebration of his centenary, here's my pick of the 10 essential Messiaen recordings:
1. His opera, St Francis of Assisi. Kent Nagano conducts the Hallé orchestra in Messiaen's magnum opus. Don't be daunted by its huge scale, though: the music is unashamedly immediate in its impact.
2. The Quartet for the End of Time. Composed during Messiaen's incarceration in a Nazi prison camp in 1941, this music conjures up spiritual freedom and celestial comfort even in the midst of humanity's darkest hour. Tashi's recording captures an atmosphere of serene intensity.
3. The Turangalîla Symphony. Stravinsky quipped that all you need to write Turangalîla is enough manuscript paper - it's just as well Messiaen did: it is music of uninhibited joy in all of its 10 movements, especially in Esa-Pekka Salonen's recording with the Philharmonia.
4. Et Exspecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum. Music of searing, lamenting power and granite-like toughness - Pierre Boulez and the Cleveland Orchestra create an overwhelming sonic ritual.
5. Oiseaux Exotiques. Yvonne Loriod, Messiaen's second wife, with Messiaen's version of a piano concerto, one of the first pieces that opened up the universe of birdsong in his output.
6. Vingt regards sur l'enfant–Jésus. Pierre-Laurent Aimard recording of Messiaen's two-hour cycle of pianistic mysticism, the most searching interpretation of this piece I've ever heard.
7. Organ works. Olivier Latry plays Messiaen's complete works for organ - the instrument he played and loved more than any other - and is the ideal guide through some of Messiaen's strangest and most sensual music.
8. Chronochromie. Messiaen's most uncompromising vision of nature - waterfalls, rocks and a teeming, untamed explosion of birdsong, as vivid and violent as anything in Xenakis. Pierre Boulez and the Clevelanders again.
9. La Transfiguration. An oratorio like no other, La Transfiguration is music on a self-consciously gigantic scale - it was a summing-up of everything Messiaen had achieved up to 1969, when it was written. Myung-Whun Chung conducts his French forces.
10. Eclairs sur l'au-delà. Simon Rattle conducts the Berliner Philharmoniker in this transcendent performance of Messiaen's last, visionary score.
