Messiaen Perspectives 2: Techniques, Influence and Reception analyses Messiaen's compositional approach and the repercussions of his music. The first part scrutinizes his compositional technique, while the second charts ways in which Messiaen's influence is manifest in the music and careers of Ohana, Xenakis, Murail and Quebecois composers. The third part includes case studies of Messiaen's reception in Italy, Spain and the USA. The volume includes an ornithological catalogue of Messiaen's birds, collates information on the 'tombeaux' pieces he inspired, and concludes with a critical catalogue of Messiaen's musical works.

Introduction; 1: Techniques; 1: Sacred Machines: Fear, Mystery and Transfiguration in Messiaen's Mechanical Procedures 1; 2: La Fauvette des jardins and the 'Spectral Attitude'; 3: Aspects of Compositional Organization and Stylistic Innovation in Petites Esquisses d'oiseaux; 4: Messiaen's Counterpoint 1; 1: Intermède 1; 5: A Catalogue of Messiaen's Birds; 2: Influence; 6: Messiaen and Ohana: Parallel Preoccupations or Anxiety of Influence?; 7: The Messiaen-Xenakis Conjunction 1; 8: From France to Quebec: Messiaen's Transatlantic Legacy; 9: Messiaen and the Spectralists; 2: Intermède 2; 10: The Tombeaux of Messiaen: At the Intersection of Influence and Reception; 3: Reception; 11: The Reception of Olivier Messiaen in Italy: A Historical Interpretation 1; 12: Three Decades of Messiaen's Music in Spain: A Brief Survey, 1945-1978; 13: Placing Mount Messiaen 1; 14: Genesis and Reception of Olivier Messiaen's Traité de rythme, de couleur, et d'ornithologie, 1949-1992: Toward a New Reading of the Composer's Writings 1