Alan Jones, the late Episcopal Dean of Grace Cathedral in San Francisco once said that “human beings are wired for mystery.” If ever there were a composer whose life’s work was to draw people into mystery (and particularly the mysteries of Catholic Christianity) it was French composer Olivier Messiaen. However, beyond the astonishing breadth of his work (informed by his questing spiritual and musical curiosity) lay a multifaceted yet deeply private individual, full of personal mystery.

Messiaen and his music continue to be a source of endless fascination, not least to expatriate Australian author and academic Robert Sholl, who is at the forefront of current Messiaen scholarship, as these two books so clearly attest.

Sholl’s biography is a TARDIS of a book. Within its 187 pages of text lies an extraordinarily detailed examination of Messiaen, blending life, works, formative influences, critical reception and his influence on others. All these aspects are refracted through a multiplicity of lenses that touch on theology, ornithology, poetry, avant-gardism, surrealism, ethnomusicology, rhythm and psychoanalysis, to name but some.

Careful examination and analysis of Messiaen’s sketchbooks have allowed Sholl to shed new light on the genesis of certain works, leading...