Olivier Messiaen’s Des Canyons aux Étoiles… is one of the late 20th century’s bigger beasts and not the easiest nut to crack by any means. A celebration of God in all his creation, the French composer’s 90-minute score was inspired by a visit to the Utah canyons and incorporates movements stimulated by his observations of the sky, the desert, the rocks and, of course, bird song. A 12-movement symphony, a giant piano concerto, a complementary set of tone poems, it’s all these and more, but it has its thorny patches to trouble the unwary and without a clear idea of the locales that brought it to life, the music on its own lacks the immediate impact of, say, Messiaen’s deeply sensual Turangalîla.

Given the intense visual element, it was a great idea for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra to co-commission an accompanying video and lighting element from the American fine art photographer Deborah O’Grady. It was also a great idea to get Chief Conductor David Robertson (a man who knew Messiaen and who has been conducting the work for 30 years now) to deliver the enlightening pre-concert talk. By demonstrating Messiaen’s use of whole-tone scales (via an amusing whole tone vocal rendition...