David Robertson and Pierre-Laurent Aimard talk about Messiaen’s unique musical portrait of life, the universe and everything.

Thirty years ago, three books arrived in the post tied up with string. Taking full advantage of the last gasp of an enlightened scheme in 1980s Britain that allowed any person access to any book via a network of interlinked libraries, I’d ordered up the full score of Olivier Messiaen’s mid-1970s orchestral epic Des Canyons aux Étoiles… I’d recently bought Esa-Pekka Salonen’s new recording with the London Sinfonietta and the sonic vistas contained therein felt to me like the most intensely etched sounds imaginable.

On March 9 – with a repeat performance on March 12 – comes a very rare opportunity to experience Des Canyons aux Étoiles… live, when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under their Chief Conductor David Robertson, with pianist and Messiaen protégée Pierre-Laurent Aimard tackling the omnivorous and finger-busting solo part, perform the work at Sydney Opera House.

Opening that exciting package all those years ago, Messiaen’s grand 12-movement structure looked different on the page to any other music that I’d previously seen. High-velocity notes raced across the page, diced up into bars that phrased with the asymmetric countdown of the...