I'm hoping to see the Osian Ensemble playing Quartet for the End of Time in York on the afternoon of June 14th:

http://ncem.co.uk/cgi/events/events.cgi?t=template.htm&a=1000

It's a piece I've been waiting to hear live and York is a relatively easy place for me to get to, particularly on a Saturday afternoon.

There's also a performance of Vingt Regards sur L'enfant Jesus that same evening:

http://ncem.co.uk/cgi/events/events.cgi?t=template.htm&a=982

Should I stay for it?

I have never heard Vingt Regards sur L'enfant Jesus. Will I like it? Am I right in thinking it's two hours of solo piano music?    I've never sat through anything like that before...  (The pianist is someone called Ian Pace. Anyone know him? Is he any good?)

In fact, I only know two things by Messiaen... could it be a fluke that I like those, and might I hate everything else he's written?

I'll be in York in a few days and that seems like my best opportunity to buy the tickets, but I'm not going to be able find a CD of Vingt Regards and make a judgement about it before then.

(Should I even try to find it on CD, or should I go and listen it 'cold'?)

This might seem like unnecessary agonising over a fairly cheap concert ticket, but staying for the evening concert will add significant expense and complication to my journey.

And to be honest (with no disrespect intended to any pianists), I'm struggling to get my head round the idea of two hours of solo piano music...

So I'm just looking for some advice before I commit myself...

Obviously no comments from me about the performance, but if you like Quartet for the End of Time, I think there's a good chance you'll like the Vingt Regards. It has a lot of that added-sixth harmony that is very prominent in the pre-1950s Messiaen (and to a lesser extent afterwards), and large doses of a certain type of 'spiritualty', but it's very varied indeed, and to me seems quite a short two hours.

Arggh - they are using that dreadful pic. Please ignore that.

I went to hear it 'sight unseen' as a student, IRF, and was instantly hooked: take no note of the comments over at TOP, just book it. You can always come and have a shout at us here if you really think you've been misadvised. 

Ian or no Ian, Vingt Regards is for me one of the bedrock pieces of the twentieth century (and one of the most beautiful), and a particularly effective distillation of Messiaen's world.  Unlike some of Messiaen's other piano music (Catalogue d'Oiseaux, for example, which is longer and much more "abstract") it should, in fact, be very easy to sit through even for a relative newcomer to Messiaen, and Ian's right that it's a particularly short two hours.  It would be a crime to miss this.

Bought the tickets while in York for another concert yesterday (Fairport Convention -- bit of a contrast  ).

Now I'm really looking forward to it, though I still can't decide if I should try to hear the music on CD first 

Since you've already booked the tickets, the decision on whether to listen to the CD is probably best left until after the concert.

I'm not sure I can hang around afterwards, as my friend is driving us back to Tyneside and she only agreed on the basis that it wasn't going to be a late night. So it depends on timing, I'll have to see...