Allow me to second Steve Langendorf's recommendation of Tashi Monday night at Ravinia. I haven't heard Tashi's recording of Messiaen's "Quartet for the End of Time," ashamedly, but I have heard pianist Peter Serkin's solo recordings--right now I'm listening to Vingt regards sur l'Enfant Jésus, which I was lucky enough to acquire for a song at Hyde Park Records, one of my favorite stops for cheap classical LPs--and they're very good. He's an odd composer, but he pushes a lot of my buttons--mystical Christianity, the American West, ornithology.

The real Messiaen throwdown comes in October, with the U. of C.'s 2008 Messiaen Festival, featuring Pierre Laurent-Aimard, eighth blackbird, the Pacifica Quartet, and others.