“Of course, suffering exists for me, too,” Olivier Messiaen once declared, “but I’ve written very few poignant pieces. I love Light, Joy, and Glory in the divine sense.” Even during World War II, having just been released from the prisoner-of-war camp where he had written his Quatuor pour la fin du temps, his music remained an unwavering affirmation of faith. The Visions de l’Amen, composed in 1943, herald the end of earthly time and the dawn of the heavenly kingdom in sound colors of overwhelming richness. Pierre-Laurent Aimard, who began his piano studies with Messiaen’s wife Yvonne Loriod at the age of 12, and his longtime piano partner Tamara Stefanovich present the monumental cycle together with several other 20th- and 21st-century works that take inspiration from the image and symbolism of bells.