ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates the gradual emergence and adaptation of the techniques in the music of the three young composers through an analysis of selected works composed before, during and immediately after they studied with Messiaen. Several factors motivate an examination of Messiaen's influence from a compositional-technical perspective. All three students spoke of his influence in terms of compositional aesthetics and ideologies, but music analysts have not yet investigated the specific compositional techniques in their works. While Serge Garant's pre-Parisian music was at first jazz influenced and later inclined towards atonal techniques, the first piece he wrote in Paris during the academic year that he spent in Messiaen's class featured distinctly Messiaenic technical markers. The idea of related levels of structure in the composer's music has been hinted at by Véronique Robert in the official biographical notes released by Prévost's publisher. When compared to Garant or Prévost, Clermont Pépin used a much smaller number of Messiaen's techniques.
