When Messiaen was commissioned in 1944 to write twelve short pieces on the theme of the Nativity, few could have guessed that he would respond by producing one of the most ambitious works ever written for solo piano. Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus is an epic set of meditations on the nativity which broke the boundaries of religious expression in music. It was written for the brilliant young pianist Yvonne Loriod who had become Messiaen’s muse since joining his composition class in 1941 and who almost two decades later would become his wife.