When the definitive history of composed music in the late 20th century finally gets to the page, some brave soul will have to come to terms with the 1983 class of China’s Central Conservatory, the formidable array of musical figures (including Tan Dun, Chen Yi, Zhou Long, Guo Wenjing and Qu Xiaosong) who first emerged from the Cultural Revolution with something substantial to say and a burning desire to say it.

Unlike his fellow class-members who moved to the US, Qigang Chen emigrated to France, and that has largely defined his voice. His music frequently sounds like Messiaen with Chinese characteristics – but this tagline is useful only as point of entry, not a proper guide.

Yuan (1987), the earliest of the pieces here, is easily the most modernist, its gloriously energetic cacophony reminiscent of Bright Sheng’s H’un (Lacerations), written in New York around the same time. San Xiao (1995-96) is something of a Chinese Quartet for the End of Time – albeit considerably more upbeat in tone than Messiaen – extending the technique of its traditional instruments to fit the music’s technical and emotional demands. Extase (1995) flows in a particularly post-Messiaen vein, the solo oboe employing some of the rustic playing techniques of the Chinese suona while dressing its raucous timbre for the concert hall.

Intriguingly, the most recent piece in the collection, L’éloignement (2004), is by far the most conventional. Folk elements that previously had to fight their way through a modernist thicket waft here in utter simplicity. This may be the result of Chen’s recent work for the stage (particularly his acclaimed Raise the Red Lantern for China’s National Ballet) but in any case it certainly indicates a fresh musical directness with little need to prove anything in the process.