Music by my good friend and esteemed colleague, Émilien Allard (1915–1976), occupies a unique place in literature for the carillon. Highly personal and individual in style, it reveals to a substantial degree the influence of his professor at the Paris Conservatory: the great French musician, Olivier Messiaen. This influence, plus that gained in study at the Carillon School of Mechelen, Belgium, provided him with necessary expertise to become a respected innovator among carillonneurs in North America during the years of his tenure at St. Joseph's Oratory in Montreal and at the Peace Tower in Ottawa.

As with Messiaen, his carefully crafted scores are not always immediately understood nor appreciated by listeners, since he always placed integrity towards a musical ideal higher than any immediate popular success. But those who take the time to assimilate his creations will be handsomely rewarded. Happily, St. Joseph's Oratory has now granted permission for The Guild of Carillonneurs in North America to publish his compositions, settings of folksongs which he loved so well (and which demand such special artistry), plus arrangements for carillon of music for other instruments. His motto was, "Write, write, and write more music!" How fortunate we are that he did.

—Milford Myhre, Carillonneur Emeritus, Bok Tower Gardens