Messiaen was inspired to write the work by a trip to Bryce Canyon National Park and Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah.

The next year, Mr. de Leeuw led a small cast of soloists, as well as members of the Dutch National Opera and the players of the Asko and Schönberg Ensembles, in the United States premiere of Mr. Andriessen’s opera “Writing to Vermeer,” co-directed by Peter Greenaway, who wrote the libretto.

The work imagines the life of the painter, who is away on a trip, as conveyed through letters to him from his pregnant wife, mother-in-law and favorite model, all sent from the city of Delft in a time of war, violence and floods in the Netherlands.

Critics were divided over this massive production, which opened the 2000 Lincoln Center Festival. However, Mr. de Leeuw’s conducting of this wondrous score — a mash of styles, colors and intricate textures — was a revelation. (He later recorded the opera on the Nonesuch label.)

Mr. de Leeuw’s sensitivity as a musician perhaps came through best in intimate settings, including a pair of recitals he presented in 2017 with the adventurous soprano Barbara Hannigan in the Board of Officers Room at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan.

The first recital offered songs by composers of the Second Viennese School, including Schönberg, Berg and Webern; the second featured works by Satie, including the composer’s subdued and alluring “Socrate.” In an interview with The New York Times, Ms. Hannigan gave Mr. de Leeuw full credit for conceiving the project and boosting her courage to take it on.