Quartet For the End of Time
Wednesday, July 24 | 3:30 pm
About the Performance
Olivier Messiaen’s life was turned upside down when he was interned in a POW camp at the beginning of the War, forcing him to seek refuge in his music and his Catholic faith. The result is considered the greatest chamber music work of the 20th century.
Gryphon Trio
James Campbell - clarinet
Scroll down for a brief introduction to this piece from Artistic Director James Campbell.
Quartet for the End of Time (1942) Olivier Messiaen
(1908-1992)
- Crystalline Liturgy
Toward five in the morning, a solitary bird warbles, surrounded by a haze of sound.
- Vocalise, for the Angel who announces the End of Time
The powerful angle, crowned with a rainbow, places on foot the sea, the other on land. The distant carrion envelope the plainchant melodic line of the strings.
- Abyss of the Birds
The abyss, it is Time, with its sadness. The birds symbolize our desire for light, for stars, for rainbows and jubilant vocalists.
- Interlude
- Praise to the Eternity of Jesus
In the beginning was Word, the Word was in God, and the Word was God.
- Dance of Fury, for the seven trumpets
Music of stone, irresistible movement of steel, huge blocks of purple rage, icy drunkenness.
- Tangles of Rainbows, for the Angel who announces the End of time
The angel appears with a rainbow that covers him ( the symbol of peace and wisdom).
- Praise to the Immortality of Jesus
It is our love, The slow ascent of man to his God, the child of God to his Father, of the being made divine toward Paradise.
