The Quartet for the End of Time is one of the most extraordinary pieces to come out of the 20th century. Written in 1941 while Messiaen was a prisoner of war, it was given its first performance by the composer and three fellow inmates in Stalag VIII, Silesia. Its eight movements reflect many senses of time’s end: religious, inspired by the ‘Book of Revelation’; outside of human time, represented by birdsong; and ending the western sense of musical time, as in the transcendentally slow movement for violin and piano that concludes the work. Thomas Adès’ Court Studies from ‘The Tempest’ are short, characterful transcriptions of arias from his opera The Tempest.

Simon Turner

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May 22, 2024

Chamber Series: Quartet for the End of Time · The Hallé

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