‘And the angel . . . sware . . . that there should be Time no longer’: these words from the Book of Revelation inspired the conception of this famous quartet for piano, violin, cello and clarinet – the instruments played by the musicians who were Messiaen’s fellow captives in a prisoner-of-war camp in 1941. Created in exceptionally testing conditions, it sums up the composer’s experiments and innovations, notably rhythmic. Whether augmented, diminished, regular, irregular or non-retrogradable, these rhythms opened wide the gates to a new music, and earned the quartet its place among the supreme masterworks.
Quatuor pour la fin du Temps
pour violon, clarinette, violoncelle et piano
· I. Liturgie de cristal (2'55)
· II. Vocalise, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps (5'56)
· III. Abîme des oiseaux (8'15)
· IV. Intermède / Interlude (1'41)
· V. Louange à l'Eternité de Jésus (10'48)
· VI. Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes
(6'19)
· VII. Fouillis d'arcs-en-ciel, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps (8'34)
· VIII. Louange à l'immortalité de Jésus (6'57)
· Thème et variations pour violon et piano (10'29)
