Members of the Philharmonia Orchestra join British pianist Matthew Schellhorn on this recording of some of Messiaen's most attractive chamber music. The featured work is the Quatuor pour le fin du Temps, which is recognized as one of the landmarks of twentieth century music, and which receives a sublime performance here. Perhaps the fact that spectacular recordings of the work are growing more and more common has to do with the fact that a new generation of performers has grown up with this music as classic core repertoire ...
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Members of the Philharmonia Orchestra join British pianist Matthew Schellhorn on this recording of some of Messiaen's most attractive chamber music. The featured work is the Quatuor pour le fin du Temps, which is recognized as one of the landmarks of twentieth century music, and which receives a sublime performance here. Perhaps the fact that spectacular recordings of the work are growing more and more common has to do with the fact that a new generation of performers has grown up with this music as classic core repertoire and didn't have to "learn" its idiom, because it was in their blood. In any case, these performers, pianist Schellhorn, violinist James Clark, cellist David Cohen, and clarinetist Barnaby Robson, deliver a heart-stoppingly beautiful performance. Technically, they are beyond reproach, but they also play with exquisitely subtle nuance of tempo, dynamics, and phrasing. The performance is warmly glowing, both in its tone colors and the performers' interpretive choices. The first movement...
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