Recordings of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time are not scarce, but this one has several distinctive qualities. The Quartet has a dual aspect: it is quite a virtuoso work, with demanding harmonics, feats of long-line endurance, especially in the clarinet solo "Abyss of the Birds" third movement, and more. However, as much as any other work in the repertory, it also brings to mind the circumstances of its first performance, in a German prisoner-of-war camp in 1940, with the composer at the piano. One might find ...
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Recordings of Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time are not scarce, but this one has several distinctive qualities. The Quartet has a dual aspect: it is quite a virtuoso work, with demanding harmonics, feats of long-line endurance, especially in the clarinet solo "Abyss of the Birds" third movement, and more. However, as much as any other work in the repertory, it also brings to mind the circumstances of its first performance, in a German prisoner-of-war camp in 1940, with the composer at the piano. One might find ensembles that execute the first aspect more precisely, although Left Coast Chamber Ensemble clarinetist Jerome Simas has a fine mastery of the "Abyss." On the second count, however, the ensemble succeeds brilliantly. There's a mystical quality to the work, with its mix of Christian and nature symbolism, that not all performers catch, and that's essential to the "Louange à l'immortalité de Jésus" finale. The ensemble keeps the dynamics quiet and the momentum solid throughout, with a...
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