Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time, Movement 4 "Intermède" (Interlude)
Violin: Timothy O'Neill
Clarinet: Andrew Compton
Cello: Audrey Hudgens
Piano: Graeme Shields
The Quartet for the End of Time (Quatuor pour la fin du temps) is one of the most recognized works by composer Olivier Messiaen and within the 20th-century classical repertoire as a whole. This live performance was recorded by players from the Queen City Chamber Orchestra just days before the COVID-19 lockdowns in March, 2020. It was put together in only 3 rehearsals across the span of a single week - this is the fourth movement of the work.
The work is an 8-movement piece scored for Violin, Bb Clarinet, Cello and Piano and is inspired by text from the Book of Revelation: "And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire ... and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth .... And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever ... that there should be time no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished ..."
Messiaen was serving in the French army during World War 2 when he was captured an imprisoned in a German POW camp. The quartet was composed while he was at the camp and premiered on January 15, 1941. The musicians had decrepit instruments and an audience of about 400 fellow prisoners and guards. The cello was bought with donations from camp members. Messiaen later recalled: "Never was I listened to with such rapt attention and comprehension."
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