Kristian Chong & Friends – Quartet for the End of Time
Presented by Melbourne Recital Centre and Kristian Chong & Friends
Details
‘If ever there was a piece of chamber music that could be described as a masterpiece in its composer’s lifetime, this is it.’ – Gramophone
Acclaimed pianist Kristian Chong, along with friends and colleagues, returns to the Primrose Potter Salon for a performance of a must-hear piece of musical storytelling.
With its eight movements, each telling a unique yet connected story, Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time is often considered the composer’s magnum opus… and for good reason! Written in the most emotionally demanding of circumstances – while Messiaen was a prisoner-of-war during World War II – the unusual instrumentation was not by design. Rather, in response to the instruments on hand among the camp’s musician inmates: violin, cello, clarinet, and piano.
Throughout his life, Messiaen was fascinated with birdsong, and he regularly included similar melodies in his compositions. Once quoted as saying ‘I doubt that one can find in any human music, however inspired, melodies and rhythms that have the sovereign freedom of bird song’, Messiaen prefaces each of the movements in Quartet for the End of Time with references to blackbirds and nightingales.
In his third movement, Abîme des oiseaux (Abyss of the Birds), Messiaen wrote ‘The abyss is Time with its sadness, its weariness. The birds are the opposite to time; they are our desire for light, for stars, for rainbows, and for jubilant songs.’ This tension between sadness and joy, happiness and sorrow results in an eight-minute tour-de-force for solo clarinet joining spirituality and nature in what is often considered one of the most challenging solos ever written.
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Artists
Kristian Chong piano
Philip Arkinstall clarinet
Dale Barltrop violin
Josephine Vains cello
Program
Olivier Messiaen
Quartet for the End of Time (Quatour pour la fin du temps)
Series
This production is part of the following series:
Intimate Salon Experiences 2024
Kristian Chong & Friends
Venue
Booking Information
Thursday 5 September 2024 7pm
Duration: 1 hour (no interval) Please note, running times are approximate and subject to change.
Tickets
Standard $50 ($40 Concession)
A Transaction Fee between $4 and $8.50 applies to orders made online and by phone. Delivery Fees may also apply.
A ticket limit of four is in place online to ensure fair ticket access for all. Want to bring a bigger party? Call our Box Office during business hours on (03) 9699 3333 to book.