Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Quatuor pour la fin du temps

Here is a performance of "Quartet for the End of Time" by Oliver Messiaen (1908-1992), the French composer. Apparently, Karlheinz Stockhausen was one of his students! Who knew?! The piece was first premiered in 1941 and is about 50 minutes long. He apparently wrote it while a prisoner-of-war under the Nazis and the music was first premiered in an actual POW camp.

This particular performance is by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Part 2 begins automatically after Part 1.