Olivier Messiaen's work ‘Quartet to the End of Time’ was written and premiered in a concentration camp during World War II. This evening you will hear it in Fartein Valen.
This work is one of the most important and well-known chamber music compositions of the twentieth century. Olivier Messiaen, already known as one of the most brilliant and original young French composers and organists in his early thirties, wrote the quartet when he was taken as a prisoner of war during the Second World War. It was premiered by musicians he was imprisoned with.
His imprisonment at Stalag VIII-A outside Görlitz led to meetings with other musicians among the prisoners, including cellist Etienne Pasquier and clarinettist Henri Akoka. Messiaen wrote part of the quartet especially for Akoka, which became the third movement. After finding a piano in a church used as a prison camp, Messiaen quickly composed the quartet. The work was premiered by the four musicians on 15 January 1941 in front of around 400 prisoners and the camp commandant and his staff. The quartet represented a form of freedom for the musicians, who were later regarded as musical soldiers by the Germans and sent back to France.
In the Kammerfest i Valen series, you meet musicians from SSO. Here they play music they have chosen themselves.
As an audience member, you are invited to sit around the musicians on the podium and on the choir balcony. You will get extra close to the performance, and the concert experience will be personalised and unique.
PROGRAM:
Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992):
Kvartett til tidens ende (Quatour for the end of time) (1940-41) 50 min.
Crystal Liturgy
Vocalise for the Angel who announces the end of Time
Abyss of birds
Interlude
Praise for the Eternity of Jesus
Dance of fury, for the seven trumpets
Clutter of rainbows, for the Angel who announces the end of Time
Praise for the Immortality of Jesus
MEDVIRKENDE:
Ben Aldren, klarinett
Ivana Jasova, fiolin
Marcus Michelin, cello
Ida Mo Schanche, klaver
ARRANGØR
Stavanger Symfoniorkester