Aspen Music Festival: Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time

Event Description

"Messiaen composed his masterpiece Quartet for the End of Time while imprisoned in a German POW camp. The unusual combination of instruments resulted from the players who were available to him. Both intimate and epic, the work is full of the bird songs which fascinated the composer throughout his life, and also expresses the depth of his faith under the most trying of circumstances. With Michael Rusinek, clarinet; Bing Wang, violin; Darrett Adkins, cello; and Robert Spano, piano."

MESSIAEN: Quartet for the End of Time