Customer Reviews

Oliver Messiaen: Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps (Quartet for the End of Time) (1940)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Messiaen composed Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of the Time) between the summer of 1940 and January of 1941, while a prisoner in the German camp at Görlitz in Silesia. The somewhat unusual instrumental combination was due to the musicians present in the camp. Quatuor was premiered in the camp in January 1941 with Messiaen himself at (a beat-up) piano. The audience consisted mostly of his fellow inmates and some German officers. He later famously, and fondly, recalled the experience: "Never have I been heard with as much attention and understanding." Messiaen probably did not anticipate this composition to be one of the most performed and recorded pieces in his oeuvres.

The music is very typical Messiaen of this period: complex "talea" of rhythmic values, "colorful" chords, "simple sweet" melodic lines, juxtaposition of slow, meditative movements and energetic, zesty fast ones. Bird songs are, expectedly, an integral part of the music, although not as prominent as in his later pieces. (In my humble opinion, he first truly achieved the unification of bird songs and the "harmonic" colors (and his Catholic faith) only in late 50's and early 60's, notably Couleurs de la cité céleste in 1963.)

This recording was made in Messiaen's presence and was authorized by him, so "must" be taken as "authoritative". Even though the late composer "seemed" to endorse every single recording which he came across, one can see, from existing video, that he made frequent suggestions when present in rehearsals of his music. -- My point is that this fact should not be taken lightly. -- Those who learn the basics of Messiaen's composition understand that rhythm is of fundamental importance in his music. This performance is, to my ears, a model of rhythmic precision and judiciously chosen tempos.(*) The slow movements are played expressively with meditative mood, while the fast ones with invigorating energy.

The ensemble playing is generally quite good. Daniel Barenboim must be singled out for his performance. He manages the repetitions in the slow movements to maintain hypnotic musical flow, but unleashes his virtuosic power whenever called for. Clarinettist Claude Desurmont is equally admirable. He plays with a good sense of melodic voice line, and manages Messiaen's very extreme dynamic markings with competence. The only small quibble I have is the tone production of the string players. The slightly uneven tone production and vibrato could be distracting, especially in the slow movements. Unfortunately, the close miking, while increases the clarity of the sound, amplifies the edginess of the strings.

In summary, this is an excellent recording, one which fully realizes the composer's intentions (as far as the composer himself is concerned.)(**) It is chosen as part of the Messiaen Complete Edition, which I plan to review later.

Highly recommended.

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(*) The readers might find complaints from other reviewers about the "slow tempos". I am not sure if they have ever checked out the music from the library. The tempo marking of, for example, V. Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus, is "infiniment lent" (infinitely slowly). Perhaps the lesson here is that one should not confuse one's personal taste with the composer's intentions. Indeed, the main point of writing this review is to stress this point, which is unfortunately only shared by minority on this page.

(**) Another recording I enjoy is the one led by Yvonne Loriod, Messiaen's second wife and pianist for the first performances of his later works involving piano.

I really dislike the Tashi recording, precisely because it rushes. The early morning birds in that recording sounds like the LA freeway at rush hour! Although this recording doesn't get everything right (the Intermede is not quite light-hearted enough), the first movement is beautiful - not muddy at all. The ideal recording of this piece is the De Peyer recording made during the 70's, which doesn't even show up in the catalogs. If you ever come across it, run, do not walk, to the cash register. You won't be disappointed - it's legendary.

This recording was done "in the presence of the composer and given his authorization". This is positively not the best recording I have heard of the "Quatuor..." but the severe criticism of the other reviewers is probably a matter of taste. I really appreciate the (not too) slow tempos, and I think that the sixth movement could have been performed even slower. This piece is not a virtuosistic exercise. It expresses religious contemplation. Nevertheless, my personal preference is the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi recording with Aloys Kontarsky on the piano (as far as I know not available on CD).

In defense of the CD and the artists who created it, don't be too harsh on the CD's tempi. Judge tempi in their original acoustic environment.
Enjoy the CD as a reference or resource since it is endorsed by the composer, and go to concerts too!

"I saw a mighty angel descending from heaven, clad in mist, having around his head a rainbow. His face was like the sun, his feet like pillars of fire. He placed his right foot on the sea, his left on the earth, and standing thus one the sea and the art he lifted his hand toward heaven and swore by Him who liveth for ever and ever, saying: "there shall be time no longer, but at the day of the trumpet of the seventh angel the mystery of God shall be consummated ."
Revelation X

Oliver Messiaen conceived and wrote this ethereal and emblematic mystic symbol of the resistance and the untamed human will during the course of his captivity. Performed for the first time in Stalag 8-A on January 1941, by Jean Le Boulaire, violinist, Henri Aroka, clarinetist; Étienne Pasquier, cellist and the composer at the piano. It is directly by this excerpt from "The revelation of St. John. "Its musical language is essentially, transcendental, spiritual and catholic. The whole score would seem to convey the listener into a sense of eternity of space or time. Its particular rhythms existing outside the measure contribute importantly toward the banishment of temporalities.

One of the most powerful and expressive versions ever made. Contemplative, reflexive and remarkably mystic.

This is probably the worst recording I have heard of this piece! The tempos are too slow, the ensemble is unbalanced, and the recording quality, particularly in the sixth movement is mediocre. In general, it sounds as if the group never rehearsed together. The clarinettist is particularly inept. Listen to the slow section of the sixth movement, when either bad recording technique, or a lack of finesse in the ensemble results in the clarinet suddenly jutting out of the homophonic texture. In the opening movement, the rhythm is far too flexible to maintain any cohesion between the players. Other movements similarly suffer from a lack of consistent tempo and rhythm. Again, the sixth movement contains distortions of the rhythms that, to my ear, destroy much of the charm. The Tashi recording also suffers from several misinterpretations of the music. It is generally too fast, though I'll admit their ensemble playing is amazing (how much time did they spend editing and re-editing! ) I do, however, love the last movement violin solo. I recommend the Erato recording, another Messiaen-was-there venture.

Complaints about tempi cannot always be written off as simple matters of taste. Those who love and have studied Messiaen's entire output, not just the Quartet, develop a sense of appropriate tempi based on the compositional elements, symbolic references, position of the movement within the framework of the entire composition, etc.

There are times when "lent" or "extremement lent" is appropriate and magnificent (I think of "Desseins Eternels" from the organ work "La Nativite"), but I cannot think of any Messiaen composition in which a birdsong passage is to be played slowly. Why should the opening movement of the Quartet be an exception ? Hangovers indeed !

I agree with the reviewer who complained that the Quartet sounds unrehearsed. To me it sounds as though I'm hearing the coincidental occurrence of 4 disparate instruments, not a cohesive quartet (which might explain the awkward tempi). This performance is so uninspiring, I'm quite certain if I'd heard it before I had heard any others I would have written off the Quartet as one of the very few Messiaen compositions that I don't like. What a collossal shame that would have been !

This interpration should be bypassed; it lacks clarity and movement. In particular, the first movement is horrendously slow and muddy; the birds sound as though they are waking up with severe hangovers. The other movements are hardly better. Buy the Tashi CD and revel in the brilliance.