There is no shortage of recordings for
Olivier Messiaen
's
Quatuor pour la fin du temps
, one of the undisputed masterpieces of 20th century music. The work, composed for the musicians and instruments
Messiaen
had at hand in a German concentration camp, is bold enough in its conception to stand up to less-than-ideal performances, but the small ensemble
Het Collectief
also shows what can be accomplished with a detailed, careful, and indeed, quite virtuosic one. The work's title might be heard two ways; one may take at face value
's references to the Apocalypse, but "the end of time" may also, in view of
's experiments with rhythm and timbre in the work, be given a musical meaning. It is not a particularly experimental piece harmonically, but its disruptive treatment of rhythm was profoundly influential. The critic
Olivia Giovetti
has written that the captures "at once the breadth of the end times as prophesied in the Book of Revelation and the intimate, miniature detail that
introduces into the composition."
's performance is dispassionate, careful, and extremely detailed. Anyone looking for apocalyptic shivers can find them elsewhere, but there is much to ponder and consider here on repeated hearing.
does well with its choice of introductory work,
Stalag VIIIa
(the title refers to the camp at Görlitz where
was held), by the spectral composer
Tristan Murail
, which primes the listener to listen for textural and rhythmic detail in
's work as much as to its harmonic surface. This is a major
release that should be heard by anyone engaged with the composer. ~ James Manheim