11. Olivier MessiaenQuartet For The End Of Time
I read this book about 20th century composers by a guy called Alex Ross. It’s called The Rest Is Noise. The whole book was totally inspiring and there were loads of stories about the history of Europe in particular and the music and composers that were running parallel to it. It starts off with Stravinsky’s Rites Of Spring causing a riot in a theatre in Paris and has stories about Shostakovich making patriotic music for Stalin’s war campaign under threat of death and loads more that are too many to list, but it is the story of Messiaen and this piece of music that really struck me, as he composed it whilst he was being held by the Nazis in a prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. It’s a really minimal piece, partly I would think because they used the only instruments they could get hold of; clarinet, piano, violin and cello. It also has very powerful religious sentiments which isn’t a coincidence because Messiaen was the organist for one of the Catholic churches in his native France for most of his life, but I would also understand that as being a universal symbolism that you could use in those circumstances to express the feeling of total trauma and suffering in the war. Somehow he managed to convince the officers at the camp to let him perform the music for the prisoners. It really is a deeply moving piece but it is also simultaneously completely avant-garde. For me, it’s really humbling to think that there have been artists of this ability in the world. A true visionary. I’ve seen various performances of this and it invariably moves me to tears in parts although it’s also got a very redemptive quality too amongst the feelings of devastation that must have inspired it. I’ve also seen some of his solo piano compositions performed and the level of musicianship and rhythmic invention is just staggering. It is testament to the best of humans and their ability and creativity.
