[lit-ideas] Re: Today's Geburtstagskind [birthday child]
- From: cblists@xxxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:12:14 +0100
On 10-Dec-08, at 10:07 PM, Eric Yost wrote:
Tashi does a good version of the Quartet for the End of Time. I
wonder what happened to Peter Serkin.
My first exposure to this quartet was via an Erato LP some 30 years
ago (left behind in 1994; I can't recall who performs on it). I am as
I write listening to Christopher Eschenbach [piano] with the Houston
Symphony Chamber Players.
For a discussion of several recordings of the work (including both the
'Serkin' and 'Eschenbach'), see:
http://www.weta.org/fmblog/?p=440
Perhaps the only piece of 20th century chamber music that comes close
to moving me as much as Olivier Messiaen's 'Quatuor pour la fin du
temps' is George Crumb's 'Black Angels: Thirteen Images from the Dark
Land'. (I have the Kronos Quartet recording on the 'Black Angels'
Elektra Nonesuch CD).
Of course, in listening to Messiaen's quartet, I cannot help but think
of the conditions under which it was composed:
In May 1940 he was captured ... and ... imprisoned
at prison camp Stalag VIII-A [where he] ... encountered
a violinist, a cellist, and a clarinettist ... . Initially he
wrote a trio ..., but ... incorporated this ... into his ...
"Quartet for the End of Time". This was first performed ...
to an audience of prisoners and prison guards, the
composer playing a poorly maintained upright piano,
in freezing conditions in January 1941.
- from the Wikipedia entry for 'Olivier Meesiaen'
Chris Bruce
Kiel, Germany
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