Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time

Edinburgh International Festival
Edinburgh
Scotland
http://www.eif.co.uk

Jörg Widmann Clarinet
Antje Weithaas Violin
Alban Gerhardt Cello
Steven Osborne Piano

The Festival’s Greyfriars concert series opens with one of the landmark compositions of the 20th century. Olivier Messiaen wrote his immensely powerful Quartet for the End of Time while a prisoner of war in Stalag VIII-A in Silesia, and it was premiered in the camp in 1941 to an audience of 400 fellow prisoners and Nazi guards. Despite its apocalyptic themes, drawn from the Book of Revelation, it is a glittering work of sublime, transcendent beauty, and it is performed by an ensemble of exceptional international soloists.

Olivier Messiaen : Quartet for the End of Time