Olivier Messiaen - Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time) (1941) video

Quatuor pour la fin du temps (1941) I. Liturgie de cristal (Liturgy of Crystal) [0:10] II. Vocalise, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps (Vocalise, for the Angel who Announces the End of Time) [2:45] III. Abîme des oiseaux (Abyss of Birds) [7:49] IV. Intermède (Interlude) [16:10] V. Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus (Praise to the Eternity of Jesus) [17:58] VI. Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes (Dance of Fury, for the Seven Trumpets) [25:24] VII. Fouillis d'arcs-en-ciel, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps (Tangle of Rainbows, for the Angel who Announces the End of Time) [31:32] VIII. Louange à l'Immortalité de Jésus (Praise to the Immortality of Jesus) [38:54] A work for clarinet, violin, cello and piano by Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992), who composed the piece while being held prisoner by the Germans during the Second World War. The quartet was premiered by clarinetist Henri Akoka, violinist Jean le Boulaire, cellist Étienne Pasquier and Messiaen on the piano in Stalag VIII-A in Görlitz, Germany (now Zgorzelec, Poland) on Jan. 15, 1941, before an audience of about 400 prisoners and guards. The work was inspired by the Book of Revelation, in particular Rev. 10:1-2, and 5-7. "And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven ... and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire ... and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth ... [He] lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by ...