“The Quartet for the End of Time,” a groundbreaking piece written by Olivier Messiaen, will be performed in an intimate stage concert this Saturday, Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. at Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center at Stowe Mountain Resort.
The rarely performed piece was written during Messiaen’s captivity as a WWII prisoner-of-war in Stalag VIII A, a camp near the Polish border. The music-loving guards at the camp, recognizing Messiaen’s name, assigned him to an empty barrack and provided him with pencils, erasers, and music manuscript paper so that he could compose. Inspired by text from the Book of Revelations, the quartet premiered in January 1941, performed with his fellow prisoners using scavenged instruments, outdoors and in the rain.
The complex and deeply moving 50-minute quartet features musicians from the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and TURNmusic including cellist Emily Taubl, violinist Brooke Quiggins, pianist Claire Black, and clarinetist Dan Liptak. Vermont composer Matt LaRocca will provide musical and historical insight before the concert, and will facilitate a talk-back after the performance.
Tickets $20 advance, $25 day of show, sprucepeakarts.org.
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