Above: the composer Olivier Messiaen
Friday April 11th, 2014 - When I first looked thru the programming for the current season at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, tonight's concert immediately became a red-letter event: an opportunity to experience Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time live. My only prior such chance came many years ago when the quartet was performed in the courtyard of the Hartford Seminary in Hartford, Connecticut. That was an unforgettable evening.
Opening tonight's CMS concert with a bang, a sextet of musicians performed Pierre Jalbert's 2002 work Visual Abstract: the sharp attack of this piece's opening chord gave audience members a jolt. Set in three movements, Visual Abstract is a triptych canvas of fascinating colours, textures and rhythms. The opening movement, The Bells, resonates with chimes, bells, marimba and xylophone all delivered expertly by percussion virtuoso Ian David Rosenbaum. Sometimes soothing and sometimes piercing, the voices of 'soprano' Tara Helen O'Connor (flute) and 'mezzo-soprano' Romie DeGuise-Langlois (clarinet) provide coloristic gambits, and pianist Gilles Vonsattel directs the rhythmic flow with vital playing. In the almost spiritual second movement, Dome of Heaven, cellist Nicolas Altstaedt embarks on a lyrical passage that is taken up by Nicolas Dautricourt's violin, their voices entwining. The piece ends with a vibrant Dance - and indeed some choreograper should seize on this Jalbert composition: it would make a splendid dancework. The composer was called up to the stage to share with the ensemble a very warm applause; and they took an extra bow, very much deserved.
Mlles. O'Connor and DeGuise Langlois returned almost immediately for an Elliott Carter gem: Esprit rude/Esprit doux (1995). In this three-way conversation, flute and clarinet are joined by the dulcet sounds of the marimba (Mr. Rosenbaum at his most nuanced). The interchange of phrases - and sometimes of single notes - call for a finesse of dynamic expertise and pinpoint timing which the three players delivered with clarity.
Playing his own composition Fantasie for Clarinet (1993), Jörg Widmann (above) bowled the Tully Hall audience over with a stunning display of technique and artistry. Turning his clarinet into a magic wand, Mr. Widmann drew forth a panorama of effects, from gritty stuttering to gliding roulades to high-range screeching. Amidst such a kaleidoscopic sonic array, this musical magician would suddenly pull back to tones of ravishing softness. The audience hung on every note of this subtle, witty and ironic work and then erupted in cheers at the end, calling Mr. Widmann out twice to be engulfed in rockstar waves of applause.
The New York City premiere of a piece for string quintet (entitled Variations for Five) by the Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara gave the evening an interlude of intoxicating gorgeousness. Joined by cellist Nicolas Altstaedt, the members of the Amphion String Quartet gave us every reason to feel in awe of Mr. Rautavaara's sense of heartfelt lyricism. Each of the work's three movements opens with a cello solo, and Amphion's Mihai Marica found the very soul of the music with his rich and poignant playing. Autumnal harmonies and the passing of melody from voice to voice wove a tapestry of multi-hued sound, with violinists Katie Hyun and David Southorn and violist Wei-Yang Andy Lin deeply invested in this rewarding musical experience. The two cellists - Mssers. Altstaedt and Marica - formed a mutual admiration society with a brotherly sharing of the audience's acclaim.
It is almost impossible to write anything about Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, that unique composition that was first played on broken instruments on a winter's day in 1941 at a prison camp in Poland during World War II. That it has come down to us is a miracle in its own right. On hearing it again, reasons for its rarity become clear: it demands unparalleled focus and intensity from the players and is both spiritually uplifting and emotionally exhausting for the listener.
The work draws inspiration from the Bible and from Nature. At tonight's performance, pianist Gilles Vonsattel's commitment and stamina set the tone for what must be one of the most arduous yet rewarding experiences a musician can undertake. The long clarinet solo, with its exposed notes sustained to uncanny effect as cries of the soul, was given a spell-binding performance by Mr. Widmann in a masterful display of control. Mr. Altstaedt's cello was poetic in expression - honing down the tone to a thread - while Mr. Dautricourt's violin summoned forth the spiritual assurance of Christ's enduring love.
There's no adjective that can describe this kind of music-making. The audience, having held its collective breath throughout, rose up united at the end in a genuine homage to both the players and to Messiaen's message of peace.
Jalbert Visual Abstract for Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Piano, and Percussion (2002)
Carter Esprit rude/esprit doux II for Flute, Clarinet, and Marimba (1995)
Widmann Fantasie for Clarinet (1993)
Rautavaara Variations for Five, Quintet No. 2 for Two Violins, Viola, and Two Cellos (2013) (CMS Co-Commission, New York Premiere)
Messiaen Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time) for Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano (1940-41)
This evening's participating artists:
Gilles Vonsattel, piano
Nicolas Dautricourt, violin
Nicolas Altstaedt, cello
Amphion String Quartet, ensemble
Tara Helen O’Connor, flute
Romie de Guise-Langlois, clarinet
Jörg Widmann, clarinet
Ian David Rosenbaum, percussion