Quartet for the End of Time / Theme and Variations

Album by Olivier Messiaen & Amici Chamber Ensemble

This release is a recording of chamber works by French composer Olivier Messiaen, featuring compositions originally written in 1941 and 1932. The music combines modal harmonies, Messiaen's modes of limited transposition and non-retrogradable rhythmic patterns with evocative timbral writing for small forces, marking a pivotal point in his career as he developed a distinctive synthesis of spiritual concern, rhythmic innovation and interest in birdsong within twentieth-century modernism.

Quartet for the End of Time / Theme and Variations by Olivier Messiaen - album cover

First released: April 2001

Classical

About

1.
Quartet for the End of Time: I. Liturgie de cristal
2:39
2.
Quartet for the End of Time: II. Vocalise, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps
5:02
3.
Quartet for the End of Time: III. Abîme des oiseaux
8:22
4.
Quartet for the End of Time: IV. Intermède
1:41
5.
Quartet for the End of Time: V. Louange à l'Éternité de Jésus
8:18
6.
Quartet for the End of Time: VI. Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes
6:17
7.
Quartet for the End of Time: VII. Fouillis d'arcs-en-ciel, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps
7:19
8.
Quartet for the End of Time: VIII. Louange à l'immortalité de Jésus
6:26
9.
Theme and Variations
10:48