Quartet for the End of Time

10 pm, Wednesday 9th March, Jesus Chapel

Messiaen: Quatour pour la fin du temps

Kate Whitley (piano), Oliver Pashley (clarinet), Neil Amin-Smith (violin), Robbie Stanley-Smith (cello)

[rating:4/5]

The Jesus Chapel Sessions are known for being a bit avant-garde, a bit too trendy. Lit only by candlelight, the audience sprawl across the chapel floor, engaging in conversation even during the concert.

This performance of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time was different. The angel from Revelations that inspired Messiaen’s work prophesies the end of the world: this performance really did stop time, not through apocalyptic cosmic cataclysm, but through forty minutes of wonderful release. We were no longer seated in a cold chapel on a Wednesday evening, but enveloped by timeless, beautiful music.

The Quartet got off to a shaky start though. The sense of religious ritual was sacrificed to concern for rhythmic correctness. Yet these ensemble problems soon dissipated as the group melted into a deliciously strange synchronisation, with Amin-Smith’s and Stanley-Smith’s octave passages in the second movement merged into a single voice.

Pashley’s solo movement was clarinet playing at its best. Flickering between hysterical outbursts and melancholy lyricism, he captured the breadth of Messiaen’s experiences at Stalag VIIIA. Best of all were Oliver’s crescendos – the beginnings of these sustained notes were imperceptible, seemingly coming from nowhere and growing to deafening shrieks.

The moments of full ensemble were equally gripping. The complexity of the rhythms were freed from academic sterility and cut with impressive precision. The Morris tiles of Jesus Chapel seemed dainty in comparison to music that sounded like the skies were being ripped apart.

The highlight of the concert was by far the final movement. Amin-Smith’s intensely focused vibrato delineated each note with melancholic warmth yet clarity. His sparklingly lucid tone in the ascending chromatic lines captured the heights of heaven that Messiaen sought. Whilst there were some issues with bow control, this actually added to the overall impact of the work: this is music that’s not meant to sound easy.

Messiaen, in an attempt to capture the divine, pushed the earthly limitations of bow and breath to extremes. All four players not only dealt with these technical demands, but used them effectively to musical ends.