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Quartet for the End of Time
These two videos (each illustrating one movement from Olivier Messiaen’s A Quartet for the End of Time) are truly remarkable. They feature artist Zack Smithey, and were produced by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for an upcoming concert. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QrGzES0UNk] [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNbjQTSkin0] Listening to these pieces in the context of the video was interesting for…
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Olivier Messiaen
Alex Ross has a new post about the centennial of Olivier Messiaen. I had the privelage of seeing pianist Jeff Payne perform Messiaen’s masterpiece, Vingt regards sur l’enfant-Jésus in a (I’m told) rare complete performance. I found the experience completely disorienting. I found the lack of melody hard to deal with, and reminded me of…
