Chamber music: Quatuor pour la fin du temps

Remaining hopeful in the darkest days is an art that Olivier Messiaen mastered like no other. He composed his Quatuor pour la fin du temps during the war years in Stalag VIII A, a prisoner-of-war camp in Görlitz. The first performance was attended by his fellow prisoners and their German guards. The ‘end of time’ is a direct reference to the Apocalypse. Voor Messiaen, ‘tomorrow’ was not a continuation of the present, but a promise for a new world. The inspiring work opens the door to another time like a vision. Musicians from the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra play this poignant ode in the baroque setting of AMUZ.