Chamber music: Quatuor pour la fin du temps

Finding hope in the darkest days was an art Olivier Messiaen mastered like no other. He composed Quatuor pour la fin du temps while imprisoned in Stalag VIII A, premiering it for fellow prisoners and guards alike. Though the title references the Apocalypse, Messiaen saw “tomorrow” not as a continuation of the present, but as a promise of a new world. With radiant harmonies and complex rhythms, this masterpiece opens a visionary door to another era. Musicians from the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra perform this moving ode within the baroque splendour of AMUZ.