The *Quatuor pour la fin du temps* by French composer Olivier Messiaen was composed while he was a prisoner of war. It is therefore not surprising that the composition is about the end of time. Messiaen had only four instruments at his disposal: a clarinet, a piano, a violin, and a three-stringed cello, but the result is chamber music that touches you deeply. Full of humanity, tragedy, and divine praise, performed by leading musicians from our orchestra.

Despite Messiaen’s hardships, he managed to compose a masterpiece of twentieth-century music. The first performance took place in the freezing cold of January 1941. With often drawn-out tempos, irregular rhythms, and sounds that partly evoke birdsong, he created a world of poignant beauty, fragile contrast, but also intense compassion. Reportedly, five thousand prisoners of war listened. Even the wounded prisoners braved the bone-chilling cold in the barracks and were present on stretchers. “Never,” Messiaen said later, “have I been listened to with such attention and understanding.”