大象传媒

Pungent harmonies and scintillating colour in two of Messiaen's most popular works, performed on Saturday evening at Wells Cathedral for Radio 3's Big Chamber Weekend.

Presented by Fiona Talkington

Messiaen: Trois petites liturgies de la pr茅sence divine
Wells Cathedral School Choralia
Simon Smith, piano
Cynthia Millar, ondes martenot
Percussionists from Wells Cathedral School
London Contemporary Orchestra
Conducted by Christopher Finch

8.15pm
Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time
Atos Piano Trio
Mark Simpson, clarinet

Fiona Talkington presents the first in a series of concerts, curated by Radio 3 in partnership with Cedars Hall at Wells Cathedral School, together with the Atos Trio of Berlin. Across this evening and the rest of the week's Radio 3 Lunchtime Concerts, they take us on a musical journey around four European cities.

Tonight's concert comes from Wells Cathedral and the focus is on Paris, where Oliver Messiaen lived and worked for over seventy years. Both works on the programme were composed during the Second World War, and reflect Messiaen's profound Roman Catholic faith. Trois petites liturgies is an ecstatic three-part hymn to the divine presence in all things, whilst his Quartet for the End of Time was famously written and performed in a prisoner of war camp at G枚rlitz, and was inspired by a vision of angelic glory described in the Book of Revelation.