In two short decades, three very different French composers produced three very different masterpieces. Messiaen’s dramatic yet ultimately comforting vision of the end of time; Fauré’s late Trio, powerful in its lyricism and formal beauty, and Ravel’s tensile, balletic sonata.
FAURE Piano Trio Op.120 in D minor (1922-23)
RAVEL Sonata for violin & cello (1920-22)
MESSIAEN Quartet for the End of Time (1940-41)
David Griffiths, clarinet; Dimity Hall, violin; Julian Smiles, cello; with guest artist Andrea Lam
In 1941, on a freezing winter night in Stalag VIIIA, Olivier Messiaen presented his Quartet for the End of Time. The audience and musicians were prisoners of war, their instruments in disrepair, but Messiaen’s meditation on the songs of birds and angels, the overwhelming sounds and colours of the apocalypse, and the deep and comforting beauty that emerges from it, changed the course of 20th century music.
Gabriel Fauré, ‘cher maitre’ to generations of French musicians and an organist like Messiaen, bade farewell to his compositional career with chamber music masterworks like his Piano Trio, poised and elegant music of seemingly endless lyricism cast in sumptuous scoring and harmony. This performance features clarinet rather than violin, restoring the composer’s original plan.
Fauré’s student Maurice Ravel produced his Sonata for violin and cello at around the same time, a work of amazing economy and breathtaking invention that is utterly thrilling in performance.
Membership Booking [4-Concert Package]
Adult $180 | Senior $135 | Concession $108 (All tickets are subject to booking fees.)
Priority booking period, open to existing 2024 members commence on Monday 21 October 2024, to Sunday 1 December 2024.
Bookings for the general public will commence on Monday 2 December 2024, and close Sunday 26 January 2025.
For all membership enquiries, please email us at australia.ensemble@unsw.edu.au
Single Tickets
Adult $58 | Senior $44 | Concession $35 (All tickets are subject to booking fees.)
Tickets for individual concerts can be purchased via the link below or by phoning the box office
(Tues, Thurs, Fri) on 02 9385 4874. On sale from Monday February 10, 2025.