Messiaen: Quartet for the End of Time; Chronochromie

Written in 1940-41 while Messiaen was a prisoner of war in Germany, Quartet for the End of Time is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest chamber music pieces of the 20th century. Among the many recordings made of it, this 1969 performance, helmed by the French pianist Michel Béroff, ranks highly. Béroff’s gracefully voiced chording in “Liturgie de cristal” sets a tone of elegance and spiritual luminosity which suffuses the interpretation, and his partnership with violinist Erich Gruenberg in the concluding “Louange à l'immortalité de Jésus” is transportingly beautiful. The orchestral work Chronochromie is spikier in idiom, but emerges powerfully in this 1965 interpretation with the BBC Symphony Orchestra led by Antal Doráti.