Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du temps Amatis Trio & Ib Hausmann

• Olivier Messiaen (1908 - 1992): Quatuor pour la fin du Temps:
• 1 Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du Temps: I. Liturgie de cristal 02:41
• 2 Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du Temps: II. Vocalise, pour l'ange qui annonce la fin du temps 05:13
• 3 Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du Temps: III. Abime des oiseux 07:44
• 4 Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du Temps: IV. Intermède 01:43
• 5 Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du Temps: V. Louange à l'Eternity de Jésus 08:04
• 6 Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du Temps: VI. Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes 06:15
• 7 Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du Temps: VII. Foullis d'acres-en-ciel, pour l'ange qui annonce la fin du temps 07:28
• 8 Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du Temps: VIII. Louange à l'immortabilité de Jésus 07:14
• Total Runtime 46:22

Info for Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du temps

“The work,” as Messiaen writes, “is directly inspired by the Revelation of St. John. Its musical language is essentially transcendental, spiritual, catholic. Certain modes, realizing a kind of tonal ubiquity in terms of harmony and melody, draw the listener into a sense of the eternity of space or time. Special rhythms, lying outside any sort of measure, contribute significantly toward the banishment of the concept of time.

(However, all this is mere striving and childish stammering if one compares it to the overwhelming greatness of the subject!)

“This quartet contains eight movements. Why? Seven is the perfect number, the creation of six days made holy by the divine Sabbath: the seventh in its repose prolongs itself into eternity and becomes the eighth, of unfailing light, of immutable piece.

“The four performers played on broken-down instruments: Etienne Pasquier’s cello had only three strings, the keys of my upright piano went down but did not always come up again. Our costumes were unbelievable: they rigged me out in a green jacket completely in shreds, and I wore wooden clogs.………….“ (Excerpt from the booklet notes by Ib Hausmann)

Ib Hausmann, clarinet
Amatis Trio

Ib Hausmann
who plays both the classical clarinet and the E flat, bass clarinet and basset horn, studied in Berlin with Ewald Koch and with the pianist of the Beaux Arts Trio, Menahem Pressler, in Banff. His cultural development was also influenced by György Kurtág.

At twenty Mr. Hausmann was the principal clarinetist of the Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, and two years later he won the same position with the Staatskapelle in Berlin.

A first prize winner in international competitions, including the TIJI radio competition of UNESCO, he has appeared in leading music centres of the world, including La Scala, Milan, the Teatro Colón, the Châtelet in Paris, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Berlin Philharmonic and the Vienna Konzerthaus and Musikvereinsaal.

Among his chamber music partners are Alexander Madžar, Alexander Lonquich, Jazz pianist Michael Wollny (Gustav Mahler project), Daniel Hope, Christian Gerhaher, Anne Sofie von Otter, Clemens and Veronika Hagen, Trio di Parma, and string quartets, including the Hagen, Casals, Auryn, Vogler, and Orion.

With Lukas Hagen he founded the Ensemble Serapion. In November 2000 he made his début as soloist in the Vienna Musikvereinsaal with the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra.

He dedicates himself also to improvised music, theatre, and modern performance forms.

Recent appearances have been with Klaus Maria Brandauer and Burghart Klaussner.

His first recording of Berthold Goldschmidt with the Mandelring Quartet was awarded the German Record Critics’ Prize. Other recordings include Morton Feldman’s Clarinet and String Quartet with the Pellgrini Quartet and works by Schumann, Berg and Brahms with the pianist Frank-Immo Zichner. His prize-winning recording with Nina Tichman of the complete music for clarinet and piano by Max Reger appeared on Hänssler Classic.

In 2006 Deutsche Grammophon issued his recording of Gerhard Frommel’s Double Concerto for piano and clarinet, with Music from Theresienstadt, together with Anne Sofie von Otter and Christian Gerhaher. This recording was nominated for the "Grammy" award in 2008.

In 1996 he published his first composition with the title “Ohnung”.

Recently he has been performing with the pianist Christoph Ullrich for 20000 children in Germany, Austria, Japan and Colombia as a "clarinet-speaking" Pierrot.

Ib Hausmann is autodidact as a pierrot, composer and father of two children with whom he also performs.

Booklet for Messiaen: Quatuor pour la fin du temps