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epitome of incomprehensibility
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Along with Philip Glass' Music in Twelve Parts, Messaien's Quatuor pour le fin du temps (Quartet for the end of times) feels oddly spiritual - to someone who wouldn't usually classify things as "spiritual" - and unexpectedly fun in places. Unexpectedly for Messaien especially, and especially for the time written. Glass' piece makes sense in the context of the 70s, yet it's hard to see the Quatuor being written in the middle of World War 2 inside a prisoner camp. Which it was. But it's not just the backstory. It's the harmony. And time. Messaien knew how to vary speed to great effect.
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