Messiaen Anniversary Concert, Corn Exchange, Brighton, May 19

2:55pm Tuesday 20th May 2008

The story behind the Quartet For The End Of Time is almost as remarkable as the music itself. Olivier Messiaen composed the piece while a Nazi PoW for the four instruments available in his prison. It was first performed to an audience of inmates and guards.

For the Brighton Festival performance, marking the centenary of the composer's birth, Elizabeth Cooney's violin delicately brought the poignant birdsong of the opening movement to life and Carol McGonnell's solo on the clarinet produced notes that began like whispers and grew into astonishing sounds.

The Quartet is not easy listening - its rhythms are unfamiliar and it's a struggle to latch on to any consistent melodies. But the performance was full of drama and by the final movement the cello and piano were stretching the boundaries, brilliantly expressing Messiaen's vision of the expanse of eternity.

To accompany this seminal work we were treated to the UK premiere of Ian Wilson's interpretation of the Gabriel Garcia Marquez short story The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World. With Gavin Friday narrating in a rich and menacing voice, the macabre story of a washed-up body was recounted with subtle timing to a backdrop of poised and intricate music.

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