Oliver Pashley, Aquinas Piano Trio

Programme:
Messiaen L’Ascension
Messiaen Quartet for the End of Time

'The abyss is Time with its sadness, its weariness. The birds are the opposite to Time; they are our desire for light, for stars, for rainbows, and for jubilant songs'. Messiaen’s deeply moving Quartet for the End of Time was written and first performed in Stalag VIII-A, a German prisoner of war camp.

Inspired by a passage from the Book of Revelation and written in apocalyptic circumstances, he nevertheless manages to create transcendental music, making even dissonance exquisitely beautiful.

Oliver Pashley is one of the most sought-after young clarinettists of his generation. Sub-Principal Clarinet with Britten Sinfonia, founder member of the Hermes Experiment and in demand as a chamber musician and soloist, he joins forces with the dazzling Aquinas Piano Trio for this performance. The Aquinas Trio has been acclaimed as one of the most exciting chamber groups to emerge in recent years.

Before the Quartet, Martin Gowers sets the scene with Messiaen’s epic and powerful solo organ arrangement of his orchestral work L’Ascension.

Oliver Pashley clarinet
Ruth Rogers violin
Katherine Jenkinson cello
Martin Cousin piano
Martin Gowers organ