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Olivier Messiaen’s famed masterpiece Quartet for the End of Time was composed in Stalag VIII-A in Görlitz, GermanyConsonances, in St Nazaire, gives a potent insight into the ideas behind this monumental piece of chamber music. At the same time, it probes the relationship between a man and a woman with moving insight. On one level an entertaining and involving programme note, on another, a touching exploration ofimportant issues concerning faith, art and love. This afternoon’s play and performance provides a unique opportunity to understand the music and ideas of the late Messiaen during this centenary year of his birth. in 1941 and its first performance took place to an audience of prisoners of war, given by Messiaen and his fellow prisoners. “Never was I listened to with such rapt attention and comprehension” he later said. Jessica Duchen’s play, originally commissioned by Philippe Graffin for his chamber music festival,

Presented in partnership with Tropic Sun.

She: Karen Gibb
He: Philip Lambert
Cellist: Benjamin Hughes

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The Song of Triumphant Love is an illustrated talk on a grand scale. Commissioned by Philippe Graffin for his Consonances Festival in France in 2006, it relates the intriguing background to the story by Ivan Turgenev which inspired Ernest Chausson’s ravishing Poéme for violin and orchestra. We will hear the Poéme in its version for solo violin and string quintet, rediscovered a few years ago by Philippe Graffin, and played by him tonight. Jessica Duchen's script, takes us into the turbulent life of the famed singer Pauline Viardot and the great love of her life, the Russian novelist Turgenev.  Her salon was a force in Parisian cultural life and we’ll hear songs and chamber works by composers she befriended and inspired – Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Chopin, Saint- Saens, Gounod, Faure and Chausson, along with performances of her own underrated compositions. This should be a musical treat.

Performances by Thomas Meglioranza, Philippe Graffin, David Selig, Dene Olding, Dimity Hall, Irina Morozova, Julian Smiles, Patricia Wright, Kirsty McCahon, Hamish Milne and Piers Lane.