Messiaen: The Quartet For The End Of Time

Messiaen choses to experiment with a wide range of dynamics through out the entire fourth movement. Furthermore, he indicates drastic changes of those dynamics that happen in a short period of time, which presents the audience with an element of surprise. Additionally, the Interlude is the shortest movement in the entire composition, which is 73 measures long and lasts for about two minutes (considering the entire Quartet for the End of Time is about 50 minutes long). Therefore, a rapid change in volume keeps the audiences on their toes and “forces” them to listen to the work more carefully. Also, Messiaen is able to add an extra sense of excitement by implementing numerous crescendi and diminuendi throughout the Intermède. As mentioned previously, Messiaen’s obsession with birds and their sound imitation can vividly be heard in every movement of the Quartet for the End of Time. He intensifies this further by adding continuous grace notes to the clarinet part, which can be interpreted as if a bird was skipping around.
Similarly, the same idea can also be detected in the first movement where Messiaen gives the clarinet a leading role and chooses to integrate numerous grace …show more content…
This kind of approach requires many hours of practicing and discipline. When using such tactics and working towards achieving brilliant technique, clarinetists should plan his or her practicing sessions where they would start learning those passages at a slow and most comfortable tempo, and then gradually speed it up to the tempo indicated by the composer. It is important to progressively increase the tempo without feeling pressured by having too little time on one’s hands. The slower one can start practicing those passages, the better finger memory they will have when performing them on concert