More Catholic than the Pope?

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION BY IDA HABBESTAD

In the Catholic tradition, faith often takes shape through ritual. In human actions, the abstract becomes more concrete. And in the line from Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice to God’s sacrificial lamb lies an imperative for human beings to do good.

A core element in Olivier Messiaen’s work lies in the repetition of essential entities. Nature, faith, and love permeated everything he wrote. «Turangalîla» crowns his portrayal of love: vulnerable, mystical, radiant, ecstatic, unconditional: a physical love between two people, but also all-embracing, directed toward life, nature, and the eternal. «Thème et variations» is one of his earlier reflections on love. The work was written as a wedding gift to his first wife, who soon fell gravely ill; that monumental love was put to the test.

Messiaen had just become a father when the Second World War broke out. He was taken prisoner of war in Görlitz. The Quartet for the End of Time was written there, close to the darkness of humankind and to the hope of the eternal. In «Abyss of the Birds», time and the timeless are set in contrast. The abyss is the phenomenon of time itself, the futility of the human journey on earth. The birdsong is our longing – for light, for stars, for the sound of joyful voices.

Gustav Mahler’s Piano Quartet was written when he was a young student, many years before he converted to Catholicism. Being a Jew in an antisemitic Europe must have created inner turmoil. The quartet can be read as a prelude to his search for the transcendent and the enduring, a search to which he continually sought musical answers.

Anton Bruckner found greater repose in his faith. His music is often described as cathedrals of sound, most frequently vast symphonic constructions. The String Quintet in F major is among his chamber works, yet it nonetheless possesses an architectural weight and a desire to render the invisible present.