William Dart: Quartet for the End of Time review

Amalia Hall, Somi Kim, Jonathan Cohen and Ashley Brown in concert.

Unable, in these pandemic times, to present its usual top-notch international stars, Chamber Music New Zealand has looked to local musicians for programmes that are every bit as satisfying.

On Wednesday night Jonathan Cohen, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra's new principal clarinet, was partnered by NZTrio, in an evening that took its title from Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time.

There was a palpable sense of exhilaration in the air with these Aucklanders returning home, after travelling up the country from Invercargill, giving 10 concerts in less than a fortnight.

Perhaps this was why Beethoven's early Gassenhauer Trio proved such a jolly opener as Cohen, Ashley Brown and Somi Kim surrendered to its rustic charms, with subtle shadings on the side.

Ross Harris wrote There May Be Light back in 2016, as a response to the Messiaen quartet on the bill when NZTrio first played it.

The New Zealand composer poses mysterious questions — answered for some, no doubt, by the Messiaen to come — couched in an appropriately mysterious, crystalline soundworld.

Clarinet multiphonics, ably demonstrated by Cohen, were just one ear-catching sonority, along with glassy string harmonics, and virtuosic high-flying lines.

After interval, for almost 50 minutes, we may well have been in a holy place, totally immersed in Messiaen's mystical masterpiece, written and premiered in a POW camp 80 years ago.

Perhaps Cohen's eloquent introduction assisted this deep involvement, although I could not imagine anyone resisting the bewitching serenity of tonight's opening movement.

We had quite a journey to undertake before release came with Amalia Hall's ecstatic prayer to Jesus, including moments of apocalyptic terror, chillingly conveyed.

In the final count, an intense clarinet solo gives us the heart of this work, in which, according to Messiaen, fluttering birds represent our longing for light, stars, rainbows and, above all, joyous song. Cohen conveyed all of this, effortlessly, conveying it as a mighty improvisation from the deepest recesses of the soul.

What: Quartet for the End of Time
Where: Town Hall Concert Chamber
Reviewer: William Dart