Pillars of Fire

Firma Melodiya presents a recording of chamber works by Alban Berg and Olivier Messiaen. Four Pieces for Clarinet and Piano (1913) were created by Alban Berg, one of the pupils of Arnold Schoenberg, the founder of the Second Viennese School, in a period of an intense creative ascent, a year before he began to work on his opera Wozzeck. Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time is arguably one of the most amazing pages of chamber music of the 20th century. It was composed during the composer’s stay in German prisoner-of-war camp where it was premiered in January of 1941.