The Anzû Quartet is not another string quartet but one for violin, cello, clarinet and piano. The group’s makeup pays permanent homage to one of the most important chamber works of the 20th century, Olivier Messiaen’s wartime chamber masterpiece Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time).

Never has such a transcendent work had such an inauspicious genesis. Composed for a small group of instruments, all in appalling condition, that were available at a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany, it was premiered in 1941. 

The Brooklyn-based quartet – violinist Olivia De Prato, cellist Ashley Bathgate, clarinettist Ken Thomson, and pianist Karl Larson – was formed in 2020 with the express purpose of commissioning and performing new works for this unusual combination.

The name anzû refers to a massive fire and water breathing bird found in Babylonian and Sumerian mythology. In these ancient texts, Anzû is linked to death and destruction as well as birth and creation, reflecting the juxtaposing themes of calamity and salvation often expressed through birdsong, a major thread in Messiaen’s music.

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