5 DECEMBER 2026, 7.30PM

Trio Concept | Vivares

At the Edge of Time

music BY Thomas Adès, Olivier Messiaen

Thomas Adès
Catch (1991)

Olivier Messiaen
Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (1941)
I. Liturgie de cristal
II. Vocalise, pour l’Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps
III. Abîme des oiseaux
IV. Intermède
V. Louange à l’Éternité de Jésus
VI. Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes
VII. Fouillis d’arcs-en-ciel, pour l’Ange qui annonce la fin du Temps VIII. Louange à l’Immortalité de Jésus 

Trio Concept
Edoardo Grieco, violin
Francesco Massimino, cello
Lorenzo Nguyen, piano

Olivier Vivares, clarinet

With Catch by Thomas Adès and Quatuor pour la fin du Temps by Olivier Messiaen, the Trio Concept and Olivier Vivares present two works written for a particular ensemble - clarinet, violin, cello and piano – and which address the same subject, albeit from different perspectives: time. 

In the words of the performers, “Time and space are the two dimensions that have always stimulated human reflection, in a union strongly linked to the idea of existence. As musicians, we first approach the idea of musical time, only to realise, as we are playing, that musical time cannot be separated from the space in which the music comes to life. Before the concert, we rehearse in the venue, primarily for this purpose: to get to know the space in which we will be playing and where the music’s time will unfold. Outside of music, it is also possible to say that space cannot exist without time: it is difficult for us to imagine any space without automatically placing it within a temporal dimension, be it a fleeting moment, a longer time span, or eternity.” 

In Catch, Thomas Adès confronts time, transforming it into a game of pursuit, presence and evasion. The clarinet moves through space and orbits around the trio, observes it, challenges it and finally enters its movement, its flow. Roles are reversed, balances shift, and listening itself becomes action. In a few minutes, musical time becomes rapid, mobile, almost theatrical: a space where energy circulates, escapes and continually recomposes itself.

This playful tension is answered by Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du Temps, one of the most profound and moving works of the twentieth century. Composed during the composer’s imprisonment and premiered in January 1941 in Stalag VIII-A, Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time” does not explore time in the theatrical dimension of life but addresses it in its ultimate dimension: that of eternity.
The reference to the Book of Revelation suggests an openness to an absolute present, outside the succession of moments. Through cyclical rhythms, extreme expansion, repetition and a composition devoid of traditional development, Messiaen does not merely depict the end of time: he tries to convey the sense of moving beyond it, musically, as an entrance into a contemplative, spiritual and external dimension.

Between Adès’s game and Messiaen’s vision, the programme traces an arc from movement to suspension, from impulse to silence, from collective tension to inner experience. Two works, the same instrumental constellation and a shared question: how can music transform time into a space for listening?