In this reframing of Olivier Messiaen’s masterpiece Quartet for the End of Time, clarinetist David Krakauer — praised internationally for his ability to play in a myriad of music genres with “prodigious chops” (The New Yorker) and “soulfulness and electrifying showiness” (The New York Times) – and musical pioneer cellist Matt Haimovitz – described as “one of the leading cellists of his generation” (The New York Times) and “intensely sensitive and perfectly poised (Gramophone Magazine) – have created a recording and live concert experience of great emotional power.
In a rare live recording, AKOKA bookmarks the complete Messiaen masterwork Quartet for the End of Time between Krakauer’s own Akoka, and Meanwhile… by sound artist Socalled.
The album lifts Messiaen’s original work out of the polite context of a chamber music performance and places it in a dramatic setting that drives home its gravity and impact, while bringing it into the 21st century. As the forces of fundamentalism, intolerance and violence intensify in today’s world, this particular mounting of the great work seems all the more timely.