Westwood Concerts performed Olivier Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time at Heliconian Hall. The reviewer argues the piece must be heard live to fully appreciate Messiaen's profound religious faith and sense of reverence for creation conveyed through the composition. The performance by Westwood musicians Michael Westwood, Erika Nielsen, Ilana Waniuk and Gregory Millar transformed the audience into a congregation immersed in a sense of the divine. Their committed performance allowed understanding of Messiaen's intention to redirect attention from the present to the everlasting.

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SCRUTINY | Westwood Concerts
Stops Time at Heliconian Hall
By Robin Roger on May 31, 2015

2. Westwood Concerts Ode to Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Masters
Westwood Concerts at Heliconian Hall, Saturday
May 30, 2015.
It is safe to say that almost any piece of music that is beautiful to hear on a sound system,
even of the most superior caliber, is even more beautiful when heard in live performance.
It might even be possible to say that a live performance, even with the occasional error or
minor distraction of extraneous sneezes, coughs or candy wrappers, is still an
improvement over a fine CD or vinyl record played in a private room. Nevertheless, for
many compositions, the difference is minimal enough that hearing the recorded version
will not leave the listener seriously deprived.
But after hearing Westwood Concerts perform Olivier Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of
Time on Saturday night, I feel confident arguing that it is one piece that simply has to be
heard in live performance.
The circumstances of the composition of this work by Messiaen while interred in a
Prisoner of War Camp during World War II, and its premiere in an unheated barrack on a
bitterly cold January night in 1941 (modestly simulated by the overly air-conditioned hall
combined with a rapidly dropping temperature) are well-known and impossible to ignore
when listening to it. But even with this inspiring back story explained to the audience by
the pianist Gregory Millar, whose verbal style brings the quivering filament of an

3. incandescent light bulb to mind, what rings out more powerfully is Messiaen’s profound
religious faith and his sense of reverence for creation and its creator.
From the first sensitive recreationof the sound of the blackbird’s 4 a.m. song to the final
nearly inaudible notes of the violin and piano as the sound dies away, the listeners are
transformed from an audience to a congregation, immersed in a sense of the numinous.
While the Westwood musicians may not wish to be characterized as clergy in service to
the divine, this did seem particularly apt during two of the eight movements.
The Abime Des Oiseaux, for solo clarinet, conferred a cantorial stature to Michael
Westwood, who managed to combine the tension between the airborne creatures and the
gravity of human limitation with his stately pacing and resonant tone.
In addition the full quartet’s rendition of the sixth movement, Danse de
la fureur, pour lessept trompettes, performed in unison, was a forceful expression of awe.
(This might be because the score itself is slightly terrifying, with constantly shifting
metrical demands throughout the movement.)
It was easy to imagine the assembled audience members and musicians, whatever their
particular religious background, rising from their seats and joining a procession heading
to greet the divine. The Heliconian Hall’s origins as a Carpenter’s Gothic board-and-
batten church added to the sensation.
It’s not unusual to leave a concert with a sense of uplift, or pleasant diversion, or renewed
energy. A truly memorable concert leaves one with a feeling of gratitude for the
opportunity to understand the composer’s intention due to a committed performance.
With his music, Messiaen redirects our attention from the here and now, even while we
are listening in the moment, to the everlasting. Clarinetist Michael Westwood, cellist
Erika Nielsen, violinist Ilana Waniuk and pianist Gregory Millar are to be thanked for
that opportunity.
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Robin Roger
Robin Roger is a psychotherapist who emphasizes the importance of learning new things
as part of developing and maintaining mental wellness.She is a committed amateur
pianist as well as a writer, book reviewer and frequent contributor to Musical Toronto.