Less is more These pieces certainly abide by this motto. Alan Berg’s
Vier Stücke
are about one minute each, Elliott Carter’s
Epigrams is a series of super short movements, and Maurice Ravel’s sonata is in the composer’s own words
«stripped down to the bare essentials». .The
pièce de résistance will be Olivier Messiaen’s
Quatuor pour la fin du temps.. Imprisoned in a nazi POW camp alongside other musicians, the composer managed to make the most of the dire conditions, and write this ethereal piece, inspired by the Bible’s
Book of Revelation.