A heart-stoppingly beautiful performance ... Listeners who love Quatuor pour la fin du Temps owe it to themselves to hear this stellar version.
AllMusic Guide, USA

AllMusic Classical Editors' Favourites of 2008

Members of the Philharmonia Orchestra join British pianist Matthew Schellhorn on this recording of some of Messiaen's most attractive chamber music. The featured work is the Quatuor pour la fin du Temps, which is recognized as one of the landmarks of twentieth century music, and which receives a sublime performance here. Perhaps the fact that spectacular recordings of the work are growing more and more common has to do with the fact that a new generation of performers has grown up with this music as classic core repertoire and didn't have to ‘learn’ its idiom, because it was in their blood. In any case, these performers, pianist Schellhorn, violinist James Clark, cellist David Cohen, and clarinetist Barnaby Robson, deliver a heart-stoppingly beautiful performance. Technically, they are beyond reproach, but they also play with exquisitely subtle nuance of tempo, dynamics, and phrasing. The performance is warmly glowing, both in its tone colors and the performers' interpretive choices. The first movement has rarely sounded so much like actual birdsong, not simply musicians playing the transcription of the birdsong. The instrumental blend is gorgeous, thanks in part, no doubt, to excellent engineering; the all-unison ‘Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes’, is played with a rare unanimity; it's possible to hear it as the sound of a single multi-colored instrument. In the last movement (which can be heartstopping – in a bad way – because it's so dauntingly difficult, and the violin's long sustained, stratospheric final note can veer so easily out of tune and tarnish an otherwise fine performance), Clark plays with complete assurance and does in fact create and maintain the sense of timeless serenity the composer aimed for; when that final note does arrive with piercing purity, the effect is overwhelming.

The ensemble brings the same level of finesse and expressiveness to the other works, the very early Fantaisie for piano and violin, the very late Pièce pour piano et quatuor à cordes, Le merle noir, and the world-premiere recording of the Debussian Morceau de lecture à vue (Sight-reading Piece), which Messiaen wrote as an exam piece for piano students. Signum's sound is beautifully engineered; natural and clean, with an excellent sense of presence. This recording would be an ideal introduction to Messiaen for anyone not familiar with his work, and listeners who love Quatuor pour la fin du Temps owe it to themselves to hear this stellar version.

Stephen Eddins, allmusic

performance
sound

Matthew Schellhorn and soloists of the Philharmonia orchestra offer a fine, solid ensemble performance. The music for the full quartet is very well done indeed and the performance is technically assured throughout. Signum has provided a clear recorded sound ... luxuriantly expressive.

The ‘Danse de la fureur’ is very fine indeed. The players privilege phrasing over clinical precision in the rhythms and take a thrillingly urgent tempo in the accelerations Messiaen demands. Commendably, they don’t slow down for the pp lointain. The strings play the climax without vibrato – the effect is powerful and chilling.

The fillers include the relatively obscure Fantaisie for violin and piano: Messiaen fans will enjoy a double-take at hearing the most famous melody from L’Ascension pounded out in octaves at the beginning. There is even a première recording, Morceau de lecture à vue, a sight-reading piece composed for the École Normale de Musique in 1934 (readers of the Peter Hill/Nigel Simeone Messiaen biography will find the score on page 50).

Carl Rosman, International Record Review, July/August 2008

The main find is Signum’s first recording of a miniature sight-reading test piece from 1934 – gentle, lullaby-like, with enough harmonic density to keep students alert. This, together with Le merle noir and the late movement for piano quintet, completes a worthwhile and distinctive release.

Arnold Whittall, Gramophone, October 2008

A marvellous performance of the recently rediscovered Fantaisie for violin and piano. The disc also has the first recording of Morceau de lecture à vue, an utterly charming sight-reading piece from 1934. Schellhorn naturally passes the test with flying colours. Fine performances ... by turns poetic and dramatic ... compelling. Schellhorn’s playing is a major asset.

Christopher Dingle, BBC Music Magazine

What binds this recording together is the excellent playing of pianist Schellhorn, praised in the notes by Loriod herself. His keyboard performances fascinate and enliven the ear and mind.

Lynn René Bayley, Fanfare

“Faith is simple”, Messiaen used to say. Purity is often harder to achieve than elaborate artifice. Listening to Matthew Schellhorn and the soloists from the Philharmonia made me feel close to the spirit of “simple” faith that must have shone through the spartan conditions in which it was first played.

Anne Ozorio, MusicWeb International